She’s Gotta Have It; Field Niggas 

Free-spirited Nola Darling decides between three suitors, including a Brooklyn-loving, glasses-wearing hoops fan named Mars Blackmon. The commercial success of Spike Lee’s directorial debut—and his portrayal of its iconic character—helped usher in the independent film movement of the 1980s and paved the way for a new era of black American filmmaking. With brash energy and authentic street locations, She’s Gotta Have It continues to be an influence, most recently with Showtime tapping Lee to adapt the film for TV. Spike Lee was awarded the Wexner Prize in 2008. (84 mins., 35mm)

The dreamlike and bracing Field Niggas chronicles, in breathtaking close-up photography, the faces, bodies, and expressions of the homeless, addicts, and ordinary people hanging out at the corner of 125th Street and Lexington in East Harlem. Self-taught filmmaker Khalik Allah uses a stark beauty to shine light on these lives on the margins, as their chorus of voices adds urgency to the proceedings with the recent death of Eric Garner looming large. (60 mins., video)