28 days, 28 films for Black History Month
New York Times film critics have chosen essential movies from the 20th century that convey the larger history of black Americans in cinema.
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27 titles
- 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.
- DirectorZora Neale HurstonA 2018 compilation of Zora Neale Hurston's registers of activities in American black communities from the rural South, it possesses a highly anthropological value. Shot in 1928-29, the collection includes children's games, capers and dance, a baseball crowd, a baptism and portraits of a beautiful black young woman and a tall man with an axe. The images are enhanced by the score composed by Renée Clark Baker.
- DirectorEloyce GistJames GistIf you listen to jazz, you will go to Hell, where the scorching fires of torment are mighty and endless.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorTung-Shing YeeStarsTao JiangKai ShenGuopeng WanLife is not easy for aspiring actors who come to Hengdian to be extras, hoping to one day become movie stars.
- 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.
- 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.