bell hooks

Explore the life and legacy of Kentucky-born author bell hooks, who wrote nearly 40 books and whose work at the intersection of race, class and gender serves as a lasting contribution to the feminist movement. Learn how bell’s childhood in Hopkinsville and her connection to Kentucky’s “hillbilly culture” informed her views and her belief that feminism is for everybody. Becoming bell hooks, a one-hour documentary, features selections read by Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer and interviews with feminist activist Gloria Steinem, Kentucky writers Crystal Wilkinson and Silas House, bell’s younger sister Gwenda Motley and many others.

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A documentary that examines the cultural stereotype of the people of Appalachia and how that has affected America's relationship with its rural communities.

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An open dialogue at The New School (Eugene Lang College) moderated by renowned feminist author bell hooks in conversation with Samuel “Chip” Delany (acclaimed Sci-Fi author of: Nova; Dhalgren; Times Square Red, Times Square Blue), M. Lamar (composer, video artist, and sculptor), and Marci Blackman (award-winning author of Po Man's Child: A Novel and Tradition). The discussion examines how engaging in transgressive sexual practices can provide a space in which one may work through the traumas inflicted by the oppressive forces that constitute, as hooks terms it, the system of "imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy."

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Today there are more reasons than ever for families to explore and celebrate diversity. Our ever-expanding world is full of differences in abilities, socioeconomic backgrounds, family structures, religious faiths, interests and cultures. This documentary introduces your family to children who are not only celebrating how they are unique, but who are also learning from and appreciating the differences in others.

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With archive film clips and interviews, this brief look at a frequently overlooked historical period of filmmaking acts as an introduction rather than a complete record. It features interviews with some of the genre's biggest stars, like Fred Williamson, Pam Grier, and Richard Roundtree. Director Melvin Van Peebles discusses the historical importance of his landmark film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. For a contemporary perspective, the excitable Quentin Tarantino offers his spirited commentary and author/critic bell hooks provides some scholarly social analysis.

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