bell hooks (b. 1951) is mainly known as a feminist thinker, although her writings cover a broad range of topics on gender, race, education and the media. She is Distinguished Professor of English at City College in New York.

Movies matter - that is the message of Reel to Real, bell hooks' classic collection of essays on film. They matter on a personal level, providing us with unforgettable moments, even life-changing experiences and they can confront us, too, with the most profound social issues of race, sex and class. Here bell hooks - one of America's most celebrated and thrilling cultural critics - talks back to films that have moved and provoked her, from Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction to the work of Spike Lee. Including also her conversations with master filmmakers such as Charles Burnett and Julie Dash, Reel to Real is a must read for anyone who believes that movies are worth arguing about.

1. Introduction: Making Movie Magic. 2. Good Girls Look the Other Way. 3. Transgression and Transformation: Leaving Las Vegas. 4. Exotica: Breaking Down to Break Through. 5. Crooklyn: the Denial of Death. 6. Cool Cynicism: Pulp Fiction. 7. Mock Feminism: Waiting to Exhale. 8. Kids: Transgressive Subject - Reactionary Film. 9. Artistic Integrity: Race and Accountability. 10. Neo-colonial Fantasies of Conquest: Hoop Dreams. 11. Doing it for Daddy: Black Masculinity in the Mainstream. 12. Thinking Through Class: Paying Attention to The Attendant. 13. Back to the Avant-Garde: the Progressive Vision. 14. What's Passion Got to Do With It? - an interview with Marie France Alderman. 15. The Cultural Mix: an interview with Wayne Wang. 16. Confession - Filming Family: an interview with Camille Billops. 17. A Guiding Light: an interview with Charles Burnett. 18. Critical Contestations: a conversation with A.J. (Arthur Jaffa). 19. The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators. 20. Is Paris Burning? 21. "Whose Pussy is This?" - A Feminist Comment. Index.