In 1937, after seeing a photo depicting the lynching of a black man in the south, Bronx-born high school teacher Abel Meeropol wrote a poem entitled "Strange Fruit" that begins with the words: "Southern trees bear a strange fruit / Blood on the leaves and blood at the root." He set the poem to music and a few years later convinced Billy holiday to record it in a legendary heartbreaking performance. Intertwining jazz genealogy, biography, performance footage, and the history of lynching, director Joel Katz fashions a fascinating discovery of the lost story behind a true American classic. Written by Excerpted from Coolidge Corner Theatre Program Update.
A string quartet performance of a song that reflects the current times..
Recordings of a speech Bobby Seale held in Scandinavia intercut with roving streets and images..
New York attorney William Boyals has escaped the Louisiana bayou of his childhood, but he must return to investigate the death of a childhood friend who, like Boyals himself, was both black and gay..
The peaceful daily routine of father and son is interrupted by an encounter of an unfamiliar boy, different from them in color. An allegory to the phenomena of racism as an acquired cultural epidemic, the story discusses the question of the personal conscience of each of us, versus the education we receive from our families and environment. Can we really insist on our personal belief system, when what we must believe in, is dictated to us? The film presents how easily we acquire fear and hatred of foreigners, as well as how easily we might become the "strangers" and "others" ourselves..
Strange Fruit is a 1979 short film directed by Seth Pinsker. It follows a black painter in 1948 Georgia who faces racism after becoming involved with voter registration. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film..
Performance footage of Billie Holiday may admittedly be scant, but this issue compiles into a single release, song cuts from some of Holiday's live filmed performances that are still existent. Rare performances from the legendary jazz vocalist filmed throughout the 1950's. Features Billie backed by other Jazz luminaries like Count Basie, Ben Webster, Gerry Mulligan, Doc Cheatham, Mal Waldron and others..
Coming of age tragedy about a young African-American female, Desiree, who loses her life to bad decisions and the fast life.
Alors que Sting dépassait The Police pour entrer dans sa carrière solo et encore plus avec les jeunes musiciens de jazz Brandford Marsalis et Kenny Kirkland, il rencontra le vénérable Gil Evans qui avait embrassé le rock dans le passé avec ses enregistrements de big band de morceaux de Jimi Hendrix. Ces enregistrements live de Pérouse, en Italie en 1987 (plus un enregistrement antérieur d'Evans de 1976) fusionnent le travail des deux principes accompagnés par des sidemen de renom. Cette soirée comprenait des morceaux Hendrix ("Little Wing") et Sting ("Tea in the Sahara", "Consider Me Gone") en plus du classique "Strange Fruit" de Billy Holiday..
Muraki is a failure in his job as a salesman and has to deal with his wife's disappointment and criticism at home. One day, after sleeping in a park, he happens upon two women who look like they've been victims of a sexual assault. He helps them but as night comes an increasingly twisted mindgame unfolds between the involved parties and it is no longer certain who's the victim and who's the perpetrator..
"...in 1968, under a haze of publicity, 'The Beatles' opened their collective door to musicians, writers, artists, film-makers, inventors, designers, freaks and opportunist sharks. But despite a hefty investment, little of substance was forthcoming, except for "Apple Records". "This is the story of a record label which came to exist under extraordinary circumstances, produced extraordinary records and was operated under extraordinary guidelines..." "Strange Fruit" offers new interviews with Tony Bramwell, members of 'Badfinger', 'The Iveys', 'Elephant's Memory', Jackie Lomax, 'Brute Force' and David Peel, plus commentator Chris Ingham, author, journalist Mark Paytress and Apple biographer Stefan Granados. The film also includes Apple music, archive footage of Apple artists, interviews from the vaults, rare images and location films..
Strange Fruit is the first documentary exploring the history and legacy of the Billie Holiday classic. The song's evolution tells a dramatic story of America's radical past using one of the most influential protest songs ever written as its epicenter. The saga brings viewers face-to-face with the terror of lynching even as it spotlights the courage and heroism of those who fought for racial justice when to do so was to risk ostracism and livelihood if white - and death if Black. It examines the history of lynching, and the interplay of race, labor and the left, and popular culture as forces that would give rise to the Civil Rights Movement..
One hundred years of Hindi cinema is celebrated in four short stories showcasing the power of film..
