Media Beat

Documentary Spotlight: Engage Faculty and Students with Research Films

Media Services would like to highlight these documentaries in February that are perfect for enriching teaching and research. Explore timely and impactful topics like Black Fiddlers (Ethnomusicology), Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space (Harlem Renaissance, Writer) and Wade in the Water: A Journey into Black Surfing and Aquatic Culture (History, Surfing), all of which foster critical thinking and deeper student engagement.

All titles are freely available to the IUB community via IUCAT. On and off-campus streaming is available with an IU CAS login.

Split image of three African American male violinists from early 20th century.

Black Fiddlers (2022, 60min.) Director: Eduardo Montes-Bradley. A further exploration of Iris Thompson Chapman’s documentary, “The Life and Times of Joe Thompson,” the last known African-American fiddler in North Carolina with a singular style that could be traced, in Joe Thompson’s own remarks, “all the way back to the 1700’s”. Black Fiddlers is a film exploring the legacy of African-Americans who contributed to shaping the cultural landscape of American folklore. The film traces the personal and family stories of violin players of African descent in New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, Texas, Missouri, and as far as Oregon during the Indian Wars and the Gold Rush. Watch the original documentary, The Life and Times of Joe Thompson, via Filmstreams.

An image of an African American woman in a diving suit.

Wade in the Water: A Journey into Black Surfing and Aquatic Culture (2024, 62min.) Director: David Mesfin. Led by historical experts and community leaders in the BIPOC surfing movement, Wade in the Water resurrects the thousand-year-old Black surfing tradition, stirring the next generation of Black surfers. The film explores the neglected history of Black surfing’s heritage by charting the origins of African aquatic culture and examining the evolution of Black surfing through the modern day. Explore related title: Episode 3, LA, It’s a Vibe (America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston)

Split image of filmmaker Tracy Heather Strain and Zora Neale Hurston.

Zora Neale Hurston, Claiming a Space (2023, 113min.) Director: Tracy Heather Strain. Zora Neale Hurston has long been considered a literary giant of the Harlem Renaissance, but her anthropological and ethnographic endeavors were equally important and impactful. This is an in-depth biography of the influential author whose groundbreaking anthropological work would challenge assumptions about race, gender and cultural superiority that had long defined the field in the 19th century. Explore related title: The Harlem Renaissance

Images courtesy of: Black Fiddlers ; Wade in the Water (all Indiana residents can check out the DVD), Zora Neale Hurston

Monique Threatt, Head, Media Services since 2001.

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