Criterion Deep-Dive: 29 Films Celebrating Black History Month! (Part Two of Two)
Highlighting 29 Films by Black Directors from The Criterion Collection & The Criterion Channel
My husband and I are both lifelong film buffs, and in recent months we have been immersed in a deep-dive into the treasures of The Criterion Collection and The Criterion Channel. Cinematic gems from Criterion’s abundance of critically-acclaimed films (on both Blu-ray and streaming) have frequently been at the top of our viewing queue, especially after discovering the consistently high quality of curated content available on The Criterion Channel (which has become one of our favorite paid streaming services).
In honor of Black History Month, we felt this month was the perfect time to celebrate the achievements made by Black directors. So, we’ve delved into the Criterion catalog to bring you 29 renowned films by Black directors that are currently available via The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray & DVD) and/or The Criterion Channel (streaming). One great film for each day of Black History Month!
29 Critically-Acclaimed Films by Black Directors from The Criterion Collection & The Criterion Channel: Part Two of Two (in alphabetical order)
Love & Basketball (2000) – directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood
Full disclosure: I have zero interest in sports and even less interest in most iterations of the traditional “romance” genre. But I love everything about Love & Basketball, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s first feature film and sleeper hit. Starring Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps as two young basketball players who have alternately been friends, rivals and lovers since childhood, this sizzling drama immediately won me over, from the thrilling action scenes on the court to the refreshingly honest portrayal of a romantic heroine who stays true to herself despite the odds. [available on Blu-ray & DVD]
Lovers Rock (2020) – directed by Steve McQueen
In 2020, British director Steve McQueen released an ambitious project titled Small Axe, an anthology of five phenomenal films about the lives of West Indian immigrants in London. All five films are worth a watch (and I almost chose Mangrove, another favorite), but Lovers Rock struck a chord for its amazing soundtrack and unabashed portrayal of Black joy. The premise is deceptively simple, as two lovers meet at a reggae house party in 1980, but the film’s dazzling cinematography and unorthodox pacing made Lovers Rock one of the breakout cinematic experiences of lockdown. [available as part of a 3-disc Blu-ray box set with 5 films - Small Axe]
Nanny (2022) – directed by Nikyatu Jusu
Mysterious and mythological forces lurk behind the scenes of this horror-tinged psychological thriller. Anna Diop plays Aisha, a Senegalese immigrant working as a nanny to save up enough money to bring her young son to join her in New York. Director Nikyatu Jusu (born in Atlanta to parents from Sierra Leone), weaves a captivating Anansi-like web, with some moments threading back to Ousmane Sembène’s Black Girl (1966), and further twists reminding me of the works of Guillermo del Toro and Mati Diop. [available on Blu-ray & DVD]
Neptune Frost (2021) – directed by Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman
The queer, Afrofuturist, cyberpunk, spoken word musical you didn't know you needed! An avant-garde feast for the senses, with stunning cybernetic neon day-glo costumes, electrifying choreography, and a mélange of languages (Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Swahili, French and English), Neptune Frost is a staggeringly original vision of revolution and resistance. Co-directed by American poet/musician Saul Williams and Rwandan actress/playwright Anisia Uzeyman (with Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda as executive producer), this bold sci-fi epic is truly like no other film I’ve ever seen. [currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
One Night in Miami... (2020) – directed by Regina King
You know that old icebreaker question, “If you could invite any four people, living or dead, to a dinner party . . . who would you choose?” How about Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown? Director Regina King and her talented cast bring these four historical icons together in a Miami motel room to tell a fictionalized version of a true event: the night when Cassius Clay officially decides to change his name to Muhammad Ali. [available on Blu-ray & DVD]
Pariah (2011) – directed by Dee Rees
The first feature film by one of my favorite living directors, Pariah sensitively tells the coming-of-age story of Alike, a 17-year-old Black teenager exploring her gender and sexual identity. With echoes of the vital intersectional work of Audre Lorde (the film begins with a quote by Lorde: “Wherever the bird with no feet flew, she found trees with no limbs.”), Pariah was also the very first narrative film from the 2010s to be selected for preservation by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” (And, just as I said in Part One about The Learning Tree (1967), Pariah is definitely all three.) [available on Blu-ray & DVD]
Saint Omer (2022) – directed by Alice Diop
Inspired by a harrowing true story, this emotionally intense courtroom drama is a riveting psychological portrait of a Senegalese woman who left her 15-month-old daughter on a beach to be swept away by the tide. French-Sengalese director Alice Diop actually attended the real-life trial, and every character in this film (including the defendant herself, brilliantly played by Guslagie Malanda in what is essentially a master class in acting) is trying to answer just one question: Why? [coming soon to Blu-ray & DVD, available March 26, 2024]
Sambizanga (1972) – directed by Sarah Maldoror
Set during the immediate prelude to the Angolan War of Independence, this fiercely political drama is also deeply grounded in the lived experience of a brave family whose lives are shattered by autocratic forces beyond their control. Born in France to parents from Guadeloupe, director Sarah Maldoror cast many non-professionals who were themselves actively involved in African anti-colonial movements, making Sambizanga (the first feature film produced by a Lusophone African nation) a truly radical expression of defiance in the face of oppression. [available on Blu-ray & DVD, currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
Soleil Ô (1970) – directed by Med Hondo
This scathing indictment of racism in France is a politically astute work of art that is sadly still relevant almost 60 years later. Filming began in Paris in 1967, and Mauritanian-born French director Med Hondo deploys a vast array of playfully inventive and ingenious cinematic tools to address an unquestionably serious topic: the pervasive effects of systemic, casual, cultural and institutional racism. Considering this subject is still often downplayed by the French establishment (see the writings of journalist/activist Rokhaya Diallo for more context), Hondo’s message must have been completely groundbreaking for audiences in 1970. For these reasons alone, Soleil Ô should be required viewing in French schools. It’s also a terrific film. [available on Blu-ray & DVD, currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
The Story of a Three-Day Pass (1967) – directed by Melvin Van Peebles
Unable to find work as a Black filmmaker in Hollywood, Melvin Van Peebles moved to France, where he wrote, directed, and composed the score to his first feature, The Story of a Three-Day Pass (based on his French-language novel La Permission). The gripping tale of Turner (Michael Baird), an African-American G.I. involved in an interracial romance, Van Peebles visualizes W. E. B. Du Bois's theory of “double-consciousness” in the form of Turner’s own reflection constantly talking back to him in the mirror (a trick used a half-century later by Issa Rae in Insecure). Way ahead of its time, this early debut by the “Godfather of Black cinema” deserves a much wider audience. [available as part of a 5-disc Blu-ray box set - Melvin Van Peebles: Essential Films, currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection (2019) – directed by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese
Each scene of this miraculous film feels like a classical oil painting come to life. Mosotho director/writer/artist Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese (born and raised in Lesotho) has created a visual masterpiece of poetic power. And South African actress Mary Twala Mhlongo (who died the following year at the age of 80), gives the performance of a lifetime here, bringing a quiet yet heroic dignity to the role of Mantoa, a grieving widow who wants to be buried alongside her family and her ancestors. Simply iconic. [available on Blu-ray & DVD, currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
To Sleep with Anger (1990) – directed by Charles Burnett
Benjamin Franklin once said that guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days. Poet Marianne Moore quoted her father’s wisdom on the subject: “Make my house your inn. Inns are not residences.” This film might be their worst nightmare. Danny Glover is wickedly terrifying here as the outrageous Harry, a sinister houseguest who has long overstayed his welcome, in Charles Burnett’s chilling yet enthralling folkloric allegory. [available on Blu-ray & DVD]
Tongues Untied (1989) – directed by Marlon Riggs
If I hadn’t decided to limit this list to one film per director, I’d be tempted to include everything directed by the late great Marlon Riggs (now collected in a priceless Criterion box set). But if I must choose just one, then my first recommendation would have to be Tongues Untied. The first film by an openly gay Black director to proudly spotlight and celebrate Black queer identities while unapologetically confronting homophobia in the Black community and racism in the white gay community, this trailblazing documentary is an aesthetic triumph. [available as part of a 3-disc DVD or 2-disc Blu-ray box set - The Signifyin’ Works of Marlon Riggs, currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
Touki Bouki (1973) – directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty
“Paris . . . Paris . . . Paris!” sings Josephine Baker in what will become a disturbingly eerie refrain to the imagistic fireworks of Djibril Diop Mambéty’s searing depiction of two rebellious young dreamers trying to escape Senegal. This film is not for the faint of heart, and yet even its most challenging moments contain glimpses of an underlying beauty and dynamism. Martin Scorsese (in the Criterion featurette introducing the film) puts it best: “‘Touki Bouki was conceived at the time of a very violent crisis in my life,’ said Mambéty. ‘I wanted to make a lot of things explode.’ And that’s just what he did! Touki Bouki explodes . . . one image at a time.” [available on Blu-ray & DVD, currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
The Watermelon Woman (1996) – directed by Cheryl Dunye
Now this is a feminist classic. A milestone in New Queer Cinema, The Watermelon Woman is also a love letter to the wonderful Black actresses of early cinema (like Hattie McDaniel, Louise Beavers and Butterfly McQueen). Liberian-American writer/director Cheryl Dunye stars as protagonist Cheryl, who, while working at a video rental store in Philadelphia, decides to make a documentary about an unnamed Black silent film actress credited only as “The Watermelon Woman.” Metafiction ensues! [available on Blu-ray, currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
There you have it! 29 critically acclaimed films by Black directors, all currently available via The Criterion Collection and/or The Criterion Channel. [Click here if you missed Part One.]
For even more great films (including many spectacular short films), have a look at Black Lives in The Criterion Collection and Black Lives on The Criterion Channel. And if you’d like instant streaming access to The Criterion Channel’s staggeringly prolific (and beautifully curated) library of critically acclaimed films, sign up for a 7-day free trial of The Criterion Channel here!
Happy Black History Month everyone! Let’s celebrate the achievements of Black filmmakers (as well as Black writers, musicians, actors, dancers, chefs, and artists in every medium) all year round!
And if you’d like to celebrate Black History Month through the lens of contemporary art, have a look at my article from last February:
