Essential Movies by Black Filmmakers

February is Black History Month, so I made a list of must-see movies by Black filmmakers for the students in my African American Studies course. Rather than focusing on films that are frequently mentioned in lists like these, such as Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing or Jordan Peele’s Get Out, or well-watched classics from the 1990s, such as Forest Whitaker’s Waiting to Exhale or F. Gary Gray’s Friday, I wanted to highlight lesser-known movies that deserve more attention than they usually get in mainstream media. Films are listed in chronological order. Many of these are available to stream for free on platforms like Kanopy through one’s local library.

Black Girl by Ousmane Sembène (1966)

Often considered “the father of African film,” Sembène criticizes the lingering class and racial tensions in post-colonial Africa through the eyes of a young Senegalese woman who becomes a servant for a French couple.

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm by William Greaves (1968)

Blending fact and fiction similarly to Haskell Wexler’s Medium Cool, Greaves’s trailblazing meta movie contains a film within a film within a film, as his camera films his own crew filming their own documentary and illustrates the phenomenon of people acting differently when put in front of a camera.

The Spook Who Sat by the Door by Ivan Dixon (1973)

An African American man is hired into the CIA as a political publicity stunt to gain more Black votes, but he uses his newfound knowledge to organize a revolutionary guerilla group, causing the FBI in real life to suppress the showing of this film in theaters.

Touki Bouki by Djibril Diop Mambéty (1973)

African cinema during this period was funded through the French government and had to conform to specific standards, but Mambéty refused to use any French funding, allowing him the freedom to effectively satirize post-colonial disillusionment using zany, avant-garde techniques and imagery.

Killer of Sheep by Charles Burnett (1978)

Burnett is one of the key figures in the L.A. Rebellion movement that eschewed the typical Blaxploitation style in Hollywood, and his debut film is a masterpiece of social realism that depicts working-class life in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles through poignant and beautiful imagery.

Losing Ground by Kathleen Collins (1982)

As the first feature-length film directed by an African American woman, this movie follows a philosophy professor who grapples with the age-old tension between the abstract world of the intellect and the concrete world of experience. More on this film here.

My Brother's Wedding by Charles Burnett (1983)

Another fantastic but oft forgotten film by Burnett, this movie blends humor with gritty, class-conscious realism by examining the pressures of upward mobility and the fragility of community and familial relationships.

Bless Their Little Hearts by Billy Woodberry (1984)

Directed by Woodbury but written and filmed by Burnett, this film looks at the psychological and domestic toll of chronic unemployment on a Black family in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles during the early 1980s with both tender and heartbreaking moments throughout.

Hollywood Shuffle by Robert Townsend (1987)

If you liked Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction, be sure to check out its predecessor, Hollywood Shuffle, which satirizes the roadblocks faced by Black actors and artists in Hollywood, loosely based on Townsend’s own experiences being told he was not “black enough” for various roles. As a criticism of the entertainment industry, his movie pairs well with Spike Lee’s Bamboozled and Jordan Peele’s Nope.

Sidewalk Stories by Charles Lane (1989)

In this touching homage to Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid, Lane addresses themes of homelessness and poverty in 1980s New York City by following a street artist who suddenly finds himself responsible for a toddler. Side-by-sides of these two films can be seen on the excellent film blog Pinnland Empire and also in Split Screen Cinema.

Chameleon Street by Wendell B. Harris (1989)

Those who like movies like Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can will likely enjoy this film that also tracks the scams of a con artist (based on a real-life person) who successfully impersonated high-class doctors and lawyers as a form of rebellion against a society in which Black men are invisible or relegated to specific roles.

Cycles by Zeinabu irene Davis (1989)

In this experimental film from another great L.A. Rebellion figure, a young woman performs purification rituals while anxiously awaiting her overdue period. Some cinematic elements in this short can be seen in Davis’s feature-length film Compensation a decade later.

Daughters of the Dust by Julie Dash (1991)

As the first feature film directed by an African American woman to receive a wide theatrical release in the United States, Dash’s movie about the Gullah people off the South Carolina coast made waves recently due to it being a visual inspiration for Beyoncé’s Lemonade. The movie centers on conflicts between tradition versus modernity, and these themes show up over a decade earlier in Dash’s short film Diary of an African Nun. More on that film here.

Alma’s Rainbow by Ayoka Chenzira (1994)

Centered on the inner lives of three Black women in Brooklyn, this coming-of-age film follows a tomboy navigating her path to womanhood while caught between the opposing influences of her conservative mother and her free-spirited aunt. This movie pairs well with Leslie Harris’s Just Another Girl on the I.R.T., another New York teen flick from a couple years prior.

Watermelon Woman by Cheryl Dunye (1996)

Core to the New Queer Cinema canon as the first feature directed by a Black lesbian, this story follows an aspiring director who becomes obsessed with uncovering the identity of a forgotten Black actress while navigating her own romantic life. This movie pairs well with Stephen Winter’s Chocolate Babies that came out the same year, which follows the undertakings of Black queer activists amidst the AIDS crisis.

Mother of George by Andrew Dosunmu (2013)

In this visually striking film, Dosunmu explores the tensions between the patriarchal expectations of Nigerian tradition, the identity of motherhood, and contemporary American life in Brooklyn among the Yoruba immigrant community.

Moonlight by Barry Jenkins (2016)

This coming-of-age film explores themes of Black masculinity, sexuality, and identity by following the main character from childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. It was the first Black LGBTQ film to win Best Picture.

Sorry to Bother You by Boots Riley (2018)

Most remembered for his radical hip hop band The Coup, Riley combines magical realism, Afrofuturism, and communist politics in this scathing satire on modern capitalism, labor organizing, and systemic racism.

Atlantics by Mati Diop (2019)

This haunting ghost story explores themes of migration, labor exploitation, class dynamics, and star-crossed lovers while criticizing wealthy property developers using the Atlantic Ocean as a powerful, historical symbol.

Honorable Mentions:
The following movies were not directed by Black filmmakers but do boast either a predominately Black cast or Black main characters, making them worthy of canon status.