Oscar MicheauxOscar Micheaux

Oscar Micheaux was the most influential African American filmmaker of the first half of the 20th century, a self-taught artist who funded, produced, and released more than 40 films, all while completely excluded from the Hollywood systems of production and distribution. Francesco Zippel's revealing documentary (which premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival) charts Micheaux's incredible artistic journey, as he followed the urban migration to Chicago, abandoned city life to became a homesteader in South Dakota, and eventually became a resolute storyteller, writing six novels and producing dozens of feature films before his death in 1951. Regardless of the genre in which he was working, Micheaux₂s provocative films served as a powerful rebuke to the ubiquitous racism of the times.