Directed by Michael Roemer
3 Episodes
Now ninety-six years old, director Michael Roemer was always ahead of his time—and at last, after decades of neglect, the world is catching up to his profoundly humanist, unfailingly truthful vision. A Jewish refugee who escaped Nazi Germany as a child, Roemer has made only a handful of features, but each—the landmark portrait of Black American struggle NOTHING BUT A MAN, the wryly offbeat gangster comedy THE PLOT AGAINST HARRY, and the slow-burn domestic drama VENGEANCE IS MINE—is a small miracle of American independent filmmaking, rich in feeling for character and place and graced with a vérité authenticity that reveals deep insights into human relationships.
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1:31:43Episode 1Nothing but a Man
Episode 1
Directed by Michael Roemer • 1964 • United States
Starring Ivan Dixon, Abbey Lincoln, Julius HarrisMichael Roemer’s groundbreaking first feature, sensitively shot by his close collaborator Robert M. Young, is a still-resonant expression of humanity in the face of virulent prejudice. Made at the...
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1:20:26Episode 2The Plot Against Harry
Episode 2
Directed by Michael Roemer • 1969 • United States
Starring Martin Priest, Ben Lang, Maxine WoodsA treasure of American independent filmmaking that was neglected for decades until its triumphant rediscovery, writer-director-producer Michael Roemer’s feature follow-up to his landmark NOTHING BUT ...
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1:59:04Episode 3Vengeance Is Mine
Episode 3
Directed by Michael Roemer • 1984 • United States
Starring Brooke Adams, Jon DeVries, Ari MeyersLike director Michael Roemer’s prior features—the powerful civil-rights-era landmark NOTHING BUT A MAN and the offbeat mob comedy THE PLOT AGAINST HARRY—this continuously surprising, cuttingly incisi...