Filmography
Featuring well-known L.A. Rebellion works alongside rarely seen student films, this body of work represents not only the originality of the individuals whose names are on them, but a collective vision as well. Across the two decades during which they made their presence felt at UCLA, and in the decades since, individual L.A. Rebellion artists have focused on diverse topics and responded to evolving political and artistic thought through their work. Explorations of class, considerations of historical legacies, stories attentive to concerns of local communities and appreciations of other Black arts are only some of the areas of exploration. The films also display a diversity of forms, from irreverent reconfigurations of well-worn genre types, to groundbreaking experiments with cinematic language. Certain works, long out of circulation, represent rediscoveries and will certainly lead to much future scholarship.
Learn more about the UCLA Film & Television Archive’s ongoing “L.A. Rebellion” inititiative.
| Title | Year | |
|---|---|---|
 |
A Period Piece In a comic rap, Zeinabu irene Davis lampoons the false promises in ads for feminine hygiene products. |
1991 |
 |
The Pocketbook In the course of a botched purse-snatching, a boy comes to question the path of his life. Billy Woodberry’s second film, and first completed in 16mm, adapts Langston Hughes’ short story, “Thank You, Ma’am,” and features music by Leadbelly, Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis. |
1980 |
 |
Rain The political awakening of a female typist is vividly portrayed through Melvonna Ballenger’s use of John Coltrane’s song, “After the Rain.” |
1978 |
 |
Rich On the day of his high school graduation, an African American youth battles for self-determination as a convergence of forces attempt to shuttle him toward a future of lowered expectations in S. Torriano Berry's gritty, yet tender, character study. |
1982 |
 |
The Rosa Parks Story Based on the true events of the “first lady of the civil rights movement,” Julie Dash’s "The Rosa Parks Story" chronicles the history of Parks’ famous act of civil disobedience. Focusing on both the moment that sparked the Montgomery bus boycott and Parks’ personal life, the film is an uplifting tale of courageousness and humanity in the face of bigotry and injustice. |
2002 |
 |
Sankofa Haile Gerima’s American masterpiece has had a transformative impact on audiences. The film follows Mona, an African American model on a fashion shoot in Ghana who undergoes a journey back in time and place to a slave plantation in North America where she becomes Shola, a house slave. Through this process, Mona recovers her lost slave identity and confronts her ancestral experience. |
1993 |
 |
Selma, Lord, Selma Charles Burnett’s Selma, Lord, Selma chronicles the history of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches. Through the perspective of a young girl learning about courage, bravery and compassion, Selma, Lord, Selma celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement’s fight for freedom for all Americans. |
1999 |
 |
Several Friends In Charles Burnett’s first student film, Several Friends, a group of eccentric and endearing young people converse in a variety of everyday settings. |
1969 |
 |
Shipley Street An African American family sends their child to an all-white parochial school, where she is confronted with harsh discipline and racist attitudes in this drama by Jacqueline Frazier. |
1981 |
 |
Shopping Bag Spirits and Freeway Fetishes: Reflections on Ritual Space Barbara McCullough converses with members of L.A.’s vibrant black arts communities to explore the role of ritual in black life and art. Interviews are combined with still photographs, colorful video effects, music by Don Cherry and footage from McCullough’s landmark work, Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification. |
1981 |
