We believe that films are an excellent tool for promoting cultural competence. We have listed below some of our favorite films and hope that other will add to our suggestions or offer specific questions and exercises which can be used with the recommended films to help groups explore issues of cultural competence. Most of these films are available for purchase through the internet. We hope readers will add to our list. There are many wonderful films out there. Please contact us and let us know your favorites!

A Justice That Heals (www.reentrymediaoutreach.org/jth.htm )
On June 10 1996, Mario Ramos murdered Andrew Young, one of 90 homicides in Chicago that month and, in many ways, it was nothing unusual – an 18-year-old gang member shoots and kills a 19-year-old male on a street corner in broad daylight. The events that followed were anything but typical. The murderer was a parishioner at a nearby church; his victim lived in the neighborhood. The parish priest and members of the community rallied around the murderer and his family – not to defend what he had done, but to defend his humanity. They also reached out to the victim’s family, determined to arrive at a type of justice that would heal all concerned. Their actions changed everything. They brought together the families of the murderer and his victim. They started the murderer on the road to rehabilitation. Ultimately, they led to a rare – and controversial – bond between the victim’s mother and the young man who killed her son. This extraordinary story offers an approach to cultural healing and justice that moves beyond confrontation – and attempts to restore harmony to lives left broken by a terrible crime.

Almost a Woman (available on DVD) The story of a Puerto Rican family’s migration to New York City told by the author of When I was Puerto Rican, Esmeralda Santiago.

Annie Hall (available on DVD)

Antoine Fisher (available on DVD)
The film is about a man who confronts his traumatic past with the support of a naval psychiatrist. Refusing at first to open up, the young man eventually breaks down and reveals a horrific childhood. He was physically abused by his foster mother and sexually abused by a woman who was supposed to be looking after him when he was six. Through the guidance of his doctor, he confronts his painful past and begins a quest to find the family he never knew. The film is inspired by a true story, with Antwone Q. Fisher credited as the screenwriter and based on his autobiographical book Finding Fish.

Born Rich (Available on DVD). 2002- Jamie Johnson, 20-year-old heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical empire, has made a remarkable documentary about the lives of the children of the wealthiest families in the world. This 2003 Sundance Film Festival Selection and Emmy-nominated documentary shows Johnson turning the camera on himself and 10 of his friends. Born Rich candidly reveals the great privileges and the excess baggage that go along with their high net worth. For the first time ever in a feature documentary, hear Trumps, Bloombergs and Vanderbilts discuss the one subject everybody knows is taboo—money, and lots of it.

Brother Born Again (available on DVD)
Julia Pimsleur made up elaborate lies about her brother Marc, rather than explain that he had dropped out of college, turned his back on his Jewish heritage and moved to a Christian commune in Alaska. When Marc became a fundamentalist Christian, a deep rift formed between him and his liberal Jewish family, especially with his bisexual sister, Julia. BROTHER BORN AGAIN traces Julia's efforts to understand her brother's conversion and attempt to salvage their relationship. The filmmaker travels from New York City to her brother's religious community, where she and Marc search for common ground and rediscover the meaning of family.57 minutes • VHS

Color of Fear (see www.stirfryseminars.com)

First Person Plural: http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2000/firstpersonplural/

42 UP (available on DVD)

Jefferson’s Blood (PBS) www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/view/
Amazon review: President Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and architect of Monticello had many children with his slave, young Sally Hemings, after his wife died. Did you know that Sally Hemings was 3/4's white? Did you know that Sally Hemings was a 1/2 sister to Jefferson's wife? Did you know that upon his death, the Hemings children...Jefferson's own children, were freed and had to make their way as 7/8's white in 19th-Century America? In 1999, descendants of both sets of children of Thomas Jefferson, clashed at Monticello over family-blood burial rights. JEFFERSON'S BLOOD, from generations of people who are related by blood, but separated by knowledge and choice. This is a very revealing and painful look at the present day offspring of Tom and "Monticellian Sally" and the choices that they have made in choosing to live as "black" or "white" in an America that does not want to recognize them as living proof that our second president actually would have been convicted today for having a relationship with a minor!. What happens when an "all white" person discovers that they have "black blood"...or vice versa? Does it matter? Does it change THEM? It may if they are in America!!! This is a 90 minute look at people coming to grips with the past, and how it affects their present and future. Do what you must to see this. It is rare VHS tape and hard to come by, but worth getting.

Kaiser Permanente’s Cultural Issues in the Clinical Setting
Diabetic Compliance: Latino
The Kaiser Permanente's award-winning (Finalist Award, The New York Festival) cultural issues videos are available to the public for a nominal price, $15.00. Produced by Kaiser Permanente's MultiMedia Communications department and the Educational Theatre Program's CareActors, the brief but dramatic vignettes are accompanied by support materials for facilitators and participants. These materials will be sent electronically and are included in the price. The vignettes, scripted with the help of physicians, nurses and medical anthropologists, raise numerous issues around differing health beliefs and practices, values in conflict, stereotyping, overt and covert prejudices and language barriers as they occur in healthcare settings. The format of the tape allows for pauses for facilitated discussion of each vignette, and the support materials provide questions and discussion points for each vignette. This format lends itself equally well to a series of short modules (30 minutes) or incorporation into a longer workshop.
The video is 70 minutes long and contains 10 vignettes. To purchase videos, complete order form <http://erc.msh.org/provider/OrderCulCom.DOC>  and send to:
Gus Gaona, Kaiser Permanente, National Video Communications and Media Services
825 Colorado Blvd., Suite 301, Los Angeles, CA 90041 Tel:323-259-4776
Cost: $15.00 (includes sales tax, shipping, handling and collateral material (via e mail).

Life Support (available on DVD)

Maid in America (available www. www.wmm.com, email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Married in America (available on DVD)

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

My Three American Girls

Nuyorican Dream: www.bigmouthproductions.com/films/nuyorican_dream.html

Raisin in the Sun

Raising Victor Vargas

Real Women have Curves (Available on DVD)

Soul Food (Available on DVD)

Stand and Deliver (Available on DVD)

The Culture of Emotions: www.fanlight.com/catalog/films/361_coe.php

The New Americans www.createspace.com/205417

Nobody’s Business
60 minute 1996 Documentary by Alan Berliner about his relationship with his father and his efforts to understand his father’s White Privilege 101: www.eddiemoorejr.com

Working Effectively with Interpreters www.sortwebsite.com