Slate's The Black Film Canon

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An official iCheckMovies list (adopted from monoglot).

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Seven years ago—when #OscarsSoWhite was a hot topic and Obama was still president—Slate published the Black Film Canon, a list of 50 of the best and most culturally significant films by Black directors. Critics, scholars, and the filmmakers themselves, including Ava DuVernay, Robert Townsend, and Gina Prince-Bythewood, weighed in with their picks. The result was a collection of films spanning almost 100 years, several continents, and a wide range of genres and styles: from Oscar Micheaux’s silent-era classic Within Our Gates to Djibril Diop Mambéty’s freewheeling road-trip movie Touki Bouki to F. Gary Gray’s iconic comedy Friday.

And then, just months after the Black Film Canon came out, Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight made history with a Best Picture Oscar win and Jordan Peele’s Get Out spawned a new cultural lexicon while reigniting the long-neglected Black horror genre. Just a year after that, Black Panther became an unprecedented box-office juggernaut. Since then, many other Black filmmakers, both seasoned and on the come up, have seized on an increasing number of opportunities to tell stories in bold ways: creators like Janicza Bravo, Boots Riley, and Garrett Bradley. Some adjudicators of cinematic prestige—like the once-a-decade Sight and Sound critics’ poll and the Criterion Collection—have finally come around to acknowledging important Black filmmakers after decades of all but ignoring them. Simply put, we’re now living in a different world for Black film.

Yet, as ever, barriers remain. This year’s Oscars saw yet another nominations controversy. The forces that have worked to sideline Black filmmakers have not disappeared. Even as the landscape has shifted, there’s more power than ever in understanding the films that brought us to this moment and the new ones taking us into the future. So it seems only fitting to revisit the Black Film Canon and update it to reflect the rush of great movies that have arrived since 2016, as well as reconsider the films made before 2016 that we missed the first time around. This time, in partnership with NPR, Slate polled a group of experts—a mix of industry and critical authorities from our previous list, as well as some newcomers—and we’re thrilled to present the results in our New Black Film Canon. Use it as an opportunity to appreciate the breadth of artistry Black filmmakers have brought to the movies—and as an unbeatable viewing list deep with surprising treasures.

The project excludes movies about black people but directed by non-blacks (A Raisin in the Sun, Coming to America). It is also not a poll: it’s an unranked list presented chronologically.

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  1. 33 new

    Alma's Rainbow

    1994, in 1 top list Check
  2. 15 -2

    Ashes and Embers

    1982, in 1 top list Check
  3. 16 new

    Cane River

    1982, in 1 top list Check
  4. 2 new

    Eleven P.M.

    1928, in 1 top list Check
  5. 30 -5

    Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.

    1992, in 1 top list Check
  6. 55 -7

    Bessie

    2015, in 1 top list Check
  7. 35 -6

    I Like It Like That

    1994, in 1 top list Check
  8. 32 -5

    Sankofa

    1993, in 2 top lists Check
  9. 43 -6

    Their Eyes Were Watching God

    2005, in 1 top list Check
  10. 21 new

    Looking for Langston

    1989, in 4 top lists Check
  11. 46 -6

    Night Catches Us

    2010, in 1 top list Check
  12. 6 -2

    The Learning Tree

    1969, in 4 top lists Check
  13. 48 -6

    Middle of Nowhere

    2012, in 1 top list Check
  14. 38 -6

    Waiting to Exhale

    1995, in 2 top lists Check
  15. 3 -1

    The Blood of Jesus

    1941, in 2 top lists Check
  16. 73 new

    Nanny

    2022, in 3 top lists
    Check
  17. 74 new

    Saint Omer

    2022, in 3 top lists
    Check
  18. 62 new

    Hale County This Morning, This Evening

    2018, in 1 top list
    Check
  19. 10 -2

    The Spook Who Sat by the Door

    1973, in 2 top lists Check
  20. 67 new

    The Forty-Year-Old Version

    2020, in 1 top list
    Check
  21. 17 -3

    Losing Ground

    1982, in 4 top lists Check
  22. 18 -3

    Rue Cases Nègres

    1983 — a.k.a. Sugar Cane Alley, in 4 top lists Check
  23. 45 -6

    Medicine for Melancholy

    2008, in 2 top lists Check
  24. 12 -2

    Cooley High

    1975, in 4 top lists Check
  25. 66 new

    Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé

    2019, in 1 top list
    Check
  26. 71 new

    Zola

    2020, in 1 top list
    Check
  27. 13 -2

    Car Wash

    1976, in 2 top lists Check
  28. 69 new

    Time

    2020, in 5 top lists
    Check
  29. 19 -3

    Hollywood Shuffle

    1987, in 2 top lists Check
  30. 24 -5

    House Party

    1990, in 2 top lists Check
  31. 25 -5

    Mo' Better Blues

    1990, in 1 top list Check
  32. 60 new

    Girls Trip

    2017, in 1 top list
    Check
  33. 23 new

    Chameleon Street

    1989, in 3 top lists Check
  34. 75 new

    The Woman King

    2022, in 2 top lists
    Check
  35. 28 -5

    Daughters of the Dust

    1991, in 9 top lists Check
  36. 1 -

    Within Our Gates

    1920, in 7 top lists Check
  37. 9 -2

    Super Fly

    1972, in 4 top lists Check
  38. 22 -4

    Tongues Untied

    1989, in 11 top lists Check
  39. 65 new

    Atlantique

    2019 — a.k.a. Atlantics, in 6 top lists
    Check
  40. 29 -5

    Juice

    1992, in 1 top list Check
  41. 26 -5

    To Sleep with Anger

    1990, in 8 top lists Check
  42. 34 -6

    Crooklyn

    1994, in 3 top lists Check
  43. 39 -6

    The Watermelon Woman

    1996, in 7 top lists Check
  44. 40 -6

    Eve's Bayou

    1997, in 6 top lists Check
  45. 5 new

    Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One

    1968, in 7 top lists Check
  46. 68 new

    Small Axe: Lovers Rock

    2020, in 6 top lists
    Check
  47. 7 -1

    Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song

    1971, in 12 top lists Check
  48. 41 -6

    Love & Basketball

    2000, in 6 top lists Check
  49. 36 -6

    Devil in a Blue Dress

    1995, in 4 top lists Check
  50. 51 -7

    Belle

    2013, in 1 top list Check
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Last updated on Feb 27, 2023 by Fergenaprido; source