Charles Lane plays a street artist whose efforts to care for an abandoned toddler are confounded by the many oddball characters he meets. Black-and-white and mostly silent, the film is a whimsical take by a black artist to give a voice to those who have none.

In this all-too-overlooked ’80s gem, writer-director-actor Charles Lane fashions an ingeniously witty tribute to silent cinema. A monochromatic, Chaplinesque comedy rippling with N.Y.C. verité, Sidewalk Stories is a true classic of African-American independent cinema.