The Stanley Nelson & Marcia Smith Retrospective

WELCOME to the 2026 Black Public Media Trailblazer Retrospective. This year we are excited to showcase the work of BPM Trailblazers Stanley Nelson and Marcia Smith. The selected films are available for streaming from April 27-May 10. This year’s Retrospective includes a special in-person screening and Artist Chat with Stanley Nelson on Mon., April 27 at City College of New York. Our Trailblazers will formally receive their tribute at the PitchBLACK Awards Ceremony, on Thurs., April 30, at Harlem’s Apollo Stages at the Victoria. Click here to purchase tickets.

The BPM Trailblazer Retrospective is a ticketed virtual event. If you are already registered for the PitchBLACK Forum or the Awards ceremony, you will automatically receive an email with your Retrospective access credentials. All other Retrospective viewers must register to receive access to the password-protected page from which the films will stream. The on-demand streaming window is open April 27 to May 10. Enjoy!

In celebration of our 2026 BPM Trailblazers, Stanley Nelson and Marcia Smith, Black Public Media invites you to a special, in-person, encore screening of We Want the Funk! — directed by Nelson and Nicole London. This free, public event, hosted at City College of New York, offers a powerful look at the music, culture and legacy of funk.

Following the screening, join us for an Artist Chat with Nelson moderated by BPM Executive Director Leslie Fields-Cruz.

Film List

A Place of Our Own (2004)

A Place of Our Own explores the history and cultural significance of Oak Bluffs, a Martha’s Vineyard resort community that has served as a vital summer oasis for affluent African Americans for over a century. The documentary blends personal family history with cultural reflection to examine a space created for rest, socialization and Black excellence.

Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015)

This film chronicles the rise and fall of the 1960s Black Panther Party, exploring its revolutionary, militant efforts to fight police brutality, the FBI’s aggressive efforts to destroy the organization, and its lasting impact on American civil rights and culture.

Freedom Riders (2010)

Editor

This film chronicles the courageous 1961 journey of over 400 Black and White activists who risked their lives to desegregate interstate buses in the South. Facing savage violence and imprisonment, they challenged segregationist laws and forced federal intervention to ensure equality in transportation.

Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2007)

This documentary tells the story of the people who joined Peoples Temple, following enigmatic preacher Jim Jones from Indiana to California and ultimately to their deaths in Guyana in November 1978. Jonestown was an official selection of numerous 2006 film festivals, including Tribeca, Silverdocs, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind (2000)

This is the first comprehensive documentary to tell the life story of this controversial leader. The film uses a wealth of material from the Garvey movement — written documents, film and photographs — to reveal what motivated a poor Jamaican to set up an international organization for the African diaspora, what led to his early successes, and why he died lonely and forgotten.

The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords (1999)

This is the untold story of the trailblazing journalists and newspaper publishers who, in the face of racism and danger, created a powerful Black press to serve as the voice of African American communities, fighting for social change and documenting history from the inside.

The Murder of Emmett Till (2003)

In August 1955, a 14-year-old Black boy allegedly flirted with a white woman in a grocery store in Money, Mississippi. The teen, Emmett Till of Chicago, didn’t understand that he had broken the unwritten laws of the Jim Crow South until three days later, when two White men dragged him from his bed in the dead of night, beat him brutally and then shot him in the head. This film tells the story of how his horrific death helped mobilize the civil rights movement.

Two Dollars and a Dream (1989)

Two Dollars and a Dream is the biography of Madame C.J. Walker, America’s first self-made millionairess. Her fortune was built on skin and hair care products, parlaying a homemade beauty formula into a prosperous business from coast to coast. By interweaving social, economic and political history, the film also offers a view of Black America from 1867 to the 1930s.

We Want the Funk (2025)

We Want the Funk! is a syncopated voyage through the history of funk music, spanning from African, soul, and early jazz roots, to its rise into the public consciousness. Featuring James Brown’s dynamism, the extraterrestrial funk of George Clinton’s Parliament Funkadelic, transformed girl group Labelle, and Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat, the story also traces funk’s influences on both new wave and hip-hop.