Movies: Slavery

Documentary about abolitionist John Brown...

One of the most important events in Brazilian history, the Búzios Revolt of 1798 was led by dozens of black men who rose up to overthrow the colonial government, proclaim independence and establish a democratic Republic, free from slavery. The boldne...

During the Civil War, a Quaker couple risks their lives by helping runaway slaves....

Ghost Fleet follows a small group of activists who risk their lives on remote Indonesian islands to find justice and freedom for the enslaved fishermen who feed the world’s insatiable appetite for seafood. Bangkok-based Patima Tungpuchayakul, a Thai ...

The last movie in the Thralls-trilogy....

Inspired by true events, a young Frederick Douglass is secretly taught to read and write by his master's wife. Using only the air as their blackboard, this random act of kindness provided an education that paved the way from slavery to freedom....

Young Anita's life consists of working as a servant to a wealthy family, leaving her little time for anything else. Her servitude (which some would call slavery) provides an insight into a frighteningly common experience for children in Haiti....

Karky works in a shipyard owned by Rajanayagam, a feudalistic industrialist who imprisons his workers in the factory compound and refuses to allow them to have any link with the outside world. How Karky unites the workers and leads them to freedom i...

FOLLOW THE DRINKING GOURD is a feature documentary about the Black food justice movement. Family-friendly, funny, and moving, this 60-minute film connects the legacy of slavery, land loss, and climate change to our fight for food security....

In July 1860, the schooner Clotilda slipped quietly into the dark waters of Mobile, Ala., holding 110 Africans stolen from their homes and families, smuggled across the sea, and illegally imported to be sold into slavery. Surviving Clotilda is the ex...

The film tells the story of a young man who dreams of securing high jobs by completing his doctorate, but is forced to spend his days in a pig farm....

A team of journalists investigate how human trafficking and child labor in the Ivory Coast fuels the worldwide chocolate industry. The crew interview both proponents and opponents of these alleged practices, and use hidden camera techniques to delve ...

William Still was one of the most important, yet largely unheralded heroes of the Underground Railroad. Still was determined to get as many runaways as he could to "Freedom's Land," smuggling them across the US border to Canada. Bounty hunters could ...

INFINITY minus Infinity draws on several inspirations: the modernist verse of the Jamaican poet Una Marson, the alluvial invocations of the Martinican philosopher and poet Édouard Glissant, the black feminist poetics of the Brazilian philosopher Deni...

A working man's life is changed after he breaks the routine....

A descendant of the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history, filmmaker Katrina Browne explores the contemporary legacy of slavery by traveling with fellow descendents from Rhode Island to Ghana and Cuba, retracing the Triangle Trade route. Along...

During the American Civil War, two women, a wealthy white woman and a freed black slave, join forces to fight for freedom and the abolition of slavery....

Inspired by Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver’s book Soul on Ice and dedicated to John Coltrane, Soul in the Eye marks the beginning of Black Brazilian films. The film is a metaphor for the legacy of culture and survival bestowed by enslaved Africans br...

Two slave brothers, one black, one an albino, discover a treasure map which is taken from them by their foreman. They take it back but are pursued by the foreman. Originally, the foreman seeks the aid of two bounty hunters who pursue the protagonists...

Alternating interview segments, shots of Martinique landscapes and scenes from Aimé Césaire's play La Tragédie du roi Christophe (1963), Sarah Maldoror portrays her friend as a politician, a poet, and a founder of the Négritude movement....