This film is part of Rentals

Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project
The taped crusader: VHS nerds, media scholars and archive enthusiasts will appreciate this documentary about the African-American activist who recorded 30 years of TV news.
Documentary 2018 88 mins Not rated
Director: Matt Wolf
Overview
Everyone’s an amateur archivist these days, but few match the pre-internet dedication of public access TV producer Marion Stokes. Philadelphia’s visionary hoarder recorded 70,000 VHS tapes filled with news broadcasts, from 1979’s Iranian hostage crisis to the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012. Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project shows how this librarian, computer collector and Star Trek-loving civil rights activist quickly perceived the ways 24-hour cable television was rewiring viewers’ minds. Hence her obsessive preservation project, captured to brilliant effect by celebrated documentarian Matt Wolf, who previously directed Teenage (2013). Enhanced by Owen Pallet’s score, the film’s cathode ray tube textures and armchair sensory overload will mesmerise everyone, from curious cultural historians to extreme analogue technology fetishists.
Related
Documentary

IWOW: I Walk on Water IWOW: I Walk on Water
Documentary 2020 199 mins Director: Khalik Allah
The monumental new diary film from New York-based director and photographer Khalik Allah.

Pride & Protest Pride & Protest
Documentary 2020 90 mins Director: Blaise Singh
The modern face of protest is the focus of this timely and necessary documentary.

A Glitch in the Matrix A Glitch in the Matrix
Documentary 2020 109 mins Director: Rodney Ascher
What if we are living in a simulation, and the world as we know it is not real? Acclaimed documentarian Rodney Ascher (Room 237) dives down the rabbit hole of science, philosophy, and conspiracy theory.

The Capote Tapes The Capote Tapes
Documentary 2019 95 mins Director: Ebs Burnough
This intimate documentary reveals the rise and fall of Truman Capote, one of America’s most iconic writers.

Assassins Assassins
Documentary 2020 104 mins Director: Ryan White
Extraordinary documentary of the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, half-brother of North Korea’s Leader Kim Jon Un, that sparked a worldwide media frenzy.

76 Days 76 Days
Documentary 2020 93 mins Director: Weixi Chen
A raw and intimate documentary that captures the struggles and human resilience in the battle to survive the pandemic in Wuhan, China.
Black Star

I Am Not Your Negro I Am Not Your Negro
Documentary 2016 94 mins Director: Raoul Peck
Raoul Peck’s penetrating and acclaimed documentary reconstructs an unfinished manuscript by James Baldwin, chronicler of America’s Civil Rights Movement.

Rafiki Rafiki
Drama 2018 83 mins Director: Wanuri Kahiu
Romantic sparks fly between the daughters of two opposing politicians in Wanuri Kahiu’s neon-bright story of forbidden love in Kenya.

Dear White People Dear White People
Comedy 2014 108 mins Director: Justin Simien
The diversification of an all-black residence hall forces a group of African-American university students to take a stand on their own cultural beliefs and identities.

One Man and His Shoes One Man and His Shoes
Documentary 2020 83 mins Director: Yemi Bamiro
South Londoner Yemi Bamiro’s pacey, engrossing Michael Jordan documentary reveals the darker side of marketing trainers.

Miss Juneteenth Miss Juneteenth
Drama 2020 100 mins Director: Channing Godfrey Peoples
A soulful and uplifting drama of mother-daughter bonds and deferred dreams.

Billie Billie
Documentary 2019 98 mins Director: James Erskine
Part film-noir, part tragedy, this mesmerising documentary uncovers the true life of the legendary Billie Holiday.
New

White Colour Black White Colour Black
Drama 2016 83 mins Director: Joseph A. Adesunloye
A young mixed heritage man confronts the psychological complexities of his identity in this essential, truly cinematic discovery for anyone interested in Black British cinema.

IWOW: I Walk on Water IWOW: I Walk on Water
Documentary 2020 199 mins Director: Khalik Allah
The monumental new diary film from New York-based director and photographer Khalik Allah.

Synchronic Synchronic
Science Fiction 2019 102 mins Director: Justin Benson
Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan star as a pair of New Orleans paramedics who encounter a series of bizarre deaths linked to a new designer drug with otherworldly effects.

Pride & Protest Pride & Protest
Documentary 2020 90 mins Director: Blaise Singh
The modern face of protest is the focus of this timely and necessary documentary.

In the Mood for Love In the Mood for Love
Drama 2000 100 mins Director: Wong Kar Wai
Wong’s masterpiece is a heartbreaking story of illicit love that pulses with the ache and agony of repressed desire.

Happy Together Happy Together
Drama 1997 98 mins Director: Wong Kar Wai
A trip to Buenos Aires reveals the dark side of love as a gay couple (Leung and Cheung) struggle with jealousy, co-dependency and possessiveness as their turbulent relationship falls apart.