Black women filmmakers

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 involvement or lack in numbers, but the influence given to them. As Ada Gay Griffin examines in Seizing the Moving Image the issues in telling a Black story in film 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 and this is done by gaining production ownership of the films which can be done by Black women gaining more Studio Executive positions in the film industry which is severely lacking.[8] Therefore, when looking at Hollywood's industry Black women filmmakers become the most unnoticeable, they become existent only in the periphery of the industry. In other words, it may be somewhat apparent that Black women filmmakers are small in numbers but the fact of the matter is that there are many black woman filmmakers that are actively contributing 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 works 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. Through Gloria J Gibson-Hudson's essay titled "The Ties That Bind: Cinematic Representations By Black Women Filmmakers," she 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. Hurston created the film Children's Games in 1928, which is the first non-silent film to be directed by a black woman.[12][13] Hurston lived from 1891–1960, 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]

Eloyce King Patrick Gist produced short religious films with her husband James Gist, including the 16mm silent motion pictureHell 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]

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 and 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, Ms. 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 (1989).

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]

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.

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,[26] 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.[27] 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.[28][29][30][31] 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.[32]

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,[33] the top honor of the Cannes competition.

Dream hampton in 2019 produced Surviving R. Kelly, which received a Peabody Award,[34][35] an MTV Movie Award for "Best Documentary,"[36] and a Rockies Award for "Program of the Year" at the Banff World Media Festival.[37]

Selected black women filmmakers and filmography

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

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

Debbie Allen

Madeline Anderson

Maya Angelou

Amma Asante

Neema Barnette

Anike Bay
  • 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)

Radha Black
  • Sam Black: Speech Writer (2015) (TV Movie)
  • The Forty Year Old Version (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)

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

Michaela Coel

Kathleen Collins
  • Losing Ground (1982)

Nia DaCosta

Julie Dash

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)
  • Atlantics (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

Monica J Freeman
  • Valerie (1975)

Lisa Gay Hamilton

Tina Gordon Chism
  • Little (2019)
  • Praise This (2020)

Tanya Hamilton

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

Beyonce Knowles-Carter

Alile Sharon Larkin

Kasi Lemmons

Nnegest Likké

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

Victoria Mahoney

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

Darnell Martin

Melina Matsoukas

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

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)

Gina Prince-Bythewood

Dee Rees

Debra J. Robinson
  • I Be Done Was Is (1984)
  • Kiss Grandmama Goodbye (1992)

Jacqueline Shearer
  • 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

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

Monona Wali
  • 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

Tammy Williams
  • Ernie & Cerbie (2018)
  • Street Nurse (2018)

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

See also

References
  1. Lang, Brent (January 4, 2019). "Black Filmmakers Make History in 2018, but Female Directors Still Shut Out (Study)". Variety Media, LLC. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  2. "Women Face Celluloid Ceiling in U.S. Film Industry, Study Finds". The Chicago Tribune. 23 January 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  3. Jones, Monique (March 15, 2019). "5 Black Women Filmmakers Who Made History". Shadow & Act. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  4. Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey. Women Filmmakers of the African & Asian Diaspora: Decolonizing the Gaze, Locating Subjectivity (SUI: 1997)
  5. Foster (1997), 2
  6. "Black Women and the Hollywood Shuffle". Archived from the original on 2010-11-21. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
  7. Bobo, Jacqueline, ed. Black Women Film & Video Artists. New York: Routledge, 1998. p. 6.
  8. Wallace, Michele (1992). Black Popular Culture. Seattle: Bay Press. pp. 231–233. ISBN 978-1-56584-459-9.
  9. Bobo, Jacqueline, ed. Black Women Film & Video Artists. New York: Routledge, 1998.
  10. Bobo, Jacqueline, ed. Black Women Film & Video Artists. New York: Routledge, 1998, pp. 6-7
  11. Mims, Sergio (April 17, 2015). "Who was the first African-American woman director? (The answer isn't as simple as you may think)". Philadelphia Sun. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  12. Bobo, Jacqueline, ed. Black Women Film & Video Artists. New York: Routledge, 1998, pp. 6-7
  13. Brooks-Bertram, Peggy. "Drusilla Dunjee Houston". Women Film Pioneers Project. Columbia University. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  14. "Ten plays written by Hurston". www.loc.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-10.
  15. Wager, Jennifer (2017-01-27). "Zora Neale Hurston". She Got the Shot!. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  16. Morgan, Kyna (2013). "Eloyce King Patrick Gist". Columbia University Libraries. Women Film Pioneers Project. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  17. Musser, Charles (2006). "Presenting "a true idea of the African of to-day":two documentary forays byPaul and Eslanda Robeson". Film History. 18: 412–439.
  18. Clark, Ashley (March 3, 2017). "I am Somebody". Metrograph Edition. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  19. Spaas, Lieve (2001). Francophone Film: A Struggle for Identity. Manchester University Press. p. 185. ISBN 0719058600. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  20. Williams, John (Spring 1995). "Re-creating their media image: Two generations of black women filmmakers". The Black Scholar. 25 (2): 47. doi:10.1080/00064246.1995.11430719.
  21. "L'Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma 1984 Best First Work acceptance video". Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  22. Diawara ed., Manthia (1993). Black American Cinema. Google Books: Routledge. pp. 141–142. ISBN 978-0415903974. Retrieved 9 January 2020.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  23. "Julie Dash". www.thehistorymakers.org. The HistoryMakers. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  24. "A Wrinkle in Time". www.imdb.com. IMDB.com, Inc. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  25. Quackenbush, Casey. "Ava DuVernay is the First African-American Woman to Direct a $100 Million Film". www.time.com. Time Inc. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  26. "Netflix and Ava DuVernay Win Dismissal of Defamation Suit". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
  27. Mayard, Judnick (May 30, 2019). "I Want You to See Them". GQ. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  28. "When They See Us: Season 1 (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  29. "When They See Us". Metacritic. CBS. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  30. IMDb. "The New Gods - Internet Movie Database tt8145762". IMDb. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  31. "Mati Diop becomes first black female filmmaker to compete in Cannes". CBC/Radio-Canada. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  32. "Surviving R. Kelly". www.peabodyawards.com. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  33. ""For Sama", "Surviving R. Kelly" among 2020 Peabody Award-winning docs". Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  34. Walsh, Savannah (17 June 2019). "'Surviving R. Kelly' Won Best Documentary At The MTV Movie & TV Awards & The Twitter Reactions Show There Is A Lot Of Work To Do". Bustle. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  35. "Sheffield Doc/Fest, Banff announce 2019 award winners". TBI Vision. 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2020-10-15.

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.
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