03/13/2026
An Illinois-born independent filmmaker and former Iowa resident’s story will be revealed onscreen in the feature-length documentary “Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking” on Sunday, March 22 at 2 p.m. at The Last Picture House, 325 E. 2nd St. in Davenport. A post-screening discussion follows with special guest historian Jordan Bell, from Roanoke, Virginia. Micheaux’s 1920 silent film “Within our Gates” will screen at 4:15 p.m. This special event is free. Seating for both shows is limited.
Truth First Film Alliance, Inc. is pleased to join with sponsors Azubuike African American Council for the Arts, Friends of MLK, Inc., the Rock Island County NAACP Chapter 3268B, the QC Film Office and the Northwest Illinois Film Office to present these important Black history films.
Directed by Francisco Zippel, “Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking” (2021) features on-camera interviews with Morgan Freeman, John Singleton, Chuck D, Amma Asante, and other film luminaries, discussing the extraordinary achievements and contemporary legacy of Micheaux.
Born in 1884 in Metropolis, Illinois Oscar Micheaux, became a prolific writer, authoring seven novels and was the first major Black American filmmaker to write, direct and produce independent feature films showing contemporary black life, challenging black stereotypes, and opposing racial injustice.
Sometimes considered to be his response to D.W. Griffith’s controversial 1915 “Birth of a Nation,” Micheaux wrote, directed, and produced “Within Our Gates”, a silent film that portrays the contemporary racial injustice in the United States during the Jim Crow years, and the revival of the Ku Klux Klan. Once thought to be lost, the Library of Congress Motion Picture Conservation Center restored the film from a single print discovered in Spain.
Micheaux went on to produce 44 films between 1919 and 1948 (silent and sound), reaching audiences throughout the U.S., as well as internationally.
