Flavorwire's 50 Essential African-American Independent Films
Created by jwlistsonly.
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While there are still too few African-American voices being recognized in Hollywood, recent films like Ava DuVernay’s Selma and Spike Lee’s Da Sweet Blood of Jesus speak to a vital tradition of black independent filmmakers. Even controversial creators like Tyler Perry hail from a long line of filmmakers that includes the directors and stars of the “race films” of the 1920s and 1930s. Many pioneering African-American directors, like Melvin Van Peebles and Julie Dash, were trailblazers who found money for their fiercely idiosyncratic visions. They defied expectations and proved that there was an audience for films about black characters as told by black artists.
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40 -
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
1971, in 12 top lists Check -
45 -
Fruitvale Station
2013, in 4 top lists Check -
2 -
Killer of Sheep
1978, in 14 top lists Check -
11 -
New Jack City
1991, in 3 top lists Check -
1 -
She's Gotta Have It
1986, in 6 top lists Check -
28 -
Menace II Society
1993, in 2 top lists Check -
9 -
Tongues Untied
1989, in 11 top lists Check -
6 -
Within Our Gates
1920, in 7 top lists Check -
22 -
One False Move
1991, in 8 top lists Check -
16 -
Ganja & Hess
1973 — a.k.a. Black Evil, in 3 top lists Check -
12 -
Daughters of the Dust
1991, in 9 top lists Check -
30 -
Love & Basketball
2000, in 6 top lists Check -
42 -
The Blood of Jesus
1941, in 2 top lists Check -
15 -
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One
1968, in 7 top lists Check -
38 -
Def by Temptation
1990, in 0 top lists Check -
13 -
Eve's Bayou
1997, in 6 top lists Check -
39 -
Black Devil Doll from Hell
1984, in 0 top lists Check -
8 -
Looking for Langston
1989, in 4 top lists Check -
41 -
Paris Is Burning
1990, in 12 top lists Check -
27 -
Penitentiary
1979, in 1 top list Check -
4 -
Chameleon Street
1989, in 3 top lists Check -
26 -
Pariah
2011, in 7 top lists Check -
17 -
Losing Ground
1982, in 4 top lists Check -
14 -
The Watermelon Woman
1996, in 7 top lists Check -
5 -
Medicine for Melancholy
2008, in 2 top lists Check -
35 -
Night Catches Us
2010, in 1 top list Check -
36 -
Fear of a Black Hat
1993, in 0 top lists Check -
47 -
I Am Somebody
1970, in 3 top lists Check -
48 -
Suzanne, Suzanne
1982, in 1 top list Check -
23 -
Black Girl
1972, in 0 top lists Check -
29 -
A Good Day to Be Black & Sexy
2008, in 0 top lists Check -
34 -
Nothing But a Man
1964, in 5 top lists Check -
33 -
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty
2012, in 0 top lists Check -
31 -
Yelling to the Sky
2011, in 0 top lists Check -
21 -
Ashes and Embers
1982, in 1 top list Check -
43 -
Baadasssss Cinema
2002, in 0 top lists Check -
24 -
Brother to Brother
2004, in 0 top lists Check -
7 -
Cornbread, Earl and Me
1975 — a.k.a. Hit the Open Man, in 0 top lists Check -
49 -
A Dream Is What You Wake Up From
1978, in 0 top lists Check -
20 -
Finding Christa
1991, in 0 top lists Check -
46 -
The Flying Ace
1926, in 1 top list Check -
32 -
Freedom Riders
2010, in 1 top list Check -
19 -
The Long Night
1976, in 0 top lists Check -
3 -
Middle of Nowhere
2012, in 1 top list Check -
37 -
The Minority
2006, in 0 top lists Check -
10 -
La permission
1967 — a.k.a. The Story of a Three-Day Pass, in 1 top list Check -
44 -
Punks
2000, in 0 top lists Check -
50 -
Sisters in Cinema
2003, in 0 top lists Check -
25 -
Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and...
2014, in 0 top lists Check -
18 -
Will
1981, in 0 top lists Check
Last updated on Feb 21, 2019 by jwlistsonly; source