The Roots Movies

A lot have people have opened rock clubs for a lot of different reasons, but Larry Bloch is one of the few to have opened a music venue as a medium for social change. In 1989, Bloch and a handful of friends, none of whom had experience running a nightclub, opened Wetlands in New York City's Tribeca district, and as part of their business plan, each month a percentage of the club's proceeded were to be donated to a nonprofit Center for Social and Environmental Justice, with the annual payout often exceeding 100,000 dollars. In addition to the club's success as an avenue for fundraising, Wetlands helped give a home to a new breed of bands whose music suited the hippie-esque vibe of the club while opening new territories in improvisational rock, and Phish, Dave Matthews Band, Blues Traveler, and Gov't Mule were among the acts who were regulars attractions at Wetlands before finding worldwide fame. Dean Budnick, a senior editor at Relix Magazine (a journal that frequently covers the jam band scene) makes his directorial debut with Wetlands Preserved: The Story of an Activist Rock Club, which examines both the music and the message behind this fabled venue. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Television director Andy Cadiff turns toward feature films to direct the romantic comedy Chasing Liberty, which appears to be loosely based on the 1953 Audrey Hepburn classic Roman Holiday. Mandy Moore stars as Anna Foster, the 18-year-old daughter of President of the United States James Foster (Mark Harmon). Anna has led quite a privileged life, but she has grown to resist the constant presence of Secret Service agents getting in the way of her independence. While on a family trip to Europe, Anna manages to get away from security for a brief time. She inevitably falls into the romantic arms of British boy Ben Calder (Matthew Goode), with whom she enjoys a fresh and clean European vacation. Not wanting to ruin her fun, she doesn't tell him about her upper-class social status. But, alas, Ben surprises her with a secret identity of his own. Jeremy Piven and Annabella Sciorra play two Secret Service agents. Caroline Goodall plays the wise, conventional First Lady. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Two young people from different cultures fall in love and have to face the emotional fallout of their actions in this urban drama set in Brooklyn's rough-and-tumble Crown Heights neighborhood. Sol (Tariq Trotter) is a young man of West Indian descent who is the leader of a group of Afrocentric hip-hop musicians struggling to succeed in the recording industry. Sol and his friend Scratch (Bonz Malone) get into an auto accident one afternoon with Judah (David Vadim), a young Jewish man out for a drive with his girlfriend Sara (Karen Goberman). While Judah and Scratch get into an argument, Sol and Sara attempt to deal with the problem more reasonably, and the two find they have an unexpected rapport. Sol and Sara become fast friends, and their friendship soon grows into a romance, but Sara finds that Judah is both angry and heartbroken about her new relationship, while her conservative family does not trust Sol. Sol's friends, meanwhile, are no more supportive of him, believing he's betraying his culture by becoming involved with Sara. Leading man Tariq Trotter (also known as Black Thought) is the frontman of the acclaimed hip-hop group the Roots, who appear in the film as Sol's band and perform several original compositions for the soundtrack. Brooklyn Babylon received its world premiere as an opening night attraction at the 2001 Slamdance Film Festival, where it was screened over the objections of the film's distributor, Artisan Pictures. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Hip Hop Time Capsule - 1994 recalls that glorious year in rap's history with vintage music videos, live performances, and interviews. The program features appearances by House of Pain, Wu Tang Clan, A Tribe Called Quest, and many other popular artists. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide