The Inquisitor
A film by Angela Tucker
In 1972, Barbara Jordan became the first Southern Black woman to join Congress. THE INQUISITOR chronicles Representative Jordan’s meteoric rise offering a blueprint for uniting a divided America through a turbulent political era.
United States | 2025 | 98 minutes | English | Order No. W251321
SYNOPSIS
As a young girl in Houston’s Fifth Ward, Barbara Jordan was taught to defy expectations. She understood that to succeed, she would need to forge her own path. With relentless determination and unyielding tenacity, Barbara Jordan made history as Texas’s first Black state senator and the first Southern Black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. In a world dominated by white men, she moved with deft skill, earning both their respect and their fear. At a time when the idea of a Black woman holding power seemed inconceivable, Barbara Jordan created a roadmap for change.
Angela Lynn Tucker’s THE INQUISITOR offers a powerful portrait of Barbara Jordan’s rise to prominence. Told through Barbara’s commanding voice and making use of archival footage, the film weaves her inspiring personal story with key historical moments, highlighting her profound impact on American politics. Her legacy invites reflection on the nation’s past and present, emphasizing the importance of civic engagement and the power of bipartisanship.
Barbara Jordan’s oratory skills became legendary, particularly her historic speech during the Watergate hearings, which earned her the moniker “The Inquisitor.” This title symbolized her dedication to challenging the status quo and her commitment to holding those in power accountable.
Featuring interviews with Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Dan Rather, and many others, and narrated by the Academy Award-nominated actress Alfre Woodard, THE INQUISITOR illuminates Barbara Jordan’s extraordinary life and legacy.
SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS
- Tribeca Film Festival, 2025
- DC/DOX Film Festival, 2025
- Austin Film Festival, 2025
- New Orleans Film Festival, 2025
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Angela Tucker
Angela Tucker is an Emmy and Webby Award–winning filmmaker and artist dedicated to telling stories that spotlight underrepresented communities in bold and unconventional ways.
Her recent work includes Belly of the Beast (dir. Erika Cohn), a New York Times Critics’ Pick; The Trees Remember, a Webby-winning branded series created in collaboration with REI Co-Op Studios; and A New Orleans Noel, a Lifetime holiday film starring Patti LaBelle.
Angela’s past directorial work includes the PBS-aired documentary short All Skinfolk, Ain’t Kinfolk; the groundbreaking web series Black Folk Don’t, featured in Time Magazine’s “10 Ideas That Are Changing Your Life”; the feature film All Styles (Showtime); and A(sexual), a feature documentary about people who experience no sexual attraction, which streamed on Netflix and Hulu.
Her latest film, The Inquisitor—a portrait of political icon Barbara Jordan—will premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival and broadcast nationally on PBS. (10/08)
RELATED LINKS
MATERIALS
LATEST RELEASES
The Inquisitor
The Tallest Dwarf
Looking for Simone
A Shot at History
The Unfixing
MY SEXTORTION DIARY
SALLY!
My Stolen Planet
Is There Anybody Out There?
Bye Bye Tiberias
Loud Enough
Razing Liberty Square
Marianne
80 Years Later
Esther Newton Made Me Gay
Behind the Rage
Abortion and Women's Rights 1970
A Woman on the Outside
Rebel Dykes
WINN
Love, Barbara
Storming Caesars Palace
What About China?
Neurodivergent
TikTok, Boom.
Dying to Divorce
Maestra and Maestras Voluntarias
Annah la Javanaise
Call Me Human
The Judge
America's War on Abortion
Running with My Girls
Apart
Fannie Lou Hamer's America
Muslim in America
Havana Divas
In the Rumbling Belly of Motherland
Fly So Far
Ways of Being Home
Barbara Lee: Speaking Truth to Power
Daughter of a Lost Bird
Breach of Trust
The Celine Archive
Unlearning Sex
Stateless
Nice Chinese Girls Don’t: Kitty Tsui
Belly of the Beast
Coded Bias
Paulette
Without a Whisper
Black Feminist
The R-Word
Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa
Sisters Rising
Waging Change
Mothertime
Wonder Women!
Conscience Point
#Female Pleasure
Fattitude
A Normal Girl
The Archivettes
False Confessions
The Gold Diggers
Thriller
The Cancer Journals Revisited
There Goes the Neighborhood
Feminista: A Journey to the Heart of Feminism in Europe
I Am the Revolution
The Feeling of Being Watched
Councilwoman
Birth on the Border
Home Truth
Exit: Leaving Extremism Behind
A Thousand Girls Like Me
93Queen
Primas
White Right: Meeting the Enemy
The Rest I Make Up
Atomic Homefront
Lovesick
Yours in Sisterhood
Dinner with the President
Azmaish: A Journey Through the Subcontinent
Defiant Lives
Shadow Girl
Nothing Without Us: The Women Who Will End AIDS
62 Days
Geek Girls
Breaking Silence
Lives: Visible/Leftovers
Love the Sinner
What Doesn't Kill Me
A Better Man
Black Girl in Suburbia
Siberian Love
Birthright: A War Story
Read Civia Tamarkin's director's statement here.