Kick back and relax with a carefully curated selection of some of the best movies and TV shows starring and made by Black artists, actors, writers and directors throughout October on Amazon Prime Video.
Highlights in the Amazon Prime roundup include the critically-acclaimed Queen & Slim, directed by Melina Matsoukas and starring Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith; 42 – The True Story of an American Legend starring the late, great Chadwick Boseman; and Barry Jenkin’s award-winning If Beale Street Could Talk starring Kiki Layne and Stephan James.
So have a read of the summaries below and be reminded of some of the best TV and movies to watch this Black History Month.
Queen & Slim
Slim (Daniel Kaluuya) and Queen’s (Jodie Turner Smith) first date takes an unexpected turn when a policeman pulls them over for a minor traffic violation. When the situation escalates, Slim takes the officer’s gun and shoots him in self-defence. Now labelled cop killers in the media, Slim and Queen feel that they have no choice but to go on the run and evade the law.
If Beale Street Could Talk
In early 1970s Harlem, daughter and wife-to-be Tish (KiKi Layne) vividly recalls the passion, respect and trust that have connected her and her artist fiancé Alonzo Hunt (Stephan James), who goes by the nickname Fonny. Friends since childhood, the devoted couple dream of a future together, but their plans are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit.
CHI-RAQ
After the murder of a child by a stray bullet, a group of women, led by Lysistrata (Teyonah Parris), organise against the on-going violence in Chicago’s Southside creating a movement that challenges the nature of race, sex and violence in America and around the world.
42 – The True Story of an American Legend
In 1946, Jackie Robinson is a Negro League baseball player who never takes racism lying down. Branch Rickey is a Major League team executive with a bold idea. To that end, Rickey recruits Robinson to break the unspoken colour line as the first modern African American Major League player. As both anticipate, this proves a major challenge for Robinson and his family as they endure unrelenting racist hostility on and off the field, from player and fan alike. As Jackie struggles against his nature to endure such abuse without complaint, he finds allies and hope where he least expects it. Starring the late Chad Boseman.
Anita
A profile of Anita Hill, the African American lawyer who challenged Clarence Thomas’ nomination to the US Supreme Court and thus exposed the problem of sexual harassment to the world.
Black or White
Starring Academy Award Winners Octavia Spencer and Kevin Costner. When Elliot is left to care for his granddaughter Eloise by himself, Eloise’s paternal grandmother seeks custody, drawing them into a long and uncertain battle, leaving Eloise not only torn between two families but two worlds.
Crown Heights
In 1980, police in Brooklyn, N.Y., wrongfully charge Trinidadian immigrant Colin Warner (LaKeith Stanfield) with murder. Convicted for a crime he didn’t commit, Colin spends 20 years in prison while his friend Carl King fights for the young man’s freedom.
Farming
Told with brutal honesty, Farming is an unflinching autobiographical portrait of a young man who must battle the odds and realise that, in a world of hate, his toughest battle will be learning to love himself. Starring Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Damson Idris.
Kings
Millie (Halle Berry), a tough Los Angeles single foster mother and her neighbour Obie (Daniel Craig) must become allies as the city erupts in riots after the Rodney King trial in 1992.
In His Own Words – Barack Obama
Two interviews with 44th US President Barack Obama, conducted both before and after the 2016 presidential election which saw Donald Trump succeed him, in which he offers his first-hand account of his time in office. Plus, Chuck Todd details the President’s aggressive policy push after the mid-term elections.
Little White Lie
Lacey Schwartz grew up convinced she was white. She has copper skin, black curls, and full lips – features which distinguish her instantly from her Jewish parents. But it wasn’t until she was 18 that she learned the truth: her real father was black. Eight years in the making and put together by Lacey herself, Little White Lietells the compelling story of an uncomfortable, unacknowledged truth.
Desmond’s
This sitcom follows Desmond, who runs Desmond’s Barber Shop in Peckham, south east London. His shop is the hub for the community’s social scene. Starring Norman Beaton and Carmen Munroe.
