Stream Anti-Racist Films for Free

Film studios are releasing black-led films during the BLM protests

by
Rob LeFebvre
Rob LeFebvre
Senior News Editor
Rob LeFebvre is the Senior News Editor for Lifewire. He has been a freelance technology writer for more than 10 years with articles appearing in 148Apps, Cult of Mac, Engadget, and more.
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Rob LeFebvre
Published June 5, 2020
Updated June 5, 2020 05:07PM EDT

It’s important to learn to empathize with marginalized people, and perhaps more so as Black Lives Matter becomes a national focus. Films like these can help start an important conversation in your home. Now that they're free, there's no excuse not to check them out.

Michael B. Jordan in Just Mercy
 Warner Bros.

Warner Bros, Criterion, and other independent film studios are releasing their black-led, anti-racist films in the wave of Black Lives Matter (#BLM) protests that have occurred around the US and globe.

Warner Bros: Just Mercy stars Michael B Jordan and Jamie Foxx, which is about attorney Bryan Stevenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. Based on Stevenson's 2014 memoir, the movie has gathered critical acclaim both as a film in itself as well as a topical lightning rod in the wake of the #BLM protests. Warner Bros made the film free to stream at the beginning of June.

Criterion: IndieWire reports that the Criterion Collection has removed the paywall on select titles from black filmmakers as well as those by white artists who've released films that speak to the black experience. Films like Daughters of the Dust can be streamed from home for free without a subscription to the service.

Mongrel Media: This indie film company is offering a few titles on the black experience for free, as well, including I Am Not Your Negro, based on the unfinished James Baldwin work, Remember This House.

Bottom line: Ultimately, we all should be educating ourselves on the history and solutions to institutionalized racism. These films won't solve it for us, but making them available for free gives them a lift that could encourage more people spend time learning about this pressing issue.

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