9. American Promise
Site rank 5, IMDb rank 2; Overall Score = 7
Directed by Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson
American Promise took 14 years to make. Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson’s son Idris and his best friend Seun are accepted into a prestigious Manhattan Dalton prep school. Idris and Seun try to reconcile two halves of their lives, a predominately white school environment and their African-American roots and neighborhood. The achievement gap in education that cripples African-American children in America provides the backdrop and sets the tone of the movie.
