Parks filming The Learning Tree, 1968.
Encouraged by acclaimed film director and friend, John Cassavettes, Gordon Parks wrote, directed, and scored the first major Hollywood film to be directed by a black American, The Learning Tree (1969) based on his semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. By this point, Life magazine’s halcyon days were drawing to a close and Parks became increasingly involved in directing films. He would go on to create short documentaries and direct such iconic films as Shaft, along with bio-pics depicting the lives of significant black Americans, such as Leadbelly and Solomon Northup’s Odyssey.
*Flavio, 1964
*Diary of a Harlem Family, 1968
*The World of Piri Thomas, 1968
*The Learning Tree, 1969
*Shaft, 1971
*Shaft’s Big Score!, 1972
*The Super Cops, 1974
*Leadbelly, 1976
*Solomon Northup’s Odyssey, 1984
*Moments Without Proper Names, 1987
*Martin, 1989
The Learning Tree - movie poster, 1969
The Learning Tree - promotional poster, 1969
Shaft - movie poster, 1971
Shaft - promotional image, 1971
Shaft - movie poster, 1971 (Japanese Release)
Shaft - movie poster, 1971 (Serbian Release)
Shaft's Big Score - movie poster, 1972
Shaft's Big Score - movie poster, 1972 (Italian Release)
The Super Cops - movie poster, 1974
Leadbelly - movie poster, 1976