The Jazz Ambassadors
May 04, 2018 | IMDB 7
60 min Watch NowDocumentary
The Cold War and Civil Rights collide in this remarkable story of music, diplomacy and race. Beginning in 1955, when America asked its greatest jazz artists to travel the world as cultural ambassadors, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and their mixed-race band members, faced a painful dilemma: how could they represent a country that still practiced Jim Crow segregation?
MOVIE COMMENTS
SIMILAR MOVIES
Cool
Billie
The Red Elvis
Tunnel to Freedom
Racist Trees
Talmage Farlow
Milisuthando
But... Seriously
JazzTown
The Crazy Che
Black Men in Uniform
Blue Note - A Story of Modern Jazz
The Times of Harvey Milk
Cannabis : Une enquête de Mathieu Kassovitz et Antoine Robin
Salute
King in the Wilderness
Seeing Allred
Before Stonewall
TRANS*CEND: A Journey from Gender to Self
Controlling Britney Spears
SIMILAR MOVIES
Cool
IMDB 0 | Jan , 2026
Documentary exploring the meaning and history of cool through the American music that started in the 1940s in the bars of New York and LA, and became known as cool jazz.Billie
IMDB 6.8 | Sep , 2020
‘Lady Day’ was one of the greatest jazz vocalists the world ever heard. In 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. Before her mysterious death in 1978, Lipnack Kuehl had taped over 200 hours of interviews. The tapes have never been heard. Now they form the basis of an atmospheric, multi-layered documentary that captures the many complex facets of a proud black woman, violent drug addict, loyal friend, vindictive lover and unforgettable singer of ‘God Bless The Child’, ‘Saddest Tale’ and the haunting ‘Strange Fruit’.The Red Elvis
IMDB 7.2 | Feb , 2007
A documentary on the late American entertainer Dean Reed, who became a huge star in East Germany after settling there in 1973.Tunnel to Freedom
IMDB 7.2 | Jul , 2021
13 August 1961: the GDR closes the sector borders in Berlin. The city is divided overnight. Escape to the West becomes more dangerous every day. But on September 14, 1962, exactly one year, one month and one day after the Wall was built, a group of 29 people from the GDR managed to escape spectacularly through a 135-meter tunnel to the West. For more than 4 months, students from West Berlin, including 2 Italians, dug this tunnel. When the tunnel builders ran out of money after only a few meters of digging, they came up with the idea of marketing the escape tunnel. They sell the film rights to the story exclusively to NBC, an American television station.Racist Trees
IMDB 0 | Nov , 2022
Can a tree be racist? A few years ago, debate on this issue reached as far as Fox News. The focus was a row of tamarisk trees along a huge golf course in Palm Springs, which screened off the neighborhood of Crossley Tract. This is a historically Black neighborhood, named after its founder Lawrence Crossley, who was one of the first Black residents to settle in the largely white tourist paradise, established on indigenous land over a century ago.Talmage Farlow
IMDB 5 | Jul , 1981
A documentary about the life and career of American jazz guitarist Tal FarlowMilisuthando
IMDB 0 | Oct , 2024
Set in past, present, and future South Africa — an invitation into a poetic, memory-driven exploration of love, intimacy, race, and belonging by the filmmaker, who grew up during apartheid but didn't know it was happening until it was over.But... Seriously
IMDB 10 | Mar , 1994
A documentary juxtaposing the events of the 20th century with the commentary of stand-up comedians.JazzTown
IMDB 0 | Mar , 2021
Denver’s iconic and Grammy Award-winning musicians reveal the secrets of their success and longevity in the music business while warning the young lions to whom they pass the torch to stay relevant in a marketplace both treacherous and brutal. The majestic Rocky Mountains tower over a bustling metropolis filled with steamy and romantic nightclubs where jazz flourishes on stage. JazzTown features never seen before live concert footage on historic stages that have now crumbled due to economic stresses of the Covid Pandemic. ~ Dianne Reeves, 5-time Grammy Award winner for Best Jazz Vocalist ~ US Senator John Hickenlooper (former jazz club owner) ~ Ron Miles (Colorado Music Hall of Fame, Joshua Redman, Bill Frisell, Ginger Baker) ~ Charlie Hunter (Snarky Puppy, Christian McBride, Stanton Moore) ~ Art Lande (Mark Isham, Gary Peacock) ~ Ayo Awosika (Session Singer on Soundtracks to: Wakanda Forever, Nope, Dune, The Lion King ... tours with Miley Cyrus,) and many more.The Crazy Che
IMDB 6.8 | Nov , 2015
The incredible story of Bill Gaede, an Argentinian engineer, programmer… and Cold War spy.Black Men in Uniform
IMDB 0 | Feb , 2026
Pata Seca (1828), a man whose back bore the whip marks of his enslavers , whose eyes held the haunted memory of being forced to breed over 200 slave children in order to sustain his master’s plantation. Men broken but unbowed, transformed from field hands into soldiers from the civil war to Vietnam. This documentary weaves together authentic narratives from the 1800s, accompanied by original images and footage, highlighting the significant influence that Black men in uniform had in Hollywood and addressing ongoing relevant issues to date.Blue Note - A Story of Modern Jazz
IMDB 7.2 | Oct , 1997
"It must schwing!" was the motto of Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, two German Jewish immigrants who in 1939 set up Blue Note Records, the jazz label that was home to such greats as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins. Blue Note, the most successful movie ever made about jazz, is a testimony to the passion and vision of these two men and certainly swings like the propulsive sounds that made their label so famous.The Times of Harvey Milk
IMDB 7.2 | Oct , 1984
Harvey Milk was an outspoken human rights activist and one of the first openly gay U.S. politicians elected to public office; even after his assassination in 1978, he continues to inspire disenfranchised people around the world.Cannabis : Une enquête de Mathieu Kassovitz et Antoine Robin
IMDB 7 | Apr , 2024
In many countries, cannabis legislation is becoming more relaxed, whether for therapeutic reasons or to combat illegal trafficking. In France, the country with the highest number of cannabis users in Europe, this issue is still a subject of debate. To understand why some countries are legalizing it and how they regulate its use, Mathieu Kassovitz and Antoine Robin spent a year investigating ten different countries. This documentary explores the organization, successes, and failures of this legislation and questions the adaptability of these different models to France.Salute
IMDB 6.6 | Jul , 2008
The black power salute by Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico Olympics was an iconic moment in the US civil rights struggle. Far less known is the part in that episode in history played by Peter Norman, the white Australian on the podium who had run second — and the price paid afterward by all three athletes.King in the Wilderness
IMDB 6.9 | Jan , 2018
A chronicle of the final chapters of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life, revealing a conflicted leader who faced an onslaught of criticism from both sides of the political spectrum.Seeing Allred
IMDB 6.7 | Jan , 2018
Gloria Allred overcame trauma and personal setbacks to become one of the nation’s most famous women’s rights attorneys. Now the feminist firebrand takes on two of the biggest adversaries of her career, Bill Cosby and Donald Trump, as sexual violence allegations grip the nation and keep her in the spotlight.Before Stonewall
IMDB 6.5 | Sep , 1984
New York City's Stonewall Inn is regarded by many as the site of gay and lesbian liberation since it was at this bar that drag queens fought back against police June 27-28, 1969. This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips and personal recollections to construct an audiovisual history of the gay community before the Stonewall riots.TRANS*CEND: A Journey from Gender to Self
IMDB 0 | Jan , 2026
In January of 2016, a dozen members of the Memphis transgender community began meeting for a weekly story circle facilitated by Elaine Blanchard. The program, based on the format of her award winning Prison Stories series, was a time for sharing, healing and enlightenment. Thanks to the generosity of The California Institute for the Contemporary Arts, filmmaker Shelby Fuller Elwood documented their journey. All people have a story to tell, and all people long to be heard, respected and valued for who they are, and what they have experienced in life.Controlling Britney Spears
IMDB 7.7 | Sep , 2021
Britney Spears has said that her conservatorship had become “an oppressive and controlling tool against her”. This New York Times investigation reveals much of how it worked, including an intense surveillance apparatus that monitored every move she made.