Yoruba Richen
Director and Producer Yoruba Richen is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who won a Trailblazer Award from Black Public Media. Her most recent film, “American Coup: Wilmington 1898,” was nominated for a Peabody Award. Her film “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” won a Peabody Award, a Gracie Award, and was honored by the Television Academy. Other recent works include the Emmy-nominated films “American Reckoning,” “How It Feels to Be Free,” “Greenbook: Guide to Freedom and “The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show. Her film “The Killing of Breonna Taylor” won an NAACP Image Award. Yoruba is the founding director of the Documentary program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.
Presentations from Facing Race 2026
FREE JOAN LITTLE tells the story of the 1975 groundbreaking case of Joan Little who was the first woman in U.S history to be acquitted for using deadly force to resist sexual assault. At 20 years old, Joan (pronounced Jo-Ann) Little was incarcerated in North Carolina when she killed a white jailer who she said tried to rape her. Her trial drew international attention, becoming a rallying point for civil rights, women’s rights and prison reform. The case brought together activists, including Angela Davis and Rosa Parks, and catalyzed an international conversation about sexual assault and racial justice that has reverberations to this day. With rare archival footage, contemporary interviews, and the folk anthem that carried her cause, FREE JOAN LITTLE captures the spirit of resistance that made history. The film features Oscar-nominated actress Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple) as the voice of Joan and is produced by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Christalyn Hampton (The Devil is Busy) and Bonnie Bertram, in association with Retro Report.
Directed by Yoruba Richen, produced by and produced and Bonnie Bertram, Edited by Hannah Vanderlan, Music Composed by Reggie Dokes, Graphics by Peter Mishara, Executive Producer for Retro Report Kyra Darnton
Featuring Karen Bethea-Shields, Angela Davis, Christina Greene, Larry Little, with Danielle Brooks
Presentations from Facing Race 2024
The Cost of Inheritance explores the complex issue of reparations in the United States and takes a personal approach to understanding our history, systemic injustices, and racial inequities. We follow descendants of enslavers and the enslaved as they are reckoning with their past and trying to find a just way forward. Opposing views and challenges to the concept of reparations are also heard in the exposition of our complicated history. The film introduces viewers to those who are working toward common ground, despite their differing perspectives. The protagonists launch conversations, attempt to reconcile, and take specific actions that aspire to close the racial wealth gap in America. The disparate trajectory of lives, families, and communities impacted by structural racism unfolds through archival images of land, labor exploitation, and racial violence, set against a backdrop that depicts the pursuit of justice for Japanese internment survivors and survivors of the Holocaust.
Directed by Yoruba Richen, Produced by Lacey Shwartz and Mehret Mandefro