Black Roots

synopsis

At the turn of the 1970s, racial segregation in the United States was still fresh in many people's heads. At that time, African-American pop musicians were among the strongest voices on racial discrimination and social violence and would speak out to the public. This intimate and impressionable documentary, which links the personal accounts of musicians and their music with footage from African-American communities, takes us behind the scenes of popular country and blues production. The title Black Roots not only refers to the skin color of the African-American community but also metaphorically expresses the nature of the experience from which the life of the minority grows.

“Black Roots gets a group of five African Americans talking around a café table: among family memories, observations about the present, and the desire to reverse injustices emerges a powerful picture of black pride, anger, discouragement, mirth, combativeness, and beauty.”

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Source: https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/film/black-roots/

biography

Lionel Rogosin (1924–2000) was an American independent documentary filmmaker for whom filmmaking became part of a broader concept of political activism. In New York, he ran the Bleecker Street Cinema and was a founding and active member of the New American Cinema movement alongside the likes of Jonas Mekas.

more about film

director:

Lionel Rogosin

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