Black Rodeo (1972)

Dear Rodeo: The Cody Johnson Story

Dear Rodeo: The Cody Johnson Story, a brand-new cinematic feature-length documentary, is the much bigger picture, recounting Johnson’s real-life journey from the dusty rodeo arenas of rural Texas to some of the biggest musical stages in America. Every emotion Johnson felt over the past 20 years – whether he was standing in the back of the chute at the rodeo or singing about it in front of 75,000 fans – is captured vividly in this big screen experience, with all the highs and lows that come from the dreams you cling to and the dreams you ultimately let go of. Featuring interviews with Reba McEntire, Taya Kyle (the widow of “American Sniper” Chris Kyle), and more, this evocative and celebratory film is a love letter to everyone who has had to abandon a dream in order to find true purpose.

Paris Is Burning

Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.

Nueva York: A Musical History of Latin New York

When the film West Side Story was released in 1961, New York's reviled Puerto Rican community gained some visibility and, over time, both in Spanish Harlem and the Bronx, neighborhoods plagued by poverty, drugs and crime, Hispanic identity was reborn and strengthened, thanks to a syncretic and intentionally popular music that eventually conquered the entire city.

Apollo at 70: A Hot Night in Harlem

Some of the world's best jazz, R & B, hip-hop, rap, gospel and Latin musicians perform classic and modern songs in this 2004 benefit show celebrating the 70th year of Harlem's famed Apollo Theater. Performers include Natalie Cole, Ashanti, Brian McKnight, Yolanda Adams with the Abyssinian Baptist Choir, James Ingram, Herbie Hancock, Branford Marsalis, Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rick, Patti LaBelle, Angie Stone and Arturo Sandoval.

Chuckwagon

Focusing on the sport of chuckwagon racing at the Calgary Stampede, captured through a mix of aerial, POV, and ringside footage, the film is ahead of its time in the way it captures adrenaline-pumping action. This short documentary offers a ringside view of the chuckwagon race, star attraction of the world-famous Calgary Stampede. Once ponderous Percheron and Clydesdale draught thundered around the course. Now they are racers, and it takes a firm hand to guide such horsepower.

Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo

Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo' goes behind prison walls to follow convict cowgirls on their journey to the 2007 Oklahoma State Penitentiary Rodeo. In 2006, female inmates were allowed to participate for the first time. In a state with the highest female incarceration rate in the country, these women share common experiences such as broken homes, drug abuse and alienation from their children. Since 1940, the Oklahoma State Penitentiary has held an annual 'Prison Rodeo'. Part Wild West show and part coliseum-esque spectacle, it's one of the last of its kind - a relic of the American penal system. Prisoners compete on wild-broncs and bucking bulls, risking life-long injuries. For inmates like Danny Liles, a 14-year veteran of the rodeo, the chance to battle livestock offers a brief respite from prison life. Within this strange arena the prisoners become the heroes while the public and guards applaud

A Great Day in Harlem

Art Kane, now deceased, coordinated a group photograph of all the top jazz musicians in NYC in the year 1958, for a piece in Esquire magazine. Just about every jazz musician at the time showed up for the photo shoot which took place in front of a brownstone near the 125th street station. The documentary compiles interviews of many of the musicians in the photograph to talk about the day of the photograph, and it shows film footage taken that day by Milt Hinton and his wife.

Wildcat

Filmed in Grayson, Oklahoma, Wildcat meditatively combines documentation of a Black rodeo subculture with an abstract portrait of Joseph’s aunt who helped found the event.

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

During the same summer as Woodstock, over 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival, celebrating African American music and culture, and promoting Black pride and unity. The footage from the festival sat in a basement, unseen for over 50 years, keeping this incredible event in America's history lost — until now.

High School II

HIGH SCHOOL II is a film about Central Park East Secondary School (CPESS), a successful alternative high school in New York's Spanish Harlem, 85-95% of whose graduates go on to four year colleges. The film illustrates the school's emphasis on the “Habits of Mind” program (weighing evidence; awareness of multiple points of view; seeing connections and relationships; speculating on possibilities; and assessing values.) Sequences illustrating the school's approach to learning include: classroom activities in the humanities and sciences; family conferences; discussions of race, class, and gender; faculty meetings; disciplinary problems; sex education; conflict resolution by students; and student council meetings.

Rodeo

Shot in four days during the 1968 National Rodeo Finals in Oklahoma City, this lyrical documentary takes you inside the arena atop a 2800 lb bull. Watch Freckles Brown, a legendary cowboy, conferring with a young Larry Mahan, the previous year's champion and see crowd favorite Myrtis Dightman trying to hold his own in a dramatic ride. "Rodeo" shows the classic struggle of man against beast, a matter of life and death. Dick Rosmini's hypnotizing folk-fusion soundtrack and an intricate sound mix add to the climatic result.

The Harlem Globetrotters: The Team That Changed the World

"The Team that Changed the World," investigates the Globetrotters' impact socially and culturally, as well as their lasting effect on the NBA. Featuring interviews with basketball players, celebrities, politicians, and more, the documentary also shows how the Globetrotters continue to serve as "Ambassadors of Goodwill" and touch audiences around the world today.

Rodeo Bloopers: Special Edition

A collection of rodeo bloopers featuring some of the top bull riders in the business.

Queens and Cowboys: A Straight Year on the Gay Rodeo

A feature film that chronicles a complete season of the International Gay Rodeo Association. Roping and riding across north America for the past 30 years, the IGRA's courageous cowboys and cowgirls brave challenges both in and out of the arena on their quest to qualify for the World Finals at the end of the season. And along the way, they'll bust every stereotype in the book.

Don Gay's Worst Wrecks At Mesquite Rodeo 1991

Rodeo is a tough way to make a living-that's what this video is all about. These are the hardest hit, toughest rides, most heart pounding moments of the 1991 Season of the world famous Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

Don Gay's Best Rides At Mesquite Rodeo 1987

Rodeo is a tough way to make a living-that's what this video is all about. These are the best, toughest, most heart stopping moments of the 1987 Season of the world famous Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

Don Gay's Worst Wrecks At Mesquite Rodeo 1994

Rodeo is a tough way to make a living-that's what this video is all about. These are the hardest hit, toughest rides, most heart pounding moments of the 1994 Season of the world famous Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

Don Gay's Worst Wrecks at Mesquite Rodeo 1986

Rodeo is a tough way to make a living-that's what this video is all about. These are the hardest hit, toughest rides, most heart pounding moments of the 1986 Season of the world famous Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

Don Gay's Worst Wrecks At Mesquite Rodeo 1990

Rodeo is a tough way to make a living-that's what this video is all about. These are the hardest hit, toughest rides, most heart pounding moments of the 1990 Season of the world famous Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

Don Gay's Best Rides At Mesquite Rodeo 1994

Rodeo is a tough way to make a living-that's what this video is all about. These are the best, toughest, most heart stopping moments of the 1994 Season of the world famous Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

Don Gay's Worst Wrecks at Mesquite Rodeo 1987

Rodeo is a tough way to make a living-that's what this video is all about. These are the hardest hit, toughest rides, most heart pounding moments of the 1987 Season of the world famous Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

Don Gay's Worst Wrecks at Mesquite Rodeo 1993

Rodeo is a tough way to make a living-that's what this video is all about. These are the hardest hit, toughest rides, most heart pounding moments of the 1993 Season of the world famous Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

Don Gay's Worst Wrecks At Mesquite Rodeo 1988

Rodeo is a tough way to make a living-that's what this video is all about. These are the hardest hit, toughest rides, most heart pounding moments of the 1988 Season of the world famous Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

Don Gay's Worst Wrecks At Mesquite Rodeo 1995

Rodeo is a tough way to make a living-that's what this video is all about. These are the hardest hit, toughest rides, most heart pounding moments of the 1995 Season of the world famous Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

Don Gay's Best Rides At Mesquite Rodeo 1993

Rodeo is a tough way to make a living-that's what this video is all about. These are the best, toughest, most heart stopping moments of the 1993 Season of the world famous Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

Don Gay's Worst Wrecks at Mesquite Rodeo 1989

Rodeo is a tough way to make a living-that's what this video is all about. These are the hardest hit, toughest rides, most heart pounding moments of the 1989 Season of the world famous Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

Don Gay's Worst Wrecks at Mesquite Rodeo 1992

Rodeo is a tough way to make a living-that's what this video is all about. These are the hardest hit, toughest rides, most heart pounding moments of the 1992 Season of the world famous Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

Don Gay's Worst Wrecks at Mesquite Rodeo 1996

Rodeo is a tough way to make a living-that's what this video is all about. These are the hardest hit, toughest rides, most heart pounding moments of the 1996 Season of the world famous Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

Don Gay's Best Rides at Mesquite Rodeo 1990

Rodeo is a tough way to make a living-that's what this video is all about. These are the best, toughest, most heart stopping moments of the 1990 Season of the world famous Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

Throw a Saddle on a Star

The "star" in the title of this low-budget singing Western was Dynamite, a wild stallion captured by cowboy Curt Walker to ride in the Big Rodeo. Unscrupulous John Burton has bet against Curt and does his best to sabotage the event. When lovely Barbara Allen, Curt's new girlfriend, leaves town because of Burton's schemes, Curt loses the first couple of events. The big Bronco Busting contest is coming up, and Pop Walker stalls the proceedings with a series of singing acts while the girl's brothers attempt to locate her. Barbara arrives just in time to spur Curt on to victory.

Man from Rainbow Valley

When unscrupulous rodeo promoter Colonel Winthrop gets the idea of capturing "Outlaw" and making him a show horse, his niece Kay North tricks Monte into believing she is a writer assigned to do an article on the real horse.

The Cowboy and the Lady

Mary Smith decides after a lifetime of being a shut-in to do something wild while her father is out campaigning for the presidency, so she takes off for the family's home in West Palm Beach and inadvertently becomes romantically entangled with earnest cowboy Stretch Willoughby. Neither the dalliance nor the cowboy fit with the upper class image projected by her esteemed father, forcing her to choose.

Passing

In 1920s New York City, a Black woman finds her world upended when her life becomes intertwined with a former childhood friend who's passing as white.

The Cool World

A fifteen-year-old boy wants to buy a gun from an adult racketeer named Priest, in order to become president of the gang to which he belongs, and to return them to active "bopping" (gang fighting) which has declined in Harlem.

Mesquite Buckaroo

It's time for the big rodeo and it's Bob of the Allen ranch against Luke Williams of the Barns ranch. With Bob leading after the first day, Sands and Trigger kidnap him to keep him from winning.

Hurricane Smith

Rodeo rider Hurricane Smith is wrongly convicted of murder and robbery, but escapes and creates a new life, but one of the real criminals shows up to claim the loot which he believes Smith has.

Cowgirls n' Angels

A group of rodeo trick-riders recruits a young girl to join them.

Rodeo Girl

Sammy Garrett, the wife of a champion rodeo performer, is tired of her subsidiary role at home as a housewife. So she becomes an aspiring rodeo rider herself, encouraged by her one-time performer mother, and eventually confronts her new lifestyle, despite her husband's disapproval. Based on the true story of rodeo champion Sue Pirtle.

Dallas Buyers Club

Loosely based on the true-life tale of Ron Woodroof, a drug-taking, women-loving, homophobic man who in 1986 was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and given thirty days to live.

Mahjong and the West

When a young woman returns to Wyoming to bury her mother, she reunites with her childhood friend, a hard-living rodeo princess, who forces her to confront a shared trauma from their past.

Arena

Left by his wife, a vain rodeo star picks up a floozy and rides a bad Brahman bull.

Song of Texas

A man of no worth brags to his daughter back East that he is rich and owns a big ranch. When she decides to pay a visit to her father, Roy and his buddies agree to pretend that the poor man is the owner of the ranch.

The Honkers

An over-the-hill rodeo champion is so self-centered that he ignores his wife, son, and best friend.

Centurion: The Dancing Stallion

Ellissia adopts a white stallion to train in the art of Mexican horse dancing. As she starts teaching the handsome but previously abused Centurion, Ellissia falls critically ill, which keeps her from competing in a celebrated equestrian event. Under the watchful eyes of her father, new ranch hand Danny steps in as trainer, hoping to win the competition — and, perhaps, Ellissia's heart.

Bull

In a near-abandoned subdivision west of Houston, a wayward teen runs headlong into her equally willful and unforgiving neighbor, an aging bullfighter who's seen his best days in the arena; it's a collision that will change them both.

Miracle in Harlem

A crooked real estate tycoon tricks a trusting young woman out of her small candy store. When he is found dead, the girl is suspected of the crime.

James Brown Live At The Apollo '68

This was one of a series of concerts James Brown gave at the Apollo in Harlem in March 1968. This performance was broadcast on television as James Brown: Man To Man. In addition to 16 vintage color performances from the concert, this special also includes film of James Brown walking the streets of Harlem and Watts as he speaks to the state of Black America and describes the political and socioeconomic advances that need to be accomplished: “My flight is for Black American to become American.”—James Brown This concert is much a 1968 James Brown time capsule as it is a timeless representation of how music can change the world.

Tucson

The story of Andy Bryant, a University of Arizona student whose grades suffer because of his preoccupation with an upcoming intercollegiate rodeo. Andy's father is more interested in embarrassing a rival at the rodeo than he is with his son's academic progress. When his lack of focus nearly causes a tragic accident in the university chemistry lab, Andy decides to hunker down and study.

Take My Life

A well-meaning doctor lends his building to a group of neighborhood kids. When the neighbors learn that the kids are members of a tough Harlem gang, they begin to suspect they're up to nefarious deeds.

Cab Calloway's Hi-De-Ho

This jazz musical short has a comedy plot about marital infidelity. Bandleader Cab Calloway plays a ladies man who dates the wife (Fredi Washington) of a train porter who is frequently absent from home. Calloway and his Orchestra perform "Zaz-zuh-zaz" and "The Lady with the Fan" at the Cotton Club in Harlem.

Wild Horse Rodeo

A champion rodeo rider returns home to track down a legendary wild horse called "Cyclone."