Boots Riley

Fremont

Donya, a lonely Afghan refugee and former translator, spends her twenties drifting through a meager existence in Fremont, California. Shuttling between her job writing fortunes for a fortune cookie factory and sessions with her eccentric therapist, Donya suffers from insomnia and survivor's guilt over those still left behind in Kabul as she desperately searches for love.

Release Date2023-08-25

Charactersd Restaurant Patron (uncredited)

Vote Count84

I'm Charlie Walker

1971 post civil rights San Francisco seemed like the perfect place for a black Korean War veteran and his family to realize their dream of economic independence, and a chance for him to be his own boss. Charlie Walker would soon find out how naive he was. In a city full of impostors and naysayers, he refused to take "No" for an answer. That is, until a catastrophic disaster opened a door that had never been open to a black man before. This is a story about what happened when he stepped through that door with both feet.

Release Date2022-06-10

Charactersd Bartender Ray

Vote Count6

Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme

From neighborhood ciphers to the most notorious MC battles, "Freestyle: the Art of Rhyme" captures the electrifying energy of improvisational hip-hop--the rarely recorded art form of rhyming spontaneously. Like preachers and jazz solos, freestyles exist only in the moment, a modern-day incarnation of the African-American storytelling tradition. Shot over a period of more than seven years, it is already an underground cult film in the hip-hop world. The film systematically debunks the false image put out by record companies that hip-hop culture is violent or money-obsessed. Instead, it lets real hip-hop artists, known and unknown, weave their story out of a passionate mix of language, politics, and spirituality.

Release Date2000-04-14

Charactersd Himself

Vote Count11

Rope a Dope 2

The Dope wakes up after his victory, but now the leader of The Martial Art Mafia is out for revenge... and he's got a new trick up his sleeve!

Release Date2015-01-12

Charactersd Mayor

Vote Count8

Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter

Some of this year's most talked about talent open up about the challenges and triumphs of creating critically acclaimed series and performances.

Release Date2015-08-02

Charactersd Self

Episode Count1

Vote Count17

In Prison My Whole Life

William Francome is a fairly typical, white middle-class guy. Typical except for the fact that he is about to embark on a journey into the dark heart of the American judicial system; the tangled world of renowned Death Row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Release Date2008-01-18

Charactersd Self

99%: The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film

This award winning documentary, narrated by Lou Reed, explores the breadth and depth of Occupy Wall Street and how it quickly grew from a small park in lower Manhattan to an international movement. The film highlights why people from diverse age, ethnic and financial backgrounds support the movement and its focus of removing money from politics in order to reclaim democracy from entrenched corporate interests so that critical issues including job creation, affordable access to health and education, protecting the environment and gun safety can be fully addressed. Featuring interviews with a wide range of subjects including Occupiers, economist Jeffrey Sachs and business magnate Russell Simmons.

Release Date2013-09-06

Charactersd Self

Vote Count7

The Coup: The Best Coup DVD Ever

The Coup is one of the most notoriously political groups in the history of rap music. This DVD features music videos and interviews with Boots Riley and DJ Pam the Funkstress.

Release Date2006-04-04

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Charactersd Self

I'm a Virgo

A coming-of-age joyride about Cootie, a 13ft tall young Black man in Oakland, CA. Having grown up hidden away, Cootie soon experiences the beauty and contradictions of the world for the first time. He forms friendships, finds love, navigates awkward situations, and encounters his idol, a real life superhero named The Hero.

Release Date2023-06-22

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count3

Vote Count50

Sorry to Bother You

In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, black telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success – which propels him into a macabre universe.

Release Date2018-07-06

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count1614

I Love Boosters

A ring of enterprising boosters (aka shoplifters, equal opportunists) take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven.

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Aliens in Eritea

Set in the early 1990’s of San Jose and Asmara, a family prepares to leave the US for Eritrea during the formative years of their country’s newly won independence. Everyone is an alien in navigating a free Eritrea— the diaspora moving back home, the citizens who never left, and the aliens from outer space who picked a strange and beautiful time to make contact.

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

First Earth: Uncompromising Ecological Architecture

FIRST EARTH is a documentary about the movement towards a massive paradigm shift for shelter - building healthy houses in the old ways, out of the very earth itself, and living together like in the old days, by recreating villages. An audiovisual manifesto filmed over the course of 4 years and 4 continents, FIRST EARTH makes the case that earthen homes are the healthiest housing in the world; and that since it still takes a village to raise a healthy child, it is incumbent upon us to transform our suburban sprawl into eco-villages, a new North American dream.

Release Date2009-02-04

Vote Count4