The Hidden Colors franchise is heading back to the big screen this November, and filmmaker Tariq Nasheed is taking the story of Black American resistance directly to audiences across the country.
Tariq Nasheed announced this week that tickets are officially on sale for Hidden Colors 6: The Culture of Resistance, the latest installment in his long-running documentary series examining Black history, culture and identity.
“The Moment Has Arrived,” Nasheed wrote while announcing that the film will play in select theaters nationwide this November and directing supporters to the film’s official ticket site.
And this time, the focus is right there in the subtitle: The Culture of Resistance.
Black American Resistance Takes Center Stage
According to the film’s official description, Hidden Colors 6 explores Black American resistance, survival, innovation and cultural influence across generations.
The documentary examines subjects ranging from slave rebellions and resistance during Jim Crow to the strategies employed during the Civil Rights era. The filmmakers also frame the project around the history and culture of Foundational Black Americans, with an emphasis on how Black Americans maintained communities, traditions and institutions while confronting generations of discrimination and oppression.
The film’s broader premise expands the idea of resistance beyond marches and demonstrations. Building businesses, establishing independent institutions, protecting communities, maintaining traditions and preserving a distinct Black American culture are all part of the historical story the documentary intends to explore.
A listing from New York’s Cinema Village describes the 146-minute documentary as examining the “overlooked history of Black American resistance, innovation, survival, and cultural influence” through historians, scholars and cultural commentators.
From an Independent Film to a Black-Owned Documentary Franchise
Nasheed launched the original Hidden Colors documentary in 2011, building the franchise largely outside Hollywood’s traditional studio system.
Rather than waiting for mainstream entertainment companies to determine whether there was a market for this kind of material, the films developed an audience through independent distribution, screenings and direct support from viewers.
That independent model is continuing with the sixth installment.
The crowdfunding campaign for Hidden Colors 6 raised $261,760 from 3,240 supporters, exceeding its $250,000 Kickstarter goal, according to reporting on the project.
That makes the theatrical release about more than simply another movie opening. It represents a film financed in significant part by its intended audience now receiving a multi-city theatrical rollout.
Hidden Colors 6 Is Coming to Cities Across America.
The promotional announcement lists screenings in major Black cultural and population centers including:
- Atlanta
- New York City
- Los Angeles
- Oakland
- Cincinnati
- Chicago
- Detroit
- Dallas
- Memphis
- Orlando
Additional reported screenings include Houston and Washington, D.C., while individual theaters are beginning to post dates. Oakland’s Grand Lake Theater, for example, currently lists Hidden Colors 6 for November 4.
Controlling the Narrative — and the Distribution
For independent Black media, there is another layer to the story.
Black filmmakers have historically faced the challenge of not only creating their work but also obtaining financing, distribution and theater access. Hidden Colors has built its following through a different model: developing an audience first and using that audience to support the production and distribution of the material.
Nasheed describes the project as an effort to tell Black historical stories without relying on traditional industry gatekeepers. The official Hidden Colors 6 website similarly presents the film as part of a broader effort to reclaim historical narratives and bring the project directly to its audience.
That approach closely mirrors a larger movement happening throughout independent Black media: create the platform, build the audience and distribute the story ourselves.
Whether viewers ultimately agree with every interpretation presented in the documentary will be for audiences to decide. But a Black history documentary independently funded by thousands of supporters and moving into theaters across multiple major American cities is itself a noteworthy example of audience-driven Black media distribution.
The Moment Has Arrived
More than 15 years after the first Hidden Colors, Nasheed is bringing the franchise back to theaters with a film centered on how Black Americans resisted, survived, built and created.
And with tickets officially on sale, audiences will soon have the opportunity to see Hidden Colors 6: The Culture of Resistance on the big screen.
Tickets and participating theater information are available at HiddenColors6.com.
Black News Daily | Shift the Culture.