Slate's The Black Film Canon

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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. 70 new

    Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution...

    2021, in 4 top lists
    Check
  2. 61 new

    Black Panther

    2018, in 9 top lists Check
  3. 56 -6

    O.J.: Made in America

    2016, in 7 top lists Check
  4. 57 new

    I Am Not Your Negro

    2016, in 6 top lists Check
  5. 59 new

    Get Out

    2017, in 16 top lists Check
  6. 58 new

    Moonlight

    2016, in 13 top lists Check
  7. 54 -5

    Creed

    2015, in 4 top lists Check
  8. 50 -4

    Selma

    2014, in 7 top lists Check
  9. 52 -7

    Fruitvale Station

    2013, in 4 top lists Check
  10. 9 -2

    Super Fly

    1972, in 4 top lists Check
  11. 7 -1

    Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song

    1971, in 12 top lists Check
  12. 27 -5

    Boyz n the Hood

    1991, in 9 top lists Check
  13. 8 -3

    Shaft

    1971, in 10 top lists Check
  14. 20 -3

    Do the Right Thing

    1989, in 25 top lists Check
  15. 49 -6

    12 Years a Slave

    2013, in 22 top lists Check
  16. 42 -6

    25th Hour

    2002, in 7 top lists Check
  17. 33 new

    Alma's Rainbow

    1994, in 1 top list Check
  18. 15 -2

    Ashes and Embers

    1982, in 1 top list Check
  19. 65 new

    Atlantique

    2019 — a.k.a. Atlantics, in 6 top lists
    Check
  20. 51 -7

    Belle

    2013, in 1 top list Check
  21. 55 -7

    Bessie

    2015, in 1 top list Check
  22. 3 -1

    The Blood of Jesus

    1941, in 2 top lists Check
  23. 16 new

    Cane River

    1982, in 1 top list Check
  24. 13 -2

    Car Wash

    1976, in 2 top lists Check
  25. 23 new

    Chameleon Street

    1989, in 3 top lists Check
  26. 12 -2

    Cooley High

    1975, in 4 top lists Check
  27. 34 -6

    Crooklyn

    1994, in 3 top lists Check
  28. 28 -5

    Daughters of the Dust

    1991, in 9 top lists Check
  29. 36 -6

    Devil in a Blue Dress

    1995, in 4 top lists Check
  30. 2 new

    Eleven P.M.

    1928, in 1 top list Check
  31. 40 -6

    Eve's Bayou

    1997, in 6 top lists Check
  32. 67 new

    The Forty-Year-Old Version

    2020, in 1 top list
    Check
  33. 37 -6

    Friday

    1995, in 2 top lists Check
  34. 60 new

    Girls Trip

    2017, in 1 top list
    Check
  35. 62 new

    Hale County This Morning, This Evening

    2018, in 1 top list
    Check
  36. 19 -3

    Hollywood Shuffle

    1987, in 2 top lists Check
  37. 66 new

    Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé

    2019, in 1 top list
    Check
  38. 24 -5

    House Party

    1990, in 2 top lists Check
  39. 35 -6

    I Like It Like That

    1994, in 1 top list Check
  40. 29 -5

    Juice

    1992, in 1 top list Check
  41. 30 -5

    Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.

    1992, in 1 top list Check
  42. 14 -2

    Killer of Sheep

    1978, in 14 top lists Check
  43. 6 -2

    The Learning Tree

    1969, in 4 top lists Check
  44. 21 new

    Looking for Langston

    1989, in 4 top lists Check
  45. 17 -3

    Losing Ground

    1982, in 4 top lists Check
  46. 41 -6

    Love & Basketball

    2000, in 6 top lists Check
  47. 31 -5

    Malcolm X

    1992, in 7 top lists Check
  48. 45 -6

    Medicine for Melancholy

    2008, in 2 top lists Check
  49. 48 -6

    Middle of Nowhere

    2012, in 1 top list Check
  50. 25 -5

    Mo' Better Blues

    1990, in 1 top list Check
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Last updated on Feb 27, 2023 by Fergenaprido; source