Films for Black History Month
Copied from the New York Times article https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/01/movies/28-essential-films-black-history-month.html
Oh, and then there was https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/watching/blaxpoitation-films-brown-sugar.html (which added "Coffy" to the list).
Oh, and then there was https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/watching/blaxpoitation-films-brown-sugar.html (which added "Coffy" to the list).
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34 titles
- DirectorJordan PeeleStarsDaniel KaluuyaAllison WilliamsBradley WhitfordA young African-American visits his white girlfriend's parents for the weekend, where his simmering uneasiness about their reception of him eventually reaches a boiling point.Library DVD rip, 31 March 2018.
- DirectorBarry JenkinsStarsMahershala AliNaomie HarrisTrevante RhodesA young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.
- DirectorDee ReesStarsJason MitchellCarey MulliganJason ClarkeTwo men return home from World War II to work on a farm in rural Mississippi, where they struggle to deal with racism and adjusting to life after war.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliBusby BerkeleyStarsEthel WatersEddie 'Rochester' AndersonLena HorneA compulsive gambler dies during a shooting, but he'll receive a second chance to reform himself and to make up with his worried wife.
- DirectorJohn M. StahlStarsClaudette ColbertWarren WilliamRochelle HudsonA struggling widow and her daughter take in a Black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter; the two women start a successful business but face familial, identity, and racial issues along the way.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsDavid BrianClaude Jarman Jr.Juano HernandezIn 1940s Mississippi, two teenage boys and an elderly woman combine forces to prevent a miscarriage of justice and clear a black man of a murder charge.
- DirectorGordon ParksStarsKyle JohnsonAlex ClarkeEstelle EvansA bittersweet, idyllic story about a year in the life of 14-year-old Newt Winger, born into a poor Black family in Kansas, who learns about love, fear, racial injustice, and immorality.
- DirectorOscar MicheauxStarsEvelyn PreerFlo ClementsJames D. RuffinAbandoned by her fiancé, an educated black woman with a shocking past dedicates herself to helping a near bankrupt school for impoverished black youths.
- DirectorDudley MurphyStarsBessie SmithJimmy MordecaiIsabel WashingtonIn her only known film appearance, legendary blues singer Bessie Smith witnesses her lover's betrayal, then sings a powerful rendition of the title song.
- DirectorDudley MurphyStarsDuke EllingtonDuke Ellington OrchestraFredi WashingtonDuke Ellington in a jazz musical short with a tragic plotline.
- DirectorEloyce GistJames GistIf you listen to jazz, you will go to Hell, where the scorching fires of torment are mighty and endless.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsIrene DunneAllan JonesCharles WinningerDespite her mother's objections, the naive young daughter of a show boat captain is thrust into the limelight as the company's new leading lady.
- DirectorAndrew L. StoneStarsLena HorneBill RobinsonCab Calloway and His Cotton Club OrchestraThe relationship between an aspiring dancer and a popular songstress provides a retrospective of the great African-American entertainers of the early 1900s.
- DirectorSpencer WilliamsStarsFrancine EverettDon WilsonKatherine MooreA sexy, enticing dancer from Harlem makes things happen in a sleepy Caribbean island resort.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsJackie RobinsonRuby DeeMinor WatsonBiography of Jackie Robinson, the first black major league baseball player in the 20th century. Traces his career in the negro leagues and the major leagues. Restored in original Black and White.
- DirectorStanley KramerStarsTony CurtisSidney PoitierCara WilliamsTwo chained-together escaped convicts, White and Black, must learn to get along in order to elude capture.
- DirectorJohn CassavetesStarsBen CarruthersLelia GoldoniHugh HurdCassavetes' jazz-scored improvisational film explores interracial friendships and relationships in Beat-Era (1950s) New York City.
- DirectorWilliam GreavesStarsPatricia Ree GilbertDon FellowsJonathan GordonFilmmaker William Greaves auditioned acting students for a fictional drama, while simultaneously shooting the behind-the-scenes drama taking place.
- DirectorMelvin Van PeeblesStarsHarry BairdPierre DorisChristian MarinA black American soldier is demoted for fraternizing with a white girl in France.
- DirectorGordon ParksStarsKyle JohnsonAlex ClarkeEstelle EvansA bittersweet, idyllic story about a year in the life of 14-year-old Newt Winger, born into a poor Black family in Kansas, who learns about love, fear, racial injustice, and immorality.
- DirectorOssie DavisStarsGodfrey CambridgeRaymond St. JacquesCalvin LockhartTwo Harlem cops investigate a robbery, believing that a reverend has staged it in order to steal the money he's collected for a local fundraiser.
- DirectorBill GunnStarsDuane JonesMarlene ClarkBill GunnAfter being stabbed with an ancient, germ-infested knife, a doctor's assistant finds himself with an insatiable desire for blood.
- DirectorMadeline AndersonStarsRalph AbernathyLeon DavisCoretta Scott KingIn 1969, 400 poorly paid black women working in a hospital in Charleston, South Carolina, went on strike to demand union recognition and a wage increase, only to find themselves confronting the National Guard and the state government.
- DirectorCharles BurnettStarsHenry G. SandersKaycee MooreCharles BracySet in the Watts area of Los Angeles, a slaughterhouse worker must suspend his emotions to continue working at a job he finds repugnant, and then he finds he has little sensitivity for the family he works so hard to support.
- DirectorSidney PoitierStarsGene WilderRichard PryorGeorg Stanford BrownSet up and wrongfully accused, two best friends are sent to prison for a crime they didn't commit. However, no prison cell can keep them locked in a cage.
- DirectorKathleen CollinsStarsSeret ScottBill GunnDuane JonesSara, a cold college professor, and her husband, an ecstatic painter, spend a summer away from the city, straining their rocky relationship.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsTracy Camilla JohnsTommy Redmond HicksJohn Canada TerrellStory of a woman and her three lovers.
- DirectorMarlon RiggsStarsMarlon RiggsMichael BellKerrigan BlackA documentary about the experiences of black homosexual men living in the United States of America.
- DirectorReginald HudlinStarsChristopher ReidRobin HarrisChristopher MartinKid decides to go to his friend Play's house party, but neither of them can predict what's in store for them on what could be the wildest night of their lives.
- DirectorJulie DashStarsCora Lee DayAlva RogersBarbara OA languid, impressionistic story of three generations of Gullah women living on the South Carolina Sea Islands in 1902.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsDenzel WashingtonAngela BassettDelroy LindoBiographical epic of the controversial and influential Black Nationalist leader, from his early life and career as a small-time gangster, to his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam and his eventual assassination.
- DirectorCarl FranklinStarsDenzel WashingtonTom SizemoreJennifer BealsA Black war hero is hired to find a mysterious woman, and gets mixed up in a murderous political scandal in 1948 Los Angeles.
- DirectorCheryl DunyeStarsCheryl DunyeGuinevere TurnerValarie WalkerA young black lesbian filmmaker probes into the life of The Watermelon Woman, a 1930s black actress who played 'mammy' archetypes.
- DirectorJack HillStarsPam GrierBooker BradshawRobert DoQuiA sexy Black nurse takes vigilante justice against inner-city drug dealers after her sister becomes their latest victim.