Black women filmmakers

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Black women filmmakers have faced both race and gender disparity in their field;^[1][2] despite challenges, however, notable contributions have been made throughout the history of film by black women who have broken through the celluloid ceiling to become pioneers in filmmaking.^[3][4][5]

The film industry has been difficult for black women to break into. According to Nsenga Burton, writer for The Root, "the film industry remains overwhelmingly white and male."^[6] In her book Black Women Film and Video Artists, Jacqueline Bobo notes that "there is a substantial body of work created by Black women film/video makers, extending back to the early part of this century. Unfortunately, the work is overlooked not only by many distributors, but also by critical reviews and scholarly analyses, with the notable exception of those by Black women scholars, have been few and far between."^[7]

One of the issues concerning the involvement of Black females in film making is not simply the lack of numbers, but the influence given to them. Ada Gay Griffin examines in Seizing the Moving Image the issues in telling a Black story in film, which cannot be resolved by adding a couple of black actors or hiring black crews to produce the film, but by seizing control of the image; as Griffin argues, this is to be done by gaining production ownership of the films that are made by Black women, with Black women gaining more studio executive positions in the film industry, which is severely lacking in this respect.^[8] Therefore, when looking at the Hollywood film industry, while Black women filmmakers hae become more unnoticeable, they exist only in the periphery of the industry. In other words, while it may be apparent that Black women filmmakers are small in numbers, in fact there are many black woman filmmakers who actively contribute to the film industry.

Jacqueline Bobo, an associate professor in the women's studies program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, argues that the general public sees Black women's works as small, irregular, and of interest to small circle of intimate friends.^[9]

History[]

Jacqueline Bobo establishes that black women filmmakers have been productive throughout the twentieth century. Dating back to the 1900s, black women filmmakers have created a Genesis of a Tradition. Gloria J. Gibson-Hudson's in her essay titled "The Ties That Bind: Cinematic Representations By Black Women Filmmakers" notes that these black women have developed a framework or "commonalities" that evolved from social and historical circumstances.

1910s[]

Documentation exists of Black women producing and directing films during the prolific interim of Black film production from 1910 through the 1920s. Archivist and film scholar Pearl Bowser notes that Black women worked behind the camera on numerous films during this time on what were known as race films, that is, independent films produced by Black filmmakers, rather than white-controlled films about Black life. Historical records show that two women were especially noteworthy in filmmaking during this period. Madame C.J. Walker, one of the first Black millionaires, made her fortune manufacturing and distributing cosmetics and hair-care products for Black women. In addition to her retail business, Walker owned the Walker Theater in Indianapolis, Indiana and produced training and promotional films about her cosmetics factory. The theater still stands today and was recently purchased by IUPUI for renovations. These films, Bowser declares, "offered a visual record of women's work history" and the "development of cottage Industries." Bowser also points to the importance of Madam Toussaint Welcome, Booker T. Washington's personal photographer, who produced at least one film about Black soldiers who fought in World War I.^[10]

1920s[]

There are disputes concerning whom the first black women filmmaker is.^[11]

Tressie Souders wrote, directed and produced a feature film called A Woman's Error in 1922. The film was hailed by the black press as "“the first of its kind to be produced by a young woman of our race.”^[11]

Zora Neale Hurston, best known for her novels, including the renowned Their Eyes Were Watching God, was also a folklorist who created work centering on ethnographic films, she earned her MA in Cultural Anthropology at Columbia University. In 1928 Hurston created the film Children's Games, the first non-silent film to be directed by a black woman.^[12][13] Hurston lived from 1891 to 1960, and her plays and scripts have been preserved by the Library of Congress.^[14] Hurston was trained as an anthropologist, and created documentaries, particularly about the lives of black people in the south.^[15][16]

produced short religious films with her husband , including the 16mm silent motion picture Hell Bound Train (1929–30), which preaches temperance. Eloyce Gist's work had a spiritual mission and "remains unique in its explicitly non-theatrical definition and its purpose as a tool for moral education and social uplift."^[17]

1940s[]

Eslanda Goode Robeson, better known as author of Paul Robeson, Negro (1930), the biography of her husband, and the travelogue African Journey (1945), shot ethnographic film footage during the 40s. This material is held by the Library of Congress but, as of 2012, is not available for public screening due to fragile condition.^[18][19]

1960s[]

Sara Gómez aka Sarita Gómez (November 8, 1942 – June 2, 1974) was a Cuban filmmaker. As a member of ICAIC (Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos, in English: Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry). She was the institute's first woman filmmaker. Gómez made several short films after the Cuban revolution which exam Cuban life while highlighting gender, race and class issues. Her feature film De Cierta Manera (One Way or Another) was released after her death in 1974.

1970s[]

Madeline Anderson is considered "a trailblazer in the world of nonfiction filmmaking",^[20] recognized particularly for I Am Somebody (1970) and the earlier A Tribute to Malcolm X (1967).

Safi Faye, a Senegalese film director, was the first Sub-Saharan African woman to direct a commercially distributed feature film, Kaddu Beykat, which was released in 1975.^[21]

1980s[]

Kathleen Collins wrote, produced and directed, Losing Ground (1982) her landmark film, after writing her 1977 manifesto "A Place in Time and Killer of Sheep: Two Radical Definitions of Adventure Minus Women", which "charged that films like Shaft and Superfly did nothing more than reproduce, in a different hue, the phallocentric conventions of white Hollywood cinema".^[22]

Euzhan Palcy wrote and directed Sugar Cane Alley (1983) her seminal masterpiece, which put the French West Indies on the world cinema map. winning the Silver Lion at the 40th Venice Film Festival in 1983, a first for a black director. The following year, she made history again when she became the first woman and the first black director winner of the Best First Work César Awards^[23] In 1989, she co-wrote and directed A Dry White Season (1989) becoming the first black female director produced by a major Hollywood studio (MGM) Furthermore, Palcy is the first black woman filmmaker to direct an actor to an Oscar nomination, with Marlon Brando being recognized for his performance as Ian McKenzie in A Dry White Season.

1990s[]

In 1991, Julie Dash became the first black female filmmaker to have a full-length general theatrical release in the US for her film Daughters of the Dust. Considered "an historical marker...suggestive of what will hallmark the next stage of development-a more pronounced diasporic and Afrafemcentic orientation",^[24] the film was recognized in 1999 by the 25th annual Newark Black Film Festival as one of the most important cinematic achievements in black cinema in the 20th century. Daughters of the Dust was placed on the National Film Resgistry by the Library of Congress in 2004, making it one of 400 other American-made films that are preserved and protected as national treasures.^[25]

In 1996 Cheryl Dunye's The Watermelon Woman became the first film directed and written by a Black lesbian to explore Black lesbianism. Dunye's work has been influential in both Black and LGBTQ filmmaking spheres.^[3]

Gloria Rolando is a Cuban filmmaker. Her first film with ICAIC, Oggun: An Eternal Present, was released in 1991.^[26] In 1997 she released a film about Assata Shakur called Eyes of the Rainbow. Rolando's films look at Afro-Cuban religion and immigration in Cuba.

2010s[]

Issa Rae, is a writer, director, producer, and Actress in the hit HBO Television show Insecure. She started her career as a filmmaker in her dorm room at Stanford University, where she later found the inspiration for the YouTube series The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl. In 2013, Rae partnered with Pharell Williams for season 2 of The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl on the YouTube channel IamOther. Since the premiere of Insecure, Issa Rae has received two Golden Globe Nominations for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy as well as a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Issa Rae has partnered with Columbia Pictures to promote real stories via ColorCreative, a mentorship program in Inglewood,Calif.^{[citation needed]}

Ava DuVernay, a pioneer of black female filmmakers, became the first black woman to win the US Dramatic Directing Award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. She received an Oscar nomination for her documentary 13th (2016), and has also made history as the first black woman director to be nominated for a Golden Globe. DuVernay continued her career in filmmaking with A Wrinkle in Time,^[27] released in 2018 with an estimated budget surpassing $100 million, making DuVernay the first black female to direct a live-action film with a budget of that size.^[28] Recently, she created, co-wrote, produced and directed the Netflix drama limited series When They See Us, based on the 1989 Central Park jogger case, which has earned critical acclaim.^{[29][30][31][32]} The series was nominated for 16 Emmy Awards including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series and won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Limited Series. She is set to direct New Gods, a Warner Bros. and DC Comics film.^[33]

Mati Diop, a French-Senegalese director was the first black female filmmaker to be included in the prestigious Cannes Film Festival competition, in 2019. Her film Atlantics was up for the Palme d'Or,^[34] the top honor of the Cannes competition.

Dream hampton in 2019 produced Surviving R. Kelly, which received a Peabody Award,^[35][36] an MTV Movie Award for "Best Documentary,"^[37] and a Rockies Award for "Program of the Year" at the Banff World Media Festival.^[38]

Regina King's One Night in Miami..., her feature film directorial debut, premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 7, 2020, a first for an African-American female director.^[39]

Chinonye Chukwu is a Nigerian-American filmmaker that in 2010, directed The Dance Lesson.^[40] She produced her first feature film in 2012.^[41][42] She has written and directed Clemency in 2019,^[43] which she received the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at 2019 Sundance for and became the first black woman to win the biggest prize.^[44][45]

2020s[]

Maïmouna Doucouré is a French film maker,. Her career continued to rise at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival with the world premiere of her feature directorial debut “Cuties.”^[46][47] Radha Blank broke out in 2020, with her feature debuted film The 40-Year-Old Version. Blank won the Directing Award in the U.S Dramatic Competition thanks to her feature directorial debut ^[46]

Selected black women filmmakers and filmography[]

Debbie Allen[]

• The Old Settler (2001)
• Life Is Not A Fairy Tale- The Fantasia Barrino Story (2006)
• Alex In Wonderland (2008)
• Dolly Parton's Christmas on the Square (2020)

Madeline Anderson[]

• Integration Report I (1961)
• Malcolm X- Nationalist or Humanist (1967)
• Sesame Street and The Electric Company (1964–1969)
• I Am Somebody (1970)
• Infinity Factory (1977)

Maya Angelou[]

• Down in the Delta (1998)

Amma Asante[]

• A Way of Life (2004)
• Belle (2013)
• A United Kingdom (2016)
• Where Hands Touch (2018)

Kay Barnes[]

• 3:35 to Boston (2021)
• Mirage (2020)
• Budding Creativity (2020)
• The Premiere (2019)

Neema Barnette[]

• The Cosby Show (1989–1990)
• American Playhouse- Zora Is My Name (1990)
• A Different World (1990–1991)
• Run For the Dream- The Gail Devers Story (1996)
• Civil Brand (2002)
• All You've Got (2006)
• Super Sweet 16: The Movie (2007)
• Heaven Ain't Hard to Find (2010)

[]

• Girls Like Us (2012) - feature film
• Girls Like Us... The Short Of It All! (2013) - short film
• Woman to Woman by Complete Love (2013) - music video
• The Pastor's Wife (2014) - short film
• Girls Like Us 2.0! The Hustle! The Game! (2014) - feature film
• "All They Know Is Shoot" by Tripp Sticc featuring Ricky Moncler (2016) - music video

Lillian Benson[]

• Amen: The life and music of Jester Hairston (2015)
• All Our Sons: Fallen Heroes of 9/11 (2003)
• Cat Champion - Big Blue Marble series (1982)
• Circus Rider - Big Blue Marble series (1980)

[]

• Sam Black: Speech Writer (2015) (TV Movie)
• (2020)

Garrett Bradley[]

• Sardines (2009) (short)
• Black and Blue (2010) (short)
• Below Dreams (2014)
• Cover Me (2015) (short)
• Like (2016) (documentary short)
• The Earth Is Humming (2018) (documentary short)
• Time (2020) (documentary)

Janicza Bravo[]

• Lemon (2017)
• Zola (2020)

Mara Brock Akil[]

• Girlfriends (2000)
• The Game (2006)
• Being Mary Jane (2013)
• Black Lightning (2018)

Gina Carey[]

• Acts of Kindness
• Rose England
• The One Year Pact (2018)
• The Assumptions (2017)
• Aspire to Inspire (2016)
• The Unexpected (2016)

Ayoka Chenzira[]

• Syvilla: They Dance to Her Drum (1979)
• Hair Piece: A Film for Nappyheaded People (1984)
• Secret Sounds Screaming: The Sexual Abuse of Children (1986)
• The Lure and the Lore (1988)
• Zajota and the Boogie Spirit (1989)
• Alma's Rainbow (1993)
• My Own Tv (MOTV)
• HERadventure (2014)

Chinonye Chukwu[]

• Alaska Land (2012)
• Clemency (2019)
• A Taste of Honey (TBD)

Michaela Coel[]

• I May Destroy You (2020) (miniseries)

Kathleen Collins[]

• Losing Ground (1982)

Nia DaCosta[]

• Little Woods (2018)
• Candyman (2020)
• The Marvels (2022)

Julie Dash[]

• Diary of an African Nun (1977)
• Four Women (1978)
• Illusions (1982)
• Praise House (1991)
• Daughters of the Dust (1991) - the first film directed by an African-American woman with general theatrical release and distribution
• SUBWAYStories: Tales from the Underground (1997)
• Funny Valentines (1999)
• Incognito (1999)
• Love Song (2000)
• The Rosa Parks Story (2002)

Zeinabu Irene Davis[]

• Filmstatement (1982)
• Re-creating Black Women's Media Image (1983)
• Crocodile Conspiracy (1986)
• Sweet Bird of Youth (1987)
• Cycles (1989)
• Trumpetistically, Clora Bryant (1989)
• A Period Piece (1991)
• A Powerful Thang (1991)
• Mother of the River (1995)
• Compensation (1999)
• Passengers (2009)
• Spirits of Rebellion: Black Cinema at UCLA (2011)

Monica Dillon[]

• And the Living is Easy

Mati Diop[]

• Atlantiques (2009) (short)
• Snow Canon (2011) (short)
• Big in Vietnam (2012) (short)
• Mille Soleils (2013) (short)
• (2019)

Leila Djansi[]

• Ties That Bind (2011)
• Where Children Play (2015)
• Like Cotton Twines (2016)

Cheryl Dunye[]

• Janine (1990)
• She Don't Fade (1991)
• Vanilla Sex (1992)
• An Untitled Portrait (1993)
• The Potluck and the Passion (1993)
• Greetings from Africa (1994)
• The Watermelon Woman (1996)
• Stranger Inside (2001)
• My Baby's Daddy (2004)
• The Owls (2010)
• Black Is Blue (2014)

Ava DuVernay[]

• This Is the Life (2008)
• I Will Follow (2010)
• Middle of Nowhere (2012)
• Selma (2014)
• 13th (2016)
• A Wrinkle in Time (2018)
• When They See Us (2019) (limited series)

[]

• Valerie (1975)

Lisa Gay Hamilton[]

• Beah: A Black Woman Speaks (2003)

Tina Gordon Chism[]

• Little (2019)
• Praise This (2020)

Tanya Hamilton[]

• The Killers (1995)
• Night Catches Us (2010)

Wanuri Kahiu[]

• The Spark That Unites (2005)
• Ras Star (2006)
• From a Whisper (2008)
• Pumzi (2009) (short)
• For Our Land (2010)
• Rafiki (2018)
• Once on This Island (TBA)

Regina King[]

• One Night in Miami... (2020)

Beyonce Knowles-Carter[]

• Life Is But a Dream (2013)
• Lemonade (2016)
• Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé (2019)
• Black Is King (2020)

Alile Sharon Larkin[]

• A Different Image (1982)

Kasi Lemmons[]

• Eve's Bayou (1997)
• The Caveman's Valentine (2001)
• Talk to Me (2007)
• Black Nativity (2013)
• Harriet (2019)
• Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C. J. Walker (2020) (miniseries)

Nnegest Likké[]

• (2016)
• Ben & Ara (2015)
• Phat Girlz (2006)

Shola Lynch[]

• Chisholm '72: Unbought & Unbossed
• Free Angela and All Political Prisoners

Victoria Mahoney[]

• Yelling to the Sky (2011)
• Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) (second unit)

Jessie Maple[]

• Methadone: Wonder Drug or Evil Spirit (1976)
• Black Economic Power: Reality or Fantasy (1977)
• Will (1981)
• Twice As Nice (1989)

Darnell Martin[]

• Suspect (1992)
• I Like It Like That (1994) - the first production of a major film studio directed by an African-American woman
• Nowhere Fast (1997)
• Prison Song (2001)
• Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005)
• Cadillac Records (2008)
• The Lost Valentine (2011)

Melina Matsoukas[]

• We Found Love (2011) (short)
• Pretty Hurts (2013) (short)
• Formation (2016) (short)
• Queen & Slim (2019)

Barbara McCullough[]

• Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification (1979)
• Shopping Bag Spirits and Freeway Fetishes: Reflections on Ritual Space (1981)
• Fragments (1980)
• World Saxophone Quartet (1980)

Stella Meghie[]

• Jean of the Joneses (2016)
• Everything, Everything (2017)
• The Weekend (2018)
• The Photograph (2020)

Ngozi Onwurah[]

• Coffee Colored Children (1988)
• And Still I Rise (1991)
• The Body Beautiful (1991)
• Monday's Girls (1993)
• Welcome II the Terrordome (1994)
• The Desired Number (1995)
• Shoot The Messenger (2008)

Euzhan Palcy[]

• Sugar Cane Alley (1983)
• A Dry White Season (1989) - first film directed by a black woman produced by a major Hollywood studio
• Siméon (1992)
• Aimé Césaire: A Voice for History (1994)
• Ruby Bridges (1998)
• The Killing Yard (2001)
• Parcours de Dissidents (2006)
• Les Mariées de l'isle Bourbon (2007)

Channing Godfrey Peoples[]

• Carry Me Home (2009) (documentary short)
• Red (2013) (short)
• Doretha's Blues (2019) (short)
• Miss Juneteenth (2020)

Numa Perrier[]

• Judi: A Series of Memories (2005) (short)
• La petite mort (2009) (short)
• Florida Water (2014)
• Hello Cupid: Farrah (2017) (short)
• Jezebel (2019)

Tonya Pinkins[]

• Red Pill (2020)

Gina Prince-Bythewood[]

• Love & Basketball (2000)
• Disappearing Acts (2000)
• The Secret Life of Bees (2008)
• Beyond the Lights (2014)
• The Old Guard (2020)

Dee Rees[]

• Orange Bow (2005)
• Pariah (2007)
• Eventual Salvation (2008)
• Colonial Gods (2009)
• Pariah (2011)
• Bessie (2015)
• Mudbound (2017)
• The Last Thing He Wanted (2020)

[]

• I Be Done Was Is (1984)
• Kiss Grandmama Goodbye (1992)

[]

• A Minor Altercation (1977)
• The Promised Land from Eyes on the Prize (1990)
• Keys to the Kingdom from Eyes on the Prize (1990)
• The Massachusetts 54th Colored Regiment (1992)

Cauleen Smith[]

• Drylongso (1988)
• Chronicles of a Lying Spirit (1992)

Frances-Anne Solomon[]

• I Is A Long Memoried Woman (1990)
• Reunion (1992)
• Bideshi (1994)
• What My Mother Told me (1995)
• Peggy Su! (1998)
• Lord Have Mercy! (2003)
• Coming Home (2006)
• A Winter Tale (2008)
• Human Traffic - Past and Present (2012)
• Break Out (2017)
• Hero (2019)

Nzingha Stewart[]

• With This Ring (2015)
• Love by the 10th Date (2017)
• Tall Girl (2019)

Sylvia Sweeney[]

• Breaking the Ice: Story of Mary Ann Shadd (2000)

Jocelyn Taylor[]

• 24 Hours a Day (1993)
• Frankie & Jocie (1994)
• Bodily Functions (1995)

Liesl Tommy[]

• Respect (2020)
• Born a Crime (TBD)

[]

• Grey Area (1981)

Yvonne Welbon[]

• Monique (1991)
• Cinematic Jazz of Julie Dash (1992–93)
• Sisters in the Life: First Love (1993)
• Missing Relations (1994)
• Remembering Wei Yi-Fang, Remembering Myself (1995)
• A Taste of Dirt (2002)

Liz White[]

• Othello (1980)

Tammy Williams[]

• (2018)
• (2018)

Fronza Woods[]

• Killing Time (1979)
• Fannie's Film (1979)

See also[]

• L.A. Rebellion

References[]

Further reading[]

• Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey, Women Filmmakers of the African & Asian Diaspora: Decolonizing the Gaze, Locating Subjectivity; 1997, Southern Illinois University Press, ISBN 978-0809321209
• hooks, bell (1996). Reel to real: race, sex, and class at the movies. New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0415918235. OCLC 35229108.

External links[]

• Historical Timeline of Feature Films Directed by African American Women
• Black Women Film Network