Pioneers of African-American Cinema (2015)

Studio: Kino Lorber
Year: 1915-1946

This collection of the historically vital works of America's legendary first African-American filmmakers is the only one of its kind. Funded in part by a highly successful Kickstarter campaign, the packaged set includes no fewer than a dozen feature-length films and nearly twice as many shorts and rare fragments. Subject matter includes race issues that went unaddressed by Hollywood for decades.

Films: Birthright (1938), The Blood of Jesus (1941), Body and Soul (1925), The Bronze Buckaroo (1939), By Right of Birth (fragment, 1921), Commandment Keeper Church, Beaufort, South Carolina (excerpt, 1940), The Darktown Revue (1931), Dirty Gertie from Harlem USA (1946), Eleven P.M. (1930), The Exile (1931), The Flying Ace (1926), God s Stepchildren (1938), Heaven-Bound Traveler (1933), Hellbound Train (1930), Hot Biskits (1931), Mercy the Mummy Mumbled (1918), Regeneration (fragment, 1923), The Scar of Shame (1929), S.S. Jones Home Movies (1924-26), The Symbol of the Unconquered: A Story of the KKK (1920), Ten Minutes to Live (1932), Ten Nights in a Bar Room (1926), Two Knights of Vaudeville (1918), Veiled Aristocrats (1932), Verdict Not Guilty (1934), We Work Again (1937), Within Our Gates (1920)

Musical scores (for silent films) by Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky), Max Roach, Samuel D. Waymon, the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, Donald Sosin, Makia Matsumura, Alloy Orchestra, Rob Gal, Andrew Simpson

Bonus Features: Optional English Subtitles, 80-page booklet with essays and detailed film notes, Interviews with series curators Charles Musser and Jacqueline Stewart, Documentary on the restoration of the films, Documentary on the restoration efforts of the Library of Congress, Archival interview with actors Ethel and Lucia Moses (1978), Tyler Texas Black Film Collection promo film (with Ossie Davis, 1985) and more!


Blu-Ray 5 contens:
- "The Bronze Buckaroo" (1939)
- "Zora Neale Hurston Fieldwork Footage" (1928)
- "Commandment Keeper Church" (1940)
- "The Blood of Jesus" (1941)
- "Dirty Gertie from Harlem, U.S.A." (1946)
- "Moses Sisters Interview" (1978)

Bonus:
- "Tyler Texas Black Film Collection" (1985) is a promotional film hosted by Ossie Davis.
- "The Films of Zora Neale Hurston" welcomes Library of Congress employee Mike Mashon, who discusses the discovery of a forgotten filmmaker's work.
- "The Films of Spencer Williams" reunites with Stewart, who identifies creative accomplishments from the former star of "Amos 'n Andy."
- "The End of an Era" closes out the set with additional thoughts from Stewart.





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