Afro-American  Film  Festival
| back on page one:
short history books filmmakers links |                         |
here on page three:
selected films & TV silents to sound to 1939
|
This webpage was built without racist beliefs or intent. You will notice that anything
seeming to be racist herein was filmed or written by others 50 to 100 years ago.
Selected  Films  &  TV
African American Cinema Bestsellers on DVD at Amazon
Blaxploitation Movies poster catalog at AllPosters.com
"The Birth of A Race"
[Frohman Amusement Corp. Dec 1918 silent]
Considered a response to the racism in "The Birth of A Nation" [1915], only ten minutes of film exist today.
Co-written & directed by John W. Noble; considered a lost film; credits at IMDb
"Within Our Gates" [1920 silent] by Oscar Micheaux
Another response to "The Birth of A Nation" [1915], notably, the reversal of a key
Griffith scene by depicting a white man assaulting a black woman.
"The Scar of Shame" [1927 silent] /tt0018362/
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" silent feature
[Universal Pictures Nov 1927]
  | Based on the 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe novel; one of the most expensive silent films ever made; the stereotypes and Victorian melodrama are counter-balanced by many moving moments and nail-biting action sequences, especially Eliza's escape across the ice floes. Kino's restoration includes a new recording of the original Movietone orchestral score. Presented by Carl Laemmle; co-produced & directed by Harry A. Pollard; starring Margarita Fischer, James B. Lowe, Arthur Edmund Carewe, George Siegmann, Eulalie Jensen, Mona Ray & Virginia Grey
Kino Video b&w DVD [11/99] out of prodn/used Kino Intl. b&w VHS [11/99] out of prodn/used full credits at IMDb |
"Hallelujah !" musical feature [M.G.M. Aug 1929]
  |
Vidor's first sound film, and the second Hollywood feature film with an all-black cast. An Afro-American sharecropper falls for a beautiful dancer at the local juke joint, and is fleeced in a crooked crap game. When his brother is killed in an ensuing gunfight, the sharecropper must flee, only to return disguised as a charismatic preacher.
Co-written & directed by King Vidor; starring Daniel L. Haynes, Nina Mae McKinney, William Fountaine, Harry Gray, Fanny Belle DeKnight, Everett McGarrity, Victoria Spivey & the Dixie Jubilee Singers; Oscar nom for Best Director
Warner Home Video b&w DVD [1/2006] for $17.99 M.G.M. b&w VHS [9/98] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb 11"x17" poster available at AllPosters.com |
"Hellbound Train" [1930] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0301394/
"Check and Double Check" [1930] starring Amos 'n Andy, with Duke Ellington & orchestra
"The Emperor Jones" [1933] with Paul Robeson
"Porgy and Bess" [1935]
"Song of Freedom" [1936] with Paul Robeson
"The Green Pastures" [1936]
"Big Fella" [1937] with Paul Robeson
"Dark Manhattan" [1937] starring Ralph Cooper /tt0028768/
"The Duke Is Tops" [1938 musical] starring Ralph Cooper & Lena Horne
"Two Gun Man From Harlem" [1938]
starring Herb Jeffries, Mantan Moreland, Spencer Williams & Matthew 'Stymie' Beard
"Moon Over Harlem" [1939]
"The Bronze Buckaroo" [S.A.E. 1939] with Herb Jeffries & Spencer Williams
"Harlem Rides The Range" [1939] with Herb Jeffries & Spencer Williams
"Paradise In Harlem" [1939] starring Frank H. Wilson
"Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs"
[Warner/Vitaphone Jan 1943]
  |
Yup, there was such a film, and it was made & released by a major studio. In its time, it was considered a funny parody on the "Snow White" feature film released by Disney in 1937, but in later years has become offensive to many. Banned for release by United Artists in 1968; rarely seen on TV and not released on home video. The color short has a reputation for excellence, for the animation as well as for the jazz & swing music score.
Produced by Leon Schlesinger; directed by Bob Clampett
still unavailable on DVD; 7:43 version on YouTube 7:33 version on YouTube full credits from IMDb cartoon entry at Wikipedia cartoon entry at Big Cartoon Database |
"Cabin In The Sky" [1943] directed by VMinnelli
"Stormy Weather" [1943]
"Beware" [1946 musical] starring Louis Jordan
"Hi-De-Ho" [1947 musical] starring Cab Calloway
"Reet, Petite & Gone" [1947] starring Louis Jordan
"Look Out Sister" [1947 musical Western] by Louis Jordan
"Killer Diller" [1948] with Nat 'King' Cole & Moms Mabley
"The Jackie Robinson Story" [1950]
"The Beulah Show" [1950 TV series] /tt0042081/
Many of the 87 episodes of "Beulah" were destroyed shortly after the series was cancelled,
but a few have survived.
http://www.archive.org/details/Beulah_3
"The Amos & Andy Show" [1951-53 TV series]
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043175/
Preminger's "Carmen Jones" [1954]
"Rhythm and Blues Revue" [1955] with Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Nat 'King' Cole, Lionel
Hampton, Herb Jeffries, Mantan Moreland, Big Joe Turner, Sarah Vaughan, many others
"Rock n' Roll Revue" [1955] with Nat 'King' Cole, Duke Ellington,
Lionel Hampton, Big Joe Turner, Dinah Washington, many others
"The Defiant Ones" [1958] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051525/
"St. Louis Blues" [1958]
"Anna Lucasta" [1959] starring Eartha Kitt /tt0051362/
"Sergeant Rutledge" [1960]
Directed by John Ford; starring Jeffrey Hunter & Woody Strode; full credits from IMDb
"A Raisin In The Sun" [1961] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055353/
http://www.amazon.com/Raisin-Sun-Sean-Combs/dp/B0013D8LNG/
"A Raisin in the Sun" [1989 TV remake] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098166/
"A Raisin in the Sun" [2008 TV remake] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808435/
"Lilies of The Field" [1963] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057251/
"Black Like Me" [1964] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057889/
"Nothing But A Man" [1964]
      |
"In The Heat of The Night" [United Artists 1967]
full credits from IMDb |
"Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" [1967] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061735/
"The Great White Hope" [1970]
"They Call Me Mister Tibbs!" [1970] sequel to "In The Heat of The Night" [1967]
"Cotton Comes To Harlem" [1970] directed by Ossie Davis
"The Organization" [1971] sequel to "In The Heat of The Night" [1967]
"Shaft" [1971] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067741/
"Black Jesus" [1971] feature film starring Woody Strode
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005U12B
"Shaft's Big Score" sequel [1972]
  |
"Cool Breeze" [M.G.M. March 1972]
A group of Afro-American criminals meet in Los Angeles to rob a bank. Written & directed by Barry Pollack; based on the 1949 novel "Asphalt Jungle" by W.R. Burnett [1899-1982]; starring Thalmus Rasulala, Judy Pace, Jim Watkins, Lincoln Kilpatrick, Sam Laws, Margaret Avery, Pam Grier, Stack Pierce & Raymond St. Jacques video/DVD not available; full credits from IMDb |
"Buck and The Preacher" [1972]
"Slaughter" [1972] starring Jim Brown
"Hammer" [1972} starring Fred Williamson
"Trouble Man" [1972] starring Robert Hooks
"Across 110th Street" [1972]
"Blacula" [1972]
"Super Fly" [1972]
"Malcolm X" [1972] based on the Alex Haley book /tt0068903/
"Lady Sings The Blues" [1972] with Diana Ross /tt0068828/
"Cleopatra Jones" [1973]
"Wattstax" concert documentary
[Stax/Wolper/Columbia Feb 1973]
  |
Stax Records of Memphis, Tennessee held a concert at the Los Angeles Coliseum on 20 August 1972, to commemorate the 7th anniversary of the Watts Riots; tickets were $1.00 each, and more than 100,000 people attended the 7-hour event. The 98-minute movie was released nationally by Columbia Pictures in February 1973, in which concert footage is intercut with scenes of black history, montages of urban life, and short interviews & commentary.
Co-produced & directed by Mel Stuart
full credits at IMDb official movie site 1972 Wattstax concert 11"x17" color poster available for $19.99 at AllPosters.com 27"x40" color movie poster from Amazon for $19.99 framed 11"x17" color movie poster from Amazon for $19.99 |
  |
"Wattstax" 30th Anniversary Special Edition DVD [2004] Warner Home Video widescreen color DVD [9/2004] for $14.99 "Wattstax: Highlights From The Soundtrack" CD [2004]
|
  | "Wattstax" concert 35th Anniversary CD Box Set [2007]
performers include The Bar-Kays, The Emotions, Isaac Hayes, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Albert King, Little Sonny, David Porter, Richard Pryor, Rance Allen Group, The Soul Children, The Staple Singers, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Kim Weston, and many others Stax remastered concert CD set [9/2007] 47 tracks on 3 disks for $24.98 |
"Book of Numbers" [1973] /tt0069816/
Directed by & starring Raymond St. Jacques, with Phillip Michael Thomas
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Numbers-Raymond-St-Jacques/dp/B000YRY7WG/
"Shaft In Africa" sequel [1973]
"Slaughter's Big Rip-Off" [1973] starring Jim Brown
"Black Caesar" [1973] starring Fred Williamson
"Hell Up In Harlem" [1973] starring Fred Williamson
"The Mack" [1973] starring Max Julien /tt0070350/
"Coffy" [1973]
"Claudine" [1974]
"The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" [1974 TV]
/tt0071175/ /B0006IIOHC/
"The Education of Sonny Carson" [1974] /tt0071456/
"Uptown Saturday Night" [1974] starring Poitier & Cosby
"Amazing Grace" [1974] starring Moms Mabley
"3 The Hard Way" [1974] starring Jim Brown, Jim Kelly & Fred Williamson
"Bucktown" [1975] starring Fred Williamson
"Cooley High" [1975]
"T.N.T. Jackson" [1975]
"Black Lolita" aka 'Wildcat Women' [1975] in 3-D! /tt0072708/
"Countdown At Kusini" [1976]
"A Piece of The Action" [1977 sequel] starring Poitier & Cosby
"Roots" [1977 TV mini-series] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075572/
http://www.amazon.com/Roots-Four-Disc-Anniversary-LeVar-Burton/dp/B000NA21S6/
"The Wiz" [Universal/Motown Oct 1978] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078504/
cast album & still photos on video http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0135708/
based on the Broadway play [1975-79]
"Roots: The Next Generations" [1979 TV mini-series] /tt0078678/
http://www.amazon.com/Roots-Generations-Georg-Stanford-Brown/dp/B00005JL2W/
"The Color Purple" [1985] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088939/
"Krush Groove" [1985]
"She's Gotta Have It" [1986] /tt0091939/ by Spike Lee
"Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling" [1986]
directed by & starring Richard Pryor
"Hollywood Shuffle" [1987]
"The White Girl" [1988]
"Mississippi  Burning" [Orion Dec 1988]
  |
Three Yankee civil rights workers who are registering new black voters 'disappear', and the FBI is called in. Hackman and DaFoe play FBI agents who do not agree whether the end justifies the means. An unflinching look at racism in the American South.
Directed by Alan Parker; starring Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand & Brad Dourif; Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, 3 more, won for Best Cinematography; won 3 BAFTA Awards
MGM/UA widescreen color DVD [5/2001] for $13.46 MGM/UA color VHS [8/99] for $14.95 Spectrum soundtrack CD [8/95] for $11.99 full credits from IMDb movie tie-in book by Joel Norst & Kirk Mitchell NAL pb [1/89] out of print/used |
"Do  The  Right  Thing"
[40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks June 1989]
 
  |
Possibly inspired by Akira Kurosawa's Oscar-nominated "Do-desu-ka-den" [1970], this is the tale of a blighted neighborhood in Spike Lee's home turf of Brooklyn. There is actually a moment, ignored or missed by most reviewers, where 'the right thing' gets done look for it. Written & directed by Spike Lee; starring Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee, John Turturro, Rosie Perez & Samuel L. Jackson, with Spike Lee as 'Mookie'
Universal Home Ent. widescreen color Blu-ray [6/2009] for $18.99  
20th Anniversary Edition DVD [6/2009] for $13.99  
Universal letterbox color DVD [7/98] for $17.99 Universal widescreen color DVD [2/2001] 2 discs for $28.99 Universal color VHS [1/2000] out of prodn/many used Sony original score CD [9/89] for $11.98 full credits from IMDb Cambridge Univ Press critical text 9x6 pb for $25.19 |
"A Dry White Season" [1989]
"Lean On Me" [1989]
"Glory" [1989]
"To Sleep With Anger" [1990] by Charles Burnett
"Daughters of The Dust" [1991]
"Boyz 'N The Hood" [1991]
"Separate But Equal" [ABC-TV April 1991]
  | The true story of the long battle by the N.A.A.C.P. to challenge racial school segregation in the Brown vs. Board of Education court case. Their efforts destroyed the legal validity of racial segregation in general and proved to be the start and the first major victory of the Civil Rights movement.
Co-produced, written & directed by George Stevens Jr.; starring Sidney Poitier, Burt Lancaster, Richard Kiley, Cleavon Little, John McMartin, Mike Nussbaum & Tom Aldredge; won Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Special & for Best Casting, 6 other noms
Republic Pictures color DVD [5/2003] 2 disks - out of prodn/used Republic Pictures color VHS [1/96] 2 tapes for $28.98 full credits at IMDb |
"The Josephine Baker Story" [1991]
"Malcolm X" [1992] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104797/
"The Real Malcolm X" [1992 TV] /tt0243518/ by Spike Lee
"Amos and Andrew" [1993]
"Menace II Society" [1993] /tt0107554/
"Posse" [Western 1993] /tt0107863/
directed by & starring Mario Van Peebles
"Brother Minister: The Assassination of Malcolm X" [1994] /tt0109339/
"Sankofa" [1994]
"Waiting To Exhale" [1995]
"Clockers" [1995] by Spike Lee /tt0112688/
"Friday" [1995] /title/tt0113118/
sequel "Next Friday" [2000] /title/tt0195945/
sequel "Friday After Next" [2002] /title/tt0293815/
"Devil In A Blue Dress" [1995]
Directed by Carl Franklin; based on the novel by Walter Mosley; starring Denzel Washington
& Don Cheadle;
full credits at IMDb
"The Tuskegee Airmen" [1995 TV]
full credits from IMDb
http://www.amazon.com/Tuskegee-Airmen-Laurence-Fishburne/dp/B000053V7E/
"Nightjohn" TV movie [1996] by Charles Burnett /tt0117180/
"Get On The Bus" [1996] by Spike Lee
"Soul of The Game" [1996] re Negro League baseball
"Eve's Bayou" [1997]
"Soul Food" [1997]
"Amistad" [DreamWorks/HBO Dec 1997]
  |
Africans kidnapped into slavery in 1839 rise up and take over the ship 'La Amistad'; after reaching land in America, they are treated as slaves and put on trial for murder.
Directed by Steven Spielberg; starring Morgan Freeman, Nigel Hawthorne, Anthony Hopkins, Matthew McConaughey & Djimon Hounsou.
DreamWorks widescreen DVD [7/2000] for $17.99 Universal color VHS [1/2000] for $9.99 Universal widescreen VHS [1/2002] for $9.99 Universal VHS w/Spanish subtitles [1/2000] for $9.99 full credits from IMDb |
  |
"Amistad: A Celebration of The Film" [1998] by Steven Spielberg & Debbie Allen, photos by Andrew Cooper Newmarket Press hardcover [2/98] for $19.25 Novelization by Alexs D. Pate
|
"Rosewood"  [Warner Bros. Feb 1997]
  |
In 1923, a racist lynch mob attacked the Afro-American community of Rosewood, Florida. Innocent people were massacred over seven days and yet the cover-up lasted for 70 years, until an investigation by St. Petersburg Times reporter Gary Moore.
Directed by John Singleton; starring Jon Voight, Ving Rhames, Akosua Busia & Don Cheadle
Warner widescreen DVD [7/2001] for $13.48 Warner color VHS [1/2000] for $9.94 Warner widescreen VHS [4/98] for $9.94 Warner VHS w/Spanish subtitles [1/2000] for $9.94 full credits from IMDb |
  |
"Rosewood: Like Judgment Day" [1996] by Michael D'Orso Boulevard 9x6 pb [12/96] for $9.60 Putnam hardcover [2/96] out of print/used |
'The Rosewood Report (1993)' online at Tallahassee Freenet
Rosewood Massacre website
'Rosewood Reborn' radio documentary, narrated by James Earl Jones
http://www.amazon.com/Watermelon-Woman-V-S-Brodie/dp/6305799156/ [1997]
"Down In The Delta" [1998] directed by Maya Angelou /tt0142231/
"Beloved" [1998] from the book by Toni Morrison /tt0120603/
Co-produced by Jonathan Demme & Oprah Winfrey; starring Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover,
Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise & Beah Richards
"Introducing Dorothy Dandridge" [1999] starring Halle Berry
http://www.amazon.com/Soldiers-Story-Howard-Rollins-Jr/dp/B00000JRW6/ [1999]
"Shaft" remake [2000] starring Samuel L. Jackson
"The Tuskegee Airmen" documentary [2002 TV]
full credits from IMDb

"The Rosa Parks Story" [2002 TV] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293562/
http://www.amazon.com/Rosa-Parks-Story-Angela-Bassett/dp/B00006LPHJ/
"Barbershop" [2002] /tt0303714/
sequel "Barbershop 2: Back In Business" [2004] /tt0337579/
"Barbershop" TV series [2005] /tt0460622/
"Barbershop: A Little Off the Top" TV documentary [2005] /tt0472049/
"Barbershop" & "Barbershop 2: Back in Business" (2006) /B000E33W12/
http://www.amazon.com/Buffalo-Soldiers-Joaquin-Phoenix/dp/B0000E32V0/ [2004]
http://www.amazon.com/Buffalo-Soldiers-Danny-Glover/dp/B000BNTM9G/ [2006]
"Dream Girls" [2006]
"Zora's Roots" [PBS-TV 2008] /tt1224459/ B001690X5G
"Good Hair" comedy documentary [H.B.O./Roadside Oct 2009]
  | "Sit back and relax" An examination of the value given to hair in Afro-American culture.
Co-produced & co-written by Jeff Stilson & Chris Rock; directed by Jeff Stilson; starring Chris Rock, featuring Ice-T, Nia Long, Paul Mooney, Raven-Symonι, Maya Angelou, Salt n Pepa, Rev. Al Sharpton & Eve; won Special Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival DVD/Blu-ray not yet available; full credits at IMDb official movie site |
"Black Dynamite" Blaxploitation spoof
[Columbia Pictures Oct 2009]
  | "When The Man murders his brother, pumps heroin into local orphanages, and floods the ghetto with adulterated malt liquor, Black Dynamite is the one hero willing to fight all the way from the blood-soaked city streets to the hallowed halls of Honky House." Filmed in 'Cinematronic Quadravision'; co-written & directed by Scott Sanders; co-written by Michael Jai White & Byron Minns; starring Michael Jai White & Byron Minns
Sony widescreen color Blu-ray [2/2010] for $21.99 Sony widescreen color DVD [2/2010] for $16.99 full credits from IMDb official movie site |
"Separate, But Equal" docufilm [indep Aug 2010]
  | While searching for a master print of a photograph of his deceased mother, filmmaker Shawn Wilson discovered H.C. Anderson, a black photographer in the Mississippi Delta, who had documented the middle-class Afro-American community of Greenville during legal segregation. The old photographer gave the young filmmaker a new perspective on Mississippi & The South; the Anderson Collection of photographs was subsequently acquired by the Smithsonian Institute for preservation.
Co-produced, written & directed by Shawn D. Wilson; film won H.B.O. Best Documentary Award DVD/Blu-ray not available bare credits at IMDb official movie site |
"For Colored Girls" [Lionsgate/34th Street Films Nov 2010]
Co-produced, written & directed by Tyler Perry; starring Kimberly Elise, Janet Jackson, Loretta Devine,
Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose, Kerry Washington, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad & Whoopi Goldberg;
http://www.forcoloredgirlsmovie.com/
"Madea's Big Happy Family" [2011]  
written & directed by and starring Tyler Perry
"The Help" [Aug 2011] 
"Joyful Noise" [Alcon/Warner Bros. Jan 2012] 
  | The story is much like a sitcom, the camera direction is without style, but the acting is wonderful and the music is fantastically powerful. A racially-mixed church choir in small-town Georgia competes again in the national 'Joyful Noise' competition, and loses again during the semi-finals; but melodrama intervenes and the choir is invited to Los Angeles for the finals. (Contains pro-Christian speeches that are natural to the characters.)
Written & directed by Todd Graff; music by Mervyn Warren; starring Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Keke Palmer, Jeremy Jordan, Dexter Darden, Courtney B. Vance, Kris Kristofferson, Angela Grovey, Paul Woolfolk, Jesse L. Martin, Andy Karl & Dequina Moore
Watertower Music (Warner) soundtrack CD [1/2012] 12 tracks for $10.00 DVD/Blu-ray not yet available full credits at IMDb official movie site movie entry at Wikipedia |
"Red Tails" [Lucasfilm/Fox Jan 2012] 
  | The pilots and crew of the all-Negro 332nd Fighter Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps leave their training base at Tuskegee, Alabama proud to serve their country in the war against Hitler in Europe; but they chafe at their ground-attack assignments against trains and buildings, and their officers demand the chance to fight the Luftwaffe in the air.
Directed by Anthony Hemingway; written by John Ridley & Aaron McGruder, based on a book by John B. Holway; starring Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., David Oyelowo, Nate Parker, Tristan Wilds & Elijah Kelley
DVD/Blu-ray not yet available full credits at IMDb official movie site movie entry at Wikipedia |
  | "Red Tails: An Oral History of The Tuskegee Airmen" by John B. Holway Dover Publns 9¼x6 movie tie-in pb [1/2012] for $13.57 "Red Tails, Black Wings: The Men of America's Black Air Force" [1997] by John B. Holway Yucca Tree Press 9x6 pb [3/2000] out of print/used Yucca Tree Press 9¼x6½ hardcover [2/97] out of print/used |
"Thurgood" [H.B.O. Feb 2012]  
with Larry Fishburne as the Supreme Court Justice
"The Color Purple" musical film [scheduled for 2013 release?]
Produced by Oprah Winfrey; starring Fantasia Barrino
DVD/Blu-ray not yet available;
latest info at IMDb
"The Color Purple" Broadway musical [2005-2008]
Scott Sanders always heard music in "The Color Purple", in both the 1982 novel by Alice Walker and the 1985 movie
by Steven Spielberg;
show had 30 previews & 910 performances; book by Marsha Norman; music & lyrics by Brenda Russell,
Allee Willis & Stephen Bray; starring LaChanze {Sapp} & Fantasia Barrino; nominated for 11 Tony Awards (won 1)
credits at IBDb
official stageplay site
"Live 2 Tell" [NStar Studios 2012?] 
Announced May 2011: Preston Holmes and his NStar Studios company have finally acquired the script that
the murdered rapper & actor Tupac Shakur [1971-96] wrote while serving prison time for weapon charges.
The script follows "a teenage drug lord and his efforts to leave a life of crime"; producer Dwight Williams and
Shakurs mother Afeni Shakur are on board latest info at IMDb
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