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Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a day to reflect on the legacy of one of the most important leaders the world has ever seen, and for those who want a deeper dive into the life and impact of MLK Jr., there are a number of films worth checking out. On this national holiday, we’ve rounded up a list of some of the best MLK Jr. movies to watch and where to stream them. They range from narrative films that take some liberties to dramatize the civil rights leader’s life, to deep-dive documentaries.

Photo credit: Paramount Pictures “Selma”

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay’s 2014 film “Selma” offers a wonderfully complex portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr. that chronicles the man’s inspiring impact, but also doesn’t neglect his personal challenges. The film covers the events surrounding the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches, with David Oyelowo playing the role of Martin Luther King Jr.

Co-Presented by the Hong Kong Arts Centre and the U.S. Consulate General Hong Kong & Macau, moving image programme Larger Than Life: the American Civil Rights Movement in Documentaries takes place online from 25 February to 1 March 2021. To commemorate Black History Month and promote cultural and racial harmony in Hong Kong, this film showcase introduces major forces of the African-American civil rights movement with a focus from the 1950s to the 1970s, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, the Black Panthers and Shirley Chisholm. Their philosophies still affect racial, class and gender relations in America and the world to this day. This is an occasion to celebrate their influential roles in contributing to the social progress towards greater political and cultural understanding. There will be after-screening talks to further introduce the featured legendary figures, and a talk on racial relations in Hong Kong to accompany this showcase. For more details,...

HBO is celebrating Black History Month by making many of its most popular black-driven TV shows and movies available to stream for free online. It’s part of the network’s “Black History Is Our History” spotlight page, which aims to highlight HBO’s “diverse and expansive slate of content” and “rich history of amplifying Black stories and talent.”

Among the HBO shows and films available to stream online free: select episodes of Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You, the critically-acclaimed Lovecraft Country, the Serena Williams documentary Being Serena,...

To commemorate Black History Month and promote cultural and racial harmony in Hong Kong, moving image showcase Larger Than Life: the American Civil Rights Movement in Documentaries introduces major forces of the African-American civil rights movement with a focus from the 1950s to 1970s, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, the Black Panthers and Shirley Chisholm. Their philosophies still affect racial, class and gender relations in America and the world to this day. This is an occasion to celebrate their influential roles in contributing to the social progress towards greater political and cultural understanding. There will be after-screening talks to further introduce the featured legendary figures, and a talk on racial relations in Hong Kong to accompany this showcase.

Venue: Online (Screenings & After-screening talks); Africa Center Hong Kong (Talk)

Date: 2021.02.25 – 2021.03.01

Price: Free of charge

Programme Schedule:

25/2 (Thu) 8:00pm* ** King in the Wilderness

26/2 (Fri) 8:00pm* ** Malcolm X:...

Updated with more networks: Several broadcast and cable networks are commemorating Juneteenth on Friday by offering special programming to celebrate the holiday, which traditionally marks the end of slavery in the U.S.

The holiday is also being recognized by a growing number of media and entertainment companies who are shuttering their U.S. offices for the day.

Below is a listing of what networks are offering. Keep checking back as we continue to update it.

TBS/TNT/Tru TV

The WarnerMedia sibling nets are doing a “roadblock” — where all three simulcast the same programming — for the Disney/Marvel feature Black Panther (2018) and Warner Bros Just Mercy (2019). The films will air back to back with limited commercial interruption starting at 7 p.m. Et/4 p.m. Pt. Host Anthony Anderson will be joined by guests to talk about the personal impact these films had on their lives and the culture. They...

Shortlist of 15 films to be announced on December 17.

Us box office hits Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Rbg, Three Identical Strangers and Free Solo have made it on to the 166-strong longlist of documentary feature Oscar hopefuls.

The shortlist of 15 films will be announced on December 17. Thursday’s (8) longlist includes Fahrenheit 11/9, Crime + Punishment, Generation Wealth, Maria By Calas, The Price Of Everything, Pope Francis – A Man of His Word, Ruben Blades Is Not My Name, Shirkers, They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead, Trust Machine, and Matangi / Maya / M.I.A. are also in contention.

A...

A total of 166 films have been submitted for consideration in the documentary feature category for the 91st Academy Awards.

Notable titles up for the gold include “Rbg,” “Three Identical Strangers,” “Free Solo” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” — which have performed strongly at the box office. Fred Rogers documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” has grossed $22.6 million domestically.

Nine of the 10 titles named as finalists for the International Documentary Association’s top feature are on the list, including “Crime + Punishment,” “Dark Money,” “Free Solo,” “Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” “Minding the Gap,” “Of Fathers and Sons,” “The Silence of Others,” “United Skates” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences noted that several of the 166 films have not yet had their required Los Angeles and New York qualifying runs. A shortlist of 15 movies will be announced on Dec. 17.

Nominations...

Last year, the Academy documentary branch had to grapple with a record 170 documentary feature submissions for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar. This year, it’s not so bad: only 166 were entered. The short list of 15 will be announced, along with eight others for the first time on a single date this year: December 17.

All year, branch members have been getting lists of secure online screeners available to watch on the Academy website, increasing in volume until last month, when they received a batch of 77, with more to come. It’s a burden to watch them all, so the ones with the most attention move to the top of the much-watch list. Give the advantage to early box office hits that were made available in the summer such as “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” “Rbg,” and “Three Identical Strangers,” as well as September’s list including critically hailed “Dark Money,...

Last year, the Academy documentary branch had to grapple with a record 170 documentary feature submissions for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar. This year, it’s not so bad: only 166 were entered. The short list of 15 will be announced, along with eight others for the first time on a single date this year: December 17.

All year, branch members have been getting lists of secure online screeners available to watch on the Academy website, increasing in volume until last month, when they received a batch of 77, with more to come. It’s a burden to watch them all, so the ones with the most attention move to the top of the much-watch list. Give the advantage to early box office hits that were made available in the summer such as “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” “Rbg,” and “Three Identical Strangers,” as well as September’s list including critically hailed “Dark Money,...

A whopping 166 documentary features have been submitted to the academy for consideration at the 2019 Oscars. That is down by four from last year’s record 170 submissions. Among these contenders are all of the highest grossing documentaries of the year including “Free Solo,” “Rbg” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”

To winnow the entries down to the 15 semi-finalists that will be announced on December 17, the academy is sending monthly packages of the newly eligible documentary feature screeners to all 400 or so members of the documentary branch. While all members are encouraged to watch as many of these as they can, one-fifth of the voters are assigned each title. In late November, each branch member will submit a preferential ballot listing their top 15 choices.

See 2019 Oscars: Foreign-language film entries from A (Afghanistan) to Y (Yemen)

All of these ballots will be collated to determine the 15 semi-finalists. Branch members will then be...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said today that 166 films have been submitted for Feature Documentary consideration for the 91st Academy Awards. Among them are box office success stories Rgb, Three Identical Strangers, Free Solo and Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

The Academy notes that several of the films have not yet had their required Los Angeles and New York qualifying releases. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and comply with all of the category’s other qualifying rules in order to advance in the voting process. This year, for the first time, films that have won a qualifying award at a competitive film festival or have been submitted in the Foreign Language Film category as their country’s official selection, are also eligible in the category.

A shortlist of 15 films will be announced on December 17, and Oscar nominations will be unveil January 22. The hardware...

In a year that has seen multiple documentaries find mainstream success, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released the list of 166 docs that have been submitted for Oscar consideration this year.

Among the films on the list are Michael Moore’s anti-Trump polemic “Fahrenheit 11/9,” as well as CNN Films’ Ruth Bader Ginsburg biography “Rbg” and Focus’ Mister Rogers retrospective “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”

Other films considered frontrunners include “Three Identical Strangers,” the wild story of triplets who were separated at birth by a bizarre experiment, “Free Solo,” which documents the first ever attempt to climb Yosemite’s El Capitan without any climbing gear, and “Dark Money,” an investigative report into the influence of billionaires on American democracy through the lens of a Montana congressional race.

Also Read: Sorry, Oscar Documentary Voters: Your Workload Just Doubled

The contender field is slightly less than last year’s record field of 170 but does include,...

Award-winning filmmaker Peter Kunhardt has not one but two documentaries in the running for Emmys this year—one that came out in April and another that is just about to make its debut.

John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls, his film on the ailing senior senator from Arizona, is set to premiere on HBO on Memorial Day, a fitting date given the title subject’s renown as a Vietnam War hero (notwithstanding President Trump’s comments to the contrary) and Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“We began following [Sen. McCain] and filming him about three weeks after he announced last summer that he had brain cancer,” Kunhardt tells Deadline. “He very smartly knew that he would have a limited time to give us his story with all his memory intact so he gave us terrific access early on. He also put us in touch with all the members of his family,...

Updated, 12:06 Pm: HBO said today that its documentary about the long-serving Arizona senator will be titled John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls and will premiere at 8 Pm Monday, May 28. That’s Memorial Day — appropriate for a film about the man who served 5 1/2 years as a Pow in North Vietnam after being shot down over Hanoi in 1967.

Previously, April 16: John McCain certainly has led an extraordinary American life, and now HBO has begun work on a documentary about the six-term senator, 2008 Gop presidential nominee and longtime Vietnam Pow.

Produced and directed by multiple Emmy winner Peter Kunhardt, along with his Emmy-winning sons George Kunhardt and Teddy Kunhardt (Jim: The James Foley Story), the untitled film is an exclusive profile of one of the most influential forces in modern American politics.

Having served 31 years as the U.

On April 4, 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. gathered his friends, followers and even some foes into Manhattan's Riverside Church, where he passionately disavowed the Vietnam War in a moving speech. He would be assassinated one year later. More than 50 years later, friends and followers of King returned to Riverside Church on Monday, this time to witness the premiere of the new documentary <i>King in the Wilderness. </i>

Directed by Peter Kunhardt (<i>Living With Lincoln</i>, <i>Jim: The James Foley Story</i>), <i>King in the Wilderness</i> is an exploration of the civil rights icon's life after his “...

On April 4, 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. gathered his friends, followers and even some foes into Manhattan's Riverside Church, where he passionately disavowed the Vietnam War in a moving speech. He would be assassinated one year later. More than 50 years on, friends and followers of King returned to Riverside Church on Monday, this time to witness the premiere of the new documentary King in the Wilderness.

Directed by Peter Kunhardt (Living With Lincoln, Jim: The James Foley Story), King in the Wilderness is an exploration of the civil rights icon's life after his “I Have a Dream” speech ended. The HBO doc...

"He was conflicted, but his love was unchallengeable." HBO Documentaries has revealed the first official trailer for a documentary titled King in the Wilderness, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. HBO will be debuting the film exclusively starting in early April, and it looks like a must-see doc with a few different perspectives on the iconic Martin Luther King. Filmmaker Peter Kunhardt chronicles the last few years of Mlk's life and portrays a "conflicted leader" who, after the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965, faced an onslaught of criticism from both sides of the political spectrum. Thanks to a few revelatory conversations with his inner circle of friends, the film unearths a stirring new perspective into Dr. King's character, his radical doctrine of nonviolence, and his internal philosophical struggles prior to his assassination in 1968. If you think you know everything about him, there's even more. This looks fantastic.

By Peter BelsitoThere were three Sundance films thus year that brought me back to my youthful days of activism, anti war protests and civil rights rallies.‘King in the Wilderness’ is about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s last years when the movement he led changed, when the country and the black population changed — very radically.

The film about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s last three years is mostly told with film interviews with his surviving colleagues who were with him then. This is an interesting, and I think, successful approach when mixed with the contemporary news footage.

This one was about civil rights mostly but also focused on his political activities where, in his final days, he was drawn to anti-war and black power activities while trying to keep up with a changing scene in the country.

I remember when we activists no longer looked to him for...

What makes a documentary suited to a theatrical release—and all the expense and effort associated with it? And when are they more appropriate for smaller screens? After several straight months of disappointing box-office sales for most nonfiction films, including several hits from last year’s Sundance, this question would seem to be a pressing one out of this year’s film festival. But the answer—as evidenced by the few distribution deals that closed before and during Sundance, those that are still pending, and those that should be—isn’t so easy to nail down, though some combination of topicality, celebrity or artistry certainly comes into play.

Before Sundance kicked off, Oscar-winner Morgan Neville’s Mister Rogers film “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” was one of the few documentaries to already have a major theatrical distributor (Focus Features) behind it—and its rapturous Park City unveiling appeared to justify it.