Starts May 3 at Film Forum before touring select cities!

This essential collection features 15 films, including seven new restorations, by the prolific independent director whose pioneering explorations of contemporary Black life paved the way for generations. Presented in partnership with the Library of Congress.

Within Our Gates
1920 | U.S. | 73 min | In English
Written and Directed By: Oscar Micheaux
Starring: Evelyn Preer, William Starks, Floy Clements
4K DCP restoration from materials preserved by the Library of Congress

The Notorious Elinor Lee
1940 | U.S. | 72 min | In English
Written and Directed By: Oscar Micheaux
Starring: Gladys Williams, Robert Earl Jones, Edna Mae Harris
DCP restoration from materials preserved by the Library of Congress

Birthright
1938 | U.S. | 73 min | In English
Written and Directed By: Oscar Micheaux
Based on the Novel By: T.S. Stribling
Starring: Carman Newsome, Alec Lovejoy, Ethel Moses

Body and Soul
1925 | U.S. | 92 min | In English
Written and Directed By: Oscar Micheaux
Starring: Paul Robeson, Mercedes Gilbert, Julia Theresa Russell
4K restoration by the George Eastman Museum.

The Girl from Chicago
1932 | U.S. | 70 min | In English
Written and Directed By: Oscar Micheaux
Starring: Grace Smith, Carl Mahon, Eunice Brooks, Star Calloway, Alice B. Russell

The Exile
1932 | U.S. | 93 min | In English
Written and Directed By: Oscar Micheaux
Starring: Eunice Brooks, Stanley Morrell, Celeste Cole, Carl Mahon

The Veiled Aristocrats
1932 | U.S. | 44 min | In English
Written and Directed By: Oscar Micheaux
Starring: Lorenzo Tucker, Laura Bowman
4K restoration by the George Eastman Museum.

God's Step Children
1938 | U.S. | 70 min | In English
Written By: Alice B. Russell and Oscar Micheaux
Directed By: Oscar Micheaux
Starring: Jacqueline Lewis, Ethel Moses, Alice B. Russell
4K DCP restoration by UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Ten Minutes to Live
1932 | U.S. | 58 min | In English
Written and Directed By: Oscar Micheaux
Starring: Lawrence Chenault, A. B. DeComathiere, Laura Bowman, Willor Lee Guilford

Swing!
1932 | U.S. | 68 min | In English
Written and Directed By: Oscar Micheaux
Starring: Cora Green, Hazel Diaz, Dorothy Van Engle

The Symbol of the Unconquered
1920 | U.S. | 60 min | Silent with English Subtitles
Written and Directed By: Oscar Micheaux
Starring: Iris Hall, Walker Thompson
DCP restoration by the Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique.

Lying Lips
1939 | U.S. | 73 min | In English
Written and Directed By: Oscar Micheaux
Starring: Edna Mae Harris, Carman Newsome, Robert Earl Jones

Underworld
1937 | U.S. | 76 min | In English
Written and Directed By: Oscar Micheaux
Based on the Novella By: Edna Mae Baker
Starring: Bee Freeman, Sol Johnson, Alfred 'Slick' Chester, Oscar Polk

Murder in Harlem
1935 | U.S. | 96 min | In English
Written and Directed By: Oscar Micheaux
Starring: Clarence Brooks, Dorothy Van Engle, Andrew S. Bishop, Alice B. Russell
4K DCP restoration from materials preserved in the G. William Jones Film and Video Collection, Southern Methodist University.