The Top 50 Movies by Black Directors
by CorleoneWarrior88 | created - 13 Apr 2015 | updated - 8 months ago | PublicThe 50 Best Films Directed by Black Filmmakers, Ranked
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1. Do the Right Thing (1989)
R | 120 min | Comedy, Drama
On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson
Votes: 112,393 | Gross: $27.55M
2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
PG | 140 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Miles Morales catapults across the multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. When the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles must redefine what it means to be a hero.
Directors: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson | Stars: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Velez
Votes: 368,828 | Gross: $381.31M
3. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
PG | 117 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Teen Miles Morales becomes the Spider-Man of his universe and must join with five spider-powered individuals from other dimensions to stop a threat for all realities.
Directors: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman | Stars: Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali
Votes: 671,165 | Gross: $190.24M
4. Moonlight (I) (2016)
R | 111 min | Drama
A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.
Director: Barry Jenkins | Stars: Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Trevante Rhodes, Alex R. Hibbert
Votes: 331,750 | Gross: $27.85M
5. Malcolm X (1992)
PG-13 | 202 min | Biography, Drama, History
Biographical 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.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Delroy Lindo, Spike Lee
Votes: 102,000 | Gross: $48.17M
6. Get Out (I) (2017)
R | 104 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A young African-American visits his white girlfriend's parents for the weekend, where his simmering uneasiness about their reception of him eventually reaches a boiling point.
Director: Jordan Peele | Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener
Votes: 696,409 | Gross: $176.04M
7. 12 Years a Slave (2013)
R | 134 min | Biography, Drama, History
In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free Black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.
Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Kenneth Williams, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt
Votes: 741,150 | Gross: $56.67M
8.
Small Axe (2020)
Episode:
Mangrove
(2020)
TV-MA | 127 min | Drama, History
Mangrove tells this true story of The Mangrove Nine, who clashed with London police in 1970. The trial that followed was the first judicial acknowledgment of behavior motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police.
Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Gary Beadle, Darren Braithwaite, Richie Campbell, Ben Caplan
Votes: 5,890
9. Boyz n the Hood (1991)
R | 112 min | Crime, Drama
Follows the lives of three young males living in the Crenshaw ghetto of Los Angeles, dissecting questions of race, relationships, violence, and future prospects.
Director: John Singleton | Stars: Cuba Gooding Jr., Laurence Fishburne, Hudhail Al-Amir, Lloyd Avery II
Votes: 154,576 | Gross: $57.50M
10. Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
R | 126 min | Biography, Drama, History
Offered a plea deal by the FBI, William O'Neal infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to gather intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton.
Director: Shaka King | Stars: LaKeith Stanfield, Daniel Kaluuya, Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback
Votes: 91,443
11. Black Girl (1966)
Not Rated | 65 min | Drama
A black girl from Senegal becomes a servant in France.
Director: Ousmane Sembene | Stars: Mbissine Thérèse Diop, Anne-Marie Jelinek, Robert Fontaine, Momar Nar Sene
Votes: 6,010
12.
Small Axe (2020)
Episode:
Lovers Rock
(2020)
TV-MA | 70 min | Drama, History
A single evening at a house party in 1980s West London sets the scene, developing intertwined relationships against a background of violence, romance and music.
Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Dennis Bovell, Saffron Coomber, Frankie Fox, Daniel Francis-Swaby
Votes: 5,295
13. Hunger (2008)
Not Rated | 96 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Irish republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.
Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham, Stuart Graham, Laine Megaw
Votes: 73,540 | Gross: $0.15M
14. The Watermelon Woman (1996)
Unrated | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A young black lesbian filmmaker probes into the life of The Watermelon Woman, a 1930s black actress who played 'mammy' archetypes.
Director: Cheryl Dunye | Stars: Cheryl Dunye, Guinevere Turner, Valarie Walker, Lisa Marie Bronson
Votes: 3,516
15. Pariah (I) (2011)
R | 86 min | Drama
A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.
Director: Dee Rees | Stars: Adepero Oduye, Kim Wayans, Aasha Davis, Pernell Walker
Votes: 7,555 | Gross: $0.76M
16. Black Dynamite (2009)
R | 84 min | Action, Comedy
Black Dynamite is the greatest African-American action star of the 1970s. When his only brother is killed by The Man, it's up to him to find justice.
Director: Scott Sanders | Stars: Michael Jai White, Arsenio Hall, Tommy Davidson, Phyllis Applegate
Votes: 51,806 | Gross: $0.23M
17. Soul (2020)
PG | 100 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Joe is a middle-school band teacher whose life hasn't quite gone the way he expected. His true passion is jazz. But when he travels to another realm to help someone find their passion, he soon discovers what it means to have soul.
Directors: Pete Docter, Kemp Powers | Stars: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Rachel House
Votes: 379,512
18. BlacKkKlansman (2018)
R | 135 min | Biography, Comedy, Crime
Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer from Colorado Springs, Colorado, successfully infiltrates the local Ku Klux Klan branch aided by a Jewish surrogate who eventually becomes its leader. Based on actual events.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace
Votes: 291,037 | Gross: $49.28M
19. Killer of Sheep (1978)
80 min | Drama
Set 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.
Director: Charles Burnett | Stars: Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy, Angela Burnett
Votes: 7,530 | Gross: $0.40M
20. Training Day (2001)
R | 122 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A rookie cop spends his first day as a Los Angeles narcotics officer with a rogue detective who isn't what he appears to be.
Director: Antoine Fuqua | Stars: Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Scott Glenn, Tom Berenger
Votes: 472,731 | Gross: $76.63M
21. If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)
R | 119 min | Drama, Romance
A young woman embraces her pregnancy while she and her family set out to prove her childhood friend and lover innocent of a crime he didn't commit.
Director: Barry Jenkins | Stars: KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Regina King, Teyonah Parris
Votes: 52,490 | Gross: $14.92M
22. Fruitvale Station (2013)
R | 85 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident, who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family, and strangers on the last day of 2008.
Director: Ryan Coogler | Stars: Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer, Kevin Durand
Votes: 85,874 | Gross: $16.10M
23. Rye Lane (2023)
R | 82 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Two youngsters reeling from bad breakups connect over an eventful day in South London.
Director: Raine Allen-Miller | Stars: David Jonsson, Vivian Oparah, Poppy Allen-Quarmby, Charlie Knight
Votes: 12,690
24. Deep Cover (1992)
R | 107 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A uniformed police officer is recruited by the DEA to infiltrate a drug smuggling ring looking to expand its operation.
Director: Bill Duke | Stars: Laurence Fishburne, Jeff Goldblum, Lira Angel, René Assa
Votes: 14,043 | Gross: $16.64M
25. 25th Hour (2002)
R | 135 min | Drama
Cornered by the DEA, convicted New York drug dealer Montgomery Brogan reevaluates his life in the 24 remaining hours before facing a seven-year jail term.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Edward Norton, Barry Pepper, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rosario Dawson
Votes: 184,649 | Gross: $13.06M
26. Menace II Society (1993)
R | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A young street hustler attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life.
Directors: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes | Stars: Tyrin Turner, Larenz Tate, June Kyoto Lu, Toshi Toda
Votes: 64,445 | Gross: $27.90M
27. Shame (2011)
NC-17 | 101 min | Drama
A sex addict's carefully cultivated private life falls apart after his sister arrives for an indefinite stay.
Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale, Lucy Walters
Votes: 206,201 | Gross: $4.00M
28. Les Misérables (2019)
R | 104 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A cop from the provinces moves to Paris to join the Anti-Crime Brigade of Montfermeil, discovering an underworld where the tensions between the different groups mark the rhythm.
Director: Ladj Ly | Stars: Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djebril Zonga, Issa Perica
Votes: 28,285 | Gross: $0.33M
29. Crooklyn (1994)
PG-13 | 115 min | Comedy, Drama
Spike Lee's vibrant semi-autobiographical portrait of a school teacher, her stubborn jazz musician husband and their five kids living in Brooklyn in 1973.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Alfre Woodard, Delroy Lindo, David Patrick Kelly, Zelda Harris
Votes: 11,327 | Gross: $13.64M
30. Creed (II) (2015)
PG-13 | 133 min | Action, Drama, Sport
The former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed.
Director: Ryan Coogler | Stars: Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad
Votes: 310,799 | Gross: $109.77M
31. Submarine (2010)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
15-year-old Oliver Tate has two objectives: to lose his virginity before his next birthday, and to extinguish the flame between his mother and an ex-lover who has resurfaced in her life.
Director: Richard Ayoade | Stars: Craig Roberts, Sally Hawkins, Paddy Considine, Noah Taylor
Votes: 96,512 | Gross: $0.47M
32. On the Count of Three (2021)
R | 86 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Jerrod Carmichael makes his directorial debut and stars in On the Count of Three, a darkly comic feature about two best friends, Val (Carmichael) and Kevin (Christopher Abbott), on the last day of their lives.
Director: Jerrod Carmichael | Stars: Jerrod Carmichael, Christopher Abbott, Tiffany Haddish, Lavell Crawford
Votes: 8,768
33. Touki Bouki (1973)
Not Rated | 85 min | Drama
Mory, a cowherd, and Anta, a university student, try to make money in order to go to Paris and leave their boring past behind.
Director: Djibril Diop Mambéty | Stars: Magaye Niang, Myriam Niang, Christoph Colomb, Mustapha Ture
Votes: 4,102
34. Selma (2014)
PG-13 | 128 min | Biography, Drama, History
A chronicle of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965.
Director: Ava DuVernay | Stars: David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Wilkinson
Votes: 95,458 | Gross: $52.08M
35. The Forty-Year-Old Version (2020)
R | 123 min | Comedy, Drama
Radha is a down-on-her-luck NY playwright, who is desperate for a breakthrough before 40. Reinventing herself as rapper RadhaMUSPrime, she vacillates between the worlds of Hip Hop and theater in order to find her true voice.
Director: Radha Blank | Stars: Radha Blank, Peter Kim, Oswin Benjamin, Imani Lewis
Votes: 5,519
36. Nope (2022)
R | 130 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
The residents of a lonely gulch in inland California bear witness to an uncanny and chilling discovery.
Director: Jordan Peele | Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Brandon Perea, Michael Wincott
Votes: 265,638 | Gross: $123.28M
37. Straight Outta Compton (2015)
R | 147 min | Biography, Drama, History
The rap group NWA emerges from the mean streets of Compton in Los Angeles, California, in the mid-1980s and revolutionizes Hip Hop culture with their music and tales about life in the hood.
Director: F. Gary Gray | Stars: O'Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown Jr.
Votes: 218,435 | Gross: $161.20M
38. Bamboozled (2000)
R | 135 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A frustrated African-American TV writer proposes a blackface minstrel show in protest, but to his chagrin, it becomes a hit.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Damon Wayans, Savion Glover, Jada Pinkett Smith, Michael Rapaport
Votes: 12,348 | Gross: $2.27M
39. A Thousand and One (2023)
R | 117 min | Crime, Drama
After unapologetic and fiercely loyal Inez kidnaps her son Terry from the foster care system, mother and son set out to reclaim their sense of home, identity, and stability, in a rapidly changing New York City.
Director: A.V. Rockwell | Stars: Teyana Taylor, Aaron Kingsley Adetola, Aven Courtney, Josiah Cross
Votes: 6,910
40. Eve's Bayou (1997)
R | 108 min | Drama
What did little Eve see--and how will it haunt her? Husband, father and womanizer Louis Batiste is the head of an affluent family, but it's the women who rule this gothic world of secrets, lies and mystic forces.
Director: Kasi Lemmons | Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Jurnee Smollett, Meagan Good, Lynn Whitfield
Votes: 11,608 | Gross: $14.82M
41. Timbuktu (2014)
PG-13 | 96 min | Drama, War
A cattle herder and his family who reside in the dunes of Timbuktu find their quiet lives -- which are typically free of the Jihadists determined to control their faith -- abruptly disturbed.
Director: Abderrahmane Sissako | Stars: Ibrahim Ahmed, Abel Jafri, Toulou Kiki, Layla Walet Mohamed
Votes: 18,281 | Gross: $1.08M
42. Saint Omer (2022)
PG-13 | 122 min | Drama
Follows Rama, a novelist who attends the trial of Laurence Coly at the Saint-Omer Criminal Court to use her story to write a modern-day adaptation of the ancient myth of Medea, but things don't go as expected.
Director: Alice Diop | Stars: Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanda, Valérie Dréville, Aurélia Petit
Votes: 5,049
43. Mudbound (2017)
R | 134 min | Drama, War
Two men return home from World War II to work on a farm in rural Mississippi, where they struggle to deal with racism and adjusting to life after war.
Director: Dee Rees | Stars: Jason Mitchell, Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Mary J. Blige
Votes: 54,382
44. Sorry to Bother You (2018)
R | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success, propelling him into a universe of greed.
Director: Boots Riley | Stars: LaKeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Jermaine Fowler, Omari Hardwick
Votes: 88,151 | Gross: $17.49M
45. The Hate U Give (2018)
PG-13 | 133 min | Crime, Drama
Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Now, facing pressure from all sides of the community, Starr must find her voice and stand up for what's right.
Director: George Tillman Jr. | Stars: Amandla Stenberg, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Anthony Mackie
Votes: 40,122 | Gross: $29.72M
46. Inside Man (2006)
R | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A police detective, a bank robber, and a high-power broker enter high-stakes negotiations after the criminal's brilliant heist spirals into a hostage situation.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer
Votes: 397,772 | Gross: $88.51M
47. King Richard (2021)
PG-13 | 144 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
A look at how tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams became who they are after the coaching from their father Richard.
Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green | Stars: Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Jon Bernthal, Saniyya Sidney
Votes: 136,234
48. The Woman King (2022)
PG-13 | 135 min | Action, Drama, History
A historical epic inspired by true events that took place in The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood | Stars: Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim
Votes: 73,077 | Gross: $67.33M
49. One Night in Miami... (2020)
R | 114 min | Drama
A fictional account of one incredible night where icons Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown gathered discussing their roles in the Civil Rights Movement and cultural upheaval of the 60s.
Director: Regina King | Stars: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr.
Votes: 34,277
50. Love & Basketball (2000)
PG-13 | 124 min | Drama, Romance, Sport
Monica and Quincy love and play basketball together through many life challenges from childhood to adulthood.
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood | Stars: Sanaa Lathan, Omar Epps, Glenndon Chatman, Jess Willard
Votes: 24,300 | Gross: $27.44M
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