Philadelphia Films: Videos from the Tri-Co Libraries

VHS format. Lecture demonstration with women tappers from Philadelphia and New York City. Recorded performances at Lang Performing Arts Center, Swarthmore College, Nov. 1, 1992.

Archival DVD made from VHS. Narrated by recording artist Patti LaBelle, Black Philadelphia Memories weaves together the recollections of historians, entertainers and relatives of famous Philadelphians to tell the story of a city with a dynamic African-American community through archival footage and photographs. Interviews include: daughters of Cecil B. Moore; the nephew of contralto Marian Anderson; Mitch Thomas. Specific events documented: the Christmas Cotillion; the Negro League's Philadelphia Stars; first graduates of Girard College; inaugration of Mayor W. Wilson Goode.

Documentary on the Mother's Day, May 13, 1985 Philadelphia police bombing of the M.O.V.E. organization in the Cobbs Creek section of Philadelphia, as told from the perspective of the neighboring residents of Osage Avenue, which resulted in the destruction of 61 homes on Osage Avenue and the death of 11 MOVE members.

Documents the confrontation between the city of Philadelphia and MOVE, a small radical group, which took place on May 13, 1985. Describes the complaints of the neighbors which were responded to by the police with tear gas, automatic weapons, and bombs.

First program on Disc 2 of Africans In America.
In this third episode, during the first 50 years of the new nation, freedmen and fugitive slaves in Philadelphia push the country to live up to the promises made in its Constitution. But with the invention of the cotton gin, slavery expands into America's western frontier, and a revolution in Haiti inspires slave rebellions throughout the southern United States,

VHS format. Celebrates the work of dancer Ione Nash, a 74-year-old African American woman who has been teaching dance in community centers in Philadelphia for more than thirty years. Includes interviews with several of her students, members of her dance troupe, her drummer/longtime collaborator Skip Burton, and others.

Tells the personal stories of the dancers at Philadanco -- the Philadelphia-based African-American modern dance company.

A found footage film that unwinds like a great thriller about the 1985 feud between the city of Philadelphia and the radical urban group MOVE.

VHS format. A biography of virtuosa Marian Anderson from the time she sang spirituals as a child at the Union Baptist Church in Philadelphia to the beginning of her classical career in Europe in the 1930's, her return to the United States, her eventual appearance at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1955 (the first black person to perform there), to her retirement in 1965, "a national treasure."

Features African American women tap dancers whose careers spanned the 1930s to the 1990s. Featured artists: Hortense Allen Jordan, Kitty DeChavis, Isabelle Fambro, Edith "Baby Edwards" Hunt, Germaine Ingram, Delores and David McHarris, LaVaughn Robinson, Libby Spencer, The cast of Stepping in Time, The Johnny Williams Band.

Philadelphia is often overlooked as a city that makes enormous contributions to hip hop music. Despite this, it continues to showcase many hip hop artists many of whom are female. This film seeks to show the struggles and the stories of these female artists who are making a name for themselves in a male dominated industry.

This documentary traces the work of Chinese-born artist and activist Lily Yeh, who uses art to create social change in Philadelphia's inner city and in Korogochi, a village near Nairobi, Kenya. 2000 Emmy Award for Cultural Documentary; 1999 First Prize for Documentary Excellence; 2000 Gabriel Award.

he true story of the brutal murder of Korean exchange student In Ho Oh by a group of eleven black teenagers in Philadelphia during the spring of 1958. The film examines the background and trial of the teenagers, and the response from In Ho Oh's Christian parents, in the form of a letter, asking for forgiveness and mercy for the murderers. The film ends with the funeral ceremony at Old Pine St. Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia. Originally produced as a motion picture in 1959.

Face to Face explores the high-school aged Asian-American experience in Philadelphia. Includes interviews with youths discussing the impact of racism, stereotypes, police/community relationships, and gangs on Philadelphia's teenage Asian-American population.

VHS format. Stories from Philadelphia's Chinatown. Illustrates the strength and complexity of this urban neighborhood, and focuses on the role of folk arts and cultural expression in the community's continuing struggles for respect and survival.

Details the history of 57 Irish railroad workers who died mysteriously in eastern Pennsylvania, less than six weeks after arriving in America.

VHS format. A traditional Italian wedding is used as a backdrop to showcase the rich culture of South Philadelphia's Italian neighborhood in this documentary.

While younger generations continue the family musical traditions today, Elaine Hoffman Watts and many members of the Hoffman and Watts families trace their musical artistry through symphonic to jazz to popular to klezmer. "The film shows how Elaine (her Yiddish name is 'Eatala'), a feisty and determined musician, has broken barriers--as a musician, a working mother, and in her persistent devotion to her family's klezmer music." A Philadelphia Folklore Project documentary.

On February 22, 1882, the S.S. Illinois docked at the foot of Federal Street on the Delaware River in south Philadelphia. Among the passengers on board were 225 Russian Jewish refugees. By the close of World War I almost 40 years later, this trickle of refugees had soared to over 100,000 Jewish immigrants, making South Philadelphia at one time the second largest inner city Jewish neighborhood in North America. This important, flourishing and vastly under documented Jewish community was preceded in size only by New York's Lower East Side. After World War II, the Jews began leaving South Philadelphia for other parts of the city and surrounding suburbs. At the close of the century, the original Jewish immigrant community of South Philadelphia has dwindled to less than 500 people. Using interviews, archival photographs, home movies and present day footage of the remaining community, this video documents this one thriving Jewish neighborhood and illuminates the lives of those who once lived, worked and worshiped there.

Explores the world of the Jewish soldier in World War II through the eyes of six men from Philadelphia.

Documents the Jewish community of the Delaware Valley, past and present.

VHS format. Documents the history of klezmer as it existed in Philadelphia in the first half of the 20th century. Includes interviews with musicians from that time, and with Hankus Netsky, the instigator of the klezmer revival of the 1980s and 1990s. Also includes some recent performance footage.

Adelante showcases an Irish Catholic church on the outskirts of Philadelphia that is attracting the patronage of Mexican immigrants in the area. With a personal glimpse at the lives of the vibrant community members - a remarkable Irish American priest, young Mexican immigrants, and older Irish parishioners - the film shows how churchgoers from various backgrounds have forged meaningful and heartfelt bonds of friendship and understanding.