If Beale Street Could Talk

If Beale Street Could Talk 2018

6.95

After her fiance is falsely imprisoned, a pregnant African-American woman sets out to clear his name and prove his innocence.

2018

Honey

Honey 2003

6.32

Honey Daniels dreams of making a name for herself as a hip-hop choreographer. When she's not busy hitting downtown clubs with her friends, she teaches dance classes at a nearby community center in Harlem, N.Y., as a way to keep kids off the streets. Honey thinks she's hit the jackpot when she meets a hotshot director casts her in one of his music videos. But, when he starts demanding sexual favors from her, Honey makes a decision that will change her life.

2003

Uncle Drew

Uncle Drew 2018

6.70

Uncle Drew recruits a squad of older basketball players to return to the court to compete in a tournament.

2018

Precious

Precious 2009

7.32

Set in Harlem in 1987, Claireece "Precious" Jones is a 16-year-old African American girl born into a life no one would want. She's pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother, an angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is chaotic and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and a secret; She can't read.

2009

Paris Is Burning

Paris Is Burning 1991

8.00

Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.

1991

The Last Dragon

The Last Dragon 1985

6.39

A young man searches for the "master" to obtain the final level of martial arts mastery known as the glow. Along the way he must fight an evil martial arts expert and rescue a beautiful singer from an obsessed music promoter.

1985

The Wiz

The Wiz 1978

6.00

Dorothy Gale, a shy kindergarten teacher, is swept away to the magic land of Oz where she embarks on a quest to return home.

1978

The Cotton Club

The Cotton Club 1984

6.52

Harlem's legendary Cotton Club becomes a hotbed of passion and violence as the lives and loves of entertainers and gangsters collide.

1984

Nueva York: A Musical History of Latin New York

Nueva York: A Musical History of Latin New York 2021

8.00

When the film West Side Story was released in 1961, New York's reviled Puerto Rican community gained some visibility and, over time, both in Spanish Harlem and the Bronx, neighborhoods plagued by poverty, drugs and crime, Hispanic identity was reborn and strengthened, thanks to a syncretic and intentionally popular music that eventually conquered the entire city.

2021

Harlem Nights

Harlem Nights 1989

6.06

'Sugar' Ray is the owner of an illegal casino and must contend with the pressure of vicious gangsters and corrupt police who want to see him go out of business. In the world of organised crime and police corruption in the 1920s, any dastardly trick is fair.

1989

Music of the Heart

Music of the Heart 1999

6.69

Story of a schoolteacher's struggle to teach violin to inner-city Harlem kids.

1999

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) 2021

7.64

During the same summer as Woodstock, over 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival, celebrating African American music and culture, and promoting Black pride and unity. The footage from the festival sat in a basement, unseen for over 50 years, keeping this incredible event in America's history lost — until now.

2021

Passing

Passing 2021

6.27

In 1920s New York City, a Black woman finds her world upended when her life becomes intertwined with a former childhood friend who's passing as white.

2021

Lady Sings the Blues

Lady Sings the Blues 1972

6.88

Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday. Her late childhood, stint as a prostitute, early tours, marriages and drug addiction are featured.

1972

1 Berlin-Harlem

1 Berlin-Harlem 1974

1.00

An African-American GI retires from the US Army in West Berlin to live with his (white) girlfriend, who already has a baby with another black man. After an argument with her family, she deserts him as well. Despite finding a job and a new place to live, he keeps running into racism, which also manifests itself in sexual intimidation.

1974

Sugar Hill

Sugar Hill 1994

5.60

In the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, the Mafia steps in when a drug dealer quits his partner brother to lead a straight life with his girlfriend.

1994

A Rage in Harlem

A Rage in Harlem 1991

5.36

A beautiful black gangster's moll flees to Harlem with a trunkload of gold after a shootout, unaware that the rest of the gang, and a few other unsavoury characters, are on her trail. A pudgy momma's boy becomes the object of her affections and the unlikely hero of the tale.

1991

Ride

Ride 1998

6.00

A group of young people leave Harlem for a bus trip down to Miami. The voyage starts off with problems, but it ends up becoming a learning experience, as they end up finding things out about each other they had not previously known.

1998

Sparkle

Sparkle 1976

7.60

Three sisters start out singing in their church choir in Harlem in the late 1950s and become a successful girl group in the 1960s.

1976

Congo Cabaret

Congo Cabaret 2018

1

Harlem, 1926. A “sweetman” Zeddy, living off a woman, brings a country girl he’s trying to impress to a gay-owned cabaret. There he meets a friend, Jake, whose girlfriend, Congo Rose, is the singer there. Drama swirls around the characters as Zeddy confronts the cabaret owner, about his sexuality. Congo Rose, seeking to reignite her man’s fading interest, puts on a performance, with her Pansy Dancer, of a Bessie Smith song that seduces the whole room, especially Zeddy.

2018

Godfather of Harlem

Godfather of Harlem 2019

8.10

Loosely based on infamous crime boss Bumpy Johnson, who in the early 1960s returned from ten years in prison to find the neighborhood he once ruled in shambles. With the streets controlled by the Italian mob, Bumpy attempts to regain his piece of Harlem.

2019

Amos 'n' Andy

Amos 'n' Andy 1951

7.50

A sitcom set in Manhattan's historic black community of Harlem.

1951

By Whatever Means Necessary: The Times of Godfather of Harlem

By Whatever Means Necessary: The Times of Godfather of Harlem 2020

1

Inspired by the music and subjects featured in the series “Godfather of Harlem,” this documentary series brings alive the dramatic true story of Harlem and its music during the 1960s, and connects that history to our present moment.

2020

Black Ink Crew New York

Black Ink Crew New York 2013

7.86

Reality series chronicling the daily operations and staff drama at an African American-owned and operated tattoo shop in Harlem, New York.

2013

I Remember Harlem

I Remember Harlem 1981

1

William Miles’s landmark epic documents the early settlement of the Village of Harlem in the 17th century to the specter of urban renewal and redevelopment in the 1970s. The film chronicles the centuries of change and political and artistic expression that has made this complex hamlet the capital of urban America.

1981