Tre Styles is a bright, decent kid trying to stay that way in a violent, drug-ridden neighbourhood. As he and his friends struggle with life, love and career decisions, the heat on the street is rising. A gripping, intelligent and highly moving account of urban survival. Brilliant soundtrack too.

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Italians, Koreans and African Americans are struggling to keep a lid on the tensions within their Brooklyn community, but Sal's pizza parlour provides the perfect social hub for the neighbourhood. However, as a sweltering hot day drags slowly on, racial tensions evolve from petty bickering to full scale violence and ... WHY WON'T THAT GUY TURN OFF HIS FREAKIN' RADIO!!!! Excuse me. A controversial but mature film from Spike Lee. Incendiary, compelling and highly recommended.

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Through the eyes of Stan, a sensitive dreamer who is growing detached and numb from the psychic toll of working at a slaughterhouse, we observe the black Los Angeles ghetto of Watts in the mid-1970s. Frustrated by money problems, Stan finds respite in moments of simple beauty: the warmth of a coffee cup against his cheek, slow dancing with his wife in the living room, holding his daughter. Killer of Sheep offers no solution to Stan's world, merely a presentation of his life and those around him; find out more...

A generic, but nevertheless, reasonably good warts and all biopic of Christopher Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls, aka The Notorious B.I.G., from a drug dealing chilhood in a Brooklyn ghetto, through arrest, prison, his relationship problems, basic criminality and on to his success as a rap artist before his 1997 murder. find out more...

A depiction of the struggle of three siblings (who are 'passing') to survive the mean streets of Manhattan, 'Shadows' was Cassavetes' jazz-scored "improvisational" film exploring interracial friendships and relationships in Beat-Era (1950s) New York City. Made from a script supposedly improvised (it was in fact well rehearsed in a NY studio for weeks before shooting began) by a talented cast, Shadows marks a vital new era in independent filmmaking. find out more...

One of the most successful blaxploitation movies of the 70s; Priest decides to sink everything into one big deal, the one that will get him out of the urban-poverty-crime nightmare. Harlem and its people are authentically depicted and both the action sequences and Curtis Mayfield's score are excellent. find out more...

Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff more than holds his own in this now cult-classic. Jamaican country boy Ivan travels to Kingston with dreams of becoming a big recording star, but his naive optimism is gradually destroyed by the web of corruption he finds there. Great story and a stonking soundtrack. find out more...