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Articles by Bedatri D. Choudhury

Black-and-white image of a young Black girl listening to the radio with her eyes closed. From Garrett Bradley’s ‘America.’ Courtesy of Museum of Modern Art
Screen Time: Week of October, 25 2021
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A screengrab from the BIPOC Doc Editors website showing the faces of its directory members. Courtesy of BIPOC Doc Editors.
BIPOC Doc Editors and Their Fight for Diverse Edit Rooms
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Filipino-American musician Arnel Pineda performing in a concert. He is wearing a black shirt and leather pants. Image from Ramona Diaz’s ‘Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey.’ Courtesy of Amazon Prime.
Screen Time: Week of October 18, 2021
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Karen Dalton is a white woman in a white sweater and blue jeans. She is playing a guitar and smoking a cigarette. Image from Richard Peete and Robert Yapkowitz’s ‘Karen Dalton: In My Own Time.’ Courtesy of The 2050 Group.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of October 11, 2021
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Animated image of Amin, an Afghan man with a dark beard and short hair. He islieing on a patterned rug. From Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s documentary ‘Flee.’ Image courtesy of TIFF.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of October 4, 2021
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Two female laundry workers are wearing floral aprons and standing against a wooden wall. From Lynne Sachs’ ‘The Washing Society.’ Courtesy of The Criterion Channel.
Screen Time: Week of September 27, 2021
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Chavela Vargas is a queer Latin American singer with grey hair. She is wearing a white shirt and is smiling. She is surrounded by trees and shrubs. Image from Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi’s ‘Chavela.’ Courtesy of Alicia Elena Pérez Duarte, Aubin Pictures.
Screen Time: Week of September 20, 2021
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Singer Alanis Morissette, a white woman with long black hair, is performing on stage against a blue lit background; she is holding a microphone, and her eyes are closed, From Alison Kaynman’s ‘Jagged.’ Courtesy of TIFF.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of September 13, 2021
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Muhammad Ali, a Black boxer, on a visit to his old grammar school in Louisville, KY, in 1977. He is surrounded by young Black children who are hugging him. From ‘Muhammad Ali,’ a four-part documentary from Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon. Photo by Michael Gaffney. Courtesy of PBS.
Screen Time: Week of September 13, 2021
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Julia Child is a white chef with short brown wavy hair. Here she is standing in her kitchen holding a tray of pastry. She is wearing a blue shirt underneath another brown one, and is smiling. Image from Julie Cohen and Betsy West’s ‘Julia.’ Courtesy of TIFF.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of September 6, 2021
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Survivors of the attack on the World Trade Center, covered in dust and debris. Image from Brian Knappenberger’s ‘Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror’ Courtesy of Netflix
Screen Time: Week of September 6, 2021
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Bob Ross is white artist with a brown afro and a mostly grey beard. He is riding a bouncy alligator ride in a playground. He is wearing a white shirt and blue jeans. Image from Joshua Rofé’s ‘Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed.’ Courtesy of Netflix.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of August 30 2021
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Mohammed Arif, a boy from Ethiopia, lies on his back with eyes looking up at the sky. Image from Jessica Beshir's 'Faya Dayi.' Courtesy of Cinetic Media.
Jessica Beshir's Documentary 'Faya Dayi' Sees Ethiopia In Black and White
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Soccer player Jessica McDonald is a Black woman in her 30s. Here, she is wearing a white shirt that says “FTBLR” and her hair is tied back. Image from Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine’s ‘LFG.’ Courtesy of HBO Max
Screen Time: Week of August 30, 2021
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Musa Hadid, the mayor of Ramallah is a middle-aged man with a moustache. He is waving to someone and is wearing sunglasses, and is wearing a grey jacket with a shirt and trousers. There are passersby and an ATM machine behind him. Image from David Osit’s 'Mayor.' Courtesy of David Osit and POV.
Screen Time: Week of August 23, 2021
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Caption: Janaé Bonsu is a young Black woman leading an activist gathering. She and her comrades are in yellow shirts that say “Say Her Name”. Image for Ashley O’Shay’s “Unapologetic”. Courtesy of David Magdael & Associates.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of August 16, 2021
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A young Afghani girl in a checkered headscarf helps her friend on a skateboarding ramp. Her friend is wearing skateboarding gear. They’re inside a training room with other young skateboarders. Image from Carol Dysinger’s ‘Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl).’ Courtesy of the filmmaking team.
Screen Time: Week of August 16, 2021
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A group of people on the street holding up signs that read 'Free Britney.' It’s daytime and they are wearing masks. Image from 'Framing Britney Spears.' Courtesy of New York Times Op Docs.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of August 9, 2021
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Silhouettes of six men against a setting sun. Image from Vittorio de Seta's 'Solfatara.' Courtesy of The Criterion Collection
Screen Time: Week of August 9, 2021
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Side profile of Amanda Knox, a white woman with short brown hair. She is wearing a leather jacket. Image from from Ron Blackhurst and Brian McGinn's 2016 film ‘Amanda Knox.’ Courtesy of Netflix.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of August 2, 2021
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Abebe Bikila is a Black Ethiopian marathoner seen here at the 1964 Summer Olympics at Tokyo. He has black hair, a moustache, and is wearing a black vest. Image from Kon Ichikawa’s ‘Tokyo Olympiad.’ Courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
Screen Time: Week of August 2, 2021
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A woman in a burqa, her face covered, standing with a child on her lap. There are people walking behind her. Image from Hogir Hirori’s 'Sabaya.' Courtesy of Susan Norget Film Promotion.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of July 28, 2021
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A young Chinese woman recording herself on an iPhone, holding a sneaker. There is a ring light in front of her. Image from Jessica Kingdon’s “Ascension.” Courtesy of Tribeca Festival
A Body of BIPOC Documentaries at Tribeca 2021
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An image of Betty Carter, a Black female jazz singer. She is smiling, wearing a golden yellow blouse and a headband. From Michelle Parkerson’s “. . . But Then, She’s Betty Carter”. Courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
Screen Time: Week of July 26, 2021
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Hundreds of undistributed plastic bottles of water lying on the ground in Puerto Rico. Image from “Landfall,” directed by Cecilia Aldarondo. Photo by Pablo Alvarez-Mesa. Courtesy of POV
Essential Doc Reads: Week of July 19, 2021
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Black-and-white image of French feminist filmmaker Carole Roussoupolos, whose films are now streaming on “Another Screen.” In the photo, she is pregnant and is filming using a handheld camera, with people looking on. Courtesy of Another Screen; Centre Audiovisuel Simone de Beauvoir, Paris.
Screen Time: Week of July 19, 2021
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Profile of Anthony Bourdain, a white man in a jacket, against blue and white stationary airplanes. Still from Morgan Neville’s ‘Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain.’ Courtesy of Cinetic Media.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of July 12, 2021
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Tennis player Naomi Osaka, an Afro-Japanese female tennis player on a tennis court wearing a multi-colored jacket, and a mask that says “Tamir Rice.” Still from Garrett Bradley’s Netflix series, ‘Naomi Osaka’. Courtesy of Netflix
Screen Time: Week of July 12, 2021
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A cameraperson wearing a kilt filming a Bruce Lee statue in Hong Kong. From Mark Cousins’ ‘The Story of Film: An Odyssey’. Courtesy of Music Box Films.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of July 12, 2021
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Black and white costumed New Orleanians celebrate Mardi Gras on the pedestal of a now absent confederate monument. From CJ Hunt and Darcy McKinnon’s The Neutral Ground. Photo by Paavo Hanninen. Courtesy of POV.
Screen Time: Week of July 5, 2021
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Lydia Lunch, a white woman with black hair cut in bangs. She is wearing bright blue contact lenses and red lipstick. From Beth B’s ‘Lydia Lunch: The War is Never Over’. Courtesy of Kino Lorber.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of June 28, 2021
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A sepia portrait of Jackie Collins, a white woman with permed hair and a leopard print blouse. Still from ‘LADY BOSS: The Jackie Collins Story’ (Directed by Laura Fairrie, Produced by John Battsek, Lizzie Gillett) Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival
Screen Time: Week of June 28, 2021
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Side angle black and white portrait of filmmaker Satyajit Ray. Courtesy Criterion Channel.
Uncovering Satyajit Ray's Documentaries
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Drone shot of many pink plastic ring floats on a water ride. A scene from ‘Ascension’ (Directed by Jessica Kingdon, Produced by Kira Simon-Kennedy, Jessica Kingdon, Nathan Truesdell). Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival
Essential Doc Reads: Week of June 21, 2021
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A protestor holds up a banner with Nasrin Sotoudeh’s photo. It says “Free Nasrin.” From 'Nasrin' (Director: Jeff Kaufman). Courtesy of David Magdael & Associates
Screen Time: Week of June 13, 2021
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Sly Stone, a Black male musician in violet and black, plays to a huge crowd in Questlove’s ‘Summer of Soul’ (Director: Questlove; Producer: David Dinerstein, Robert Fyvolent, Joseph Patel) Courtesy of Cinetic Media.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of June 13, 2021
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Lewis Erskine (1957-2021) is a middle-aged Black man with short dreads. He is wearing a grey t-shirt and black rimmed glasses. Image courtesy of Jean Tsien
Tributes for the Savant of Swing: Remembering Lewis Erskine (1957-2021)
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A drag performer in a golden dress, wearing a wig, smoking a cigarette. From Frank Simon's 'The Queen' Courtesy of Kino Lorber.
Screen Time: Week of June 7, 2021
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A BW photo of four young boys—one Black, three white—sitting on a building ledge
Essential Doc Reads: Week of May 31, 2021
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A Black man, wearing a blue polar fleece, leads a protest calling for reparations for victims of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre.
Screen Time: Week of May 31, 2021
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African women chefs in white hats and blue and yellow uniforms.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of May 24, 2021
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Mixed-media sculptural and painted representation of nature in the night
Screen Time: Week of May 24, 2021
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:A bald Black man with glasses teaches a young boy with black hair how to engrave a casket with a drill.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of May 17, 2021
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Three Black women in long skirts singing, one Black man playing the guitar. They are on stage. There are three microphones.
Screen Time: Week of May 17, 2021
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A Black boy, wearing a golden crown and a pink shirt, sits on the lap of a Black woman in a striped dress. A Black girl takes a photo.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of May 10, 2021
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From Outreach to Impact: Two Decades of Working Films
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The Battle for the Ballot: 'All In' Traces the History of Voter Suppression
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