Beyond the Headlines: The NABJ Journey
Directed by James Franklin Blue III (USA, 2025, 40:00 mins).
In 2025, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) will commemorate its 50th anniversary. This milestone presents an opportune moment for the organization to share its illustrious history and vision for the future through a documentary titled “Beyond the Headlines: The NABJ Journey.”
Chrisman Blues
Directed by Ted Fisher (USA, 2024, 12:20 mins).
Cleveland, Mississippi was the last American city to desegregate. Chrisman Avenue is a three-mile long road about a half mile from Cleveland's downtown. Once the center of a thriving Black Business District, Chrisman has seen decades of history and cultural change, but now sits nearly forgotten. Five graduates of East Side High School tell us their memories of Chrisman and their thoughts on the history they have lived through.
Redline Narratives: The Lost Cultural Hubs of Boston
Directed by Marlon P Solomon (USA, 2025, 40:46 mins).
Funded by the Mass Humanities Expanding Stories Grant, Redline Narratives: Lost Cultural Hubs of Boston is the first installment of a two-part documentary series uncovering the 60-year cycle of displacement in Boston. This installment provides the most comprehensive look at how redlining, urban renewal, and transit infrastructure have systematically erased and displaced cultural communities—beginning in the 1850s North End, then moving through the West End, Lower Roxbury/South End, Dorchester, and Mattapan.
Never Cried
Directed by Emily Judem and Stephanie Leydon (USA, 2024, 23:25)
In September, 1974 – two days after her 14th birthday – Leola Hampton boarded a school bus that would launch her into the heart of one of the most divisive and defining moments in Boston history: court-ordered school desegregation. She and her older sister, Linda Starks-Walker, were bused from their home in the predominantly Black neighborhood of Roxbury into the white, working-class neighborhood of South Boston. They navigated a violent and virulently racist high school experience so scarring that a half-century later, they are only now beginning to discuss it with each other. ‘Never Cried’: Boston’s Busing Legacy - a short documentary from GBH News - examines how this trauma has been passed to younger generations, and what this means for the future of a city that, like Leola and Linda, is still healing 50 years after the busing crisis.
The Brunch
Made possible by Mass Design Group, Boston Center for the Arts, and GBH. (USA, 10:00 mins).
The short documentary revisits the life and times of Mel King. Originally produced as a eulogy for his home-going ceremony in 2023, The Brunch sets out to reignite Mel’s legacy of movement, agency, and creativity across Boston, and eventually – the world. For more information, visit https://melking4mayor.com/.
Q&A to follow.