Believing in the Past Enough to Bring it into the Future

Distribution Diary #2

NYC: On Tuesday July 22 at 6 p.m., I will be leading a FREE archival imagination workshop + screening at MoCADA (Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art) in Brooklyn screening Ayoka Chenzira’s “MOTV (MY OWN TV),” a Milestone Film. Please join us.

Say Amen, Somebody (1982) directed by George T. Nierenberg

When I first learned I was going to become the president/owner of Milestone Films, it was during the summer 2024 premiere run of “Naked Acts.” As the story goes— I had brought “Naked Acts”¹ to Milestone Films and worked on every aspect of its release from press, design, and distribution strategy. Across the year of “Naked Acts,” the question from audiences across the world simply was: What are you following this up with? That eagerness for something with their name on it… wasn’t to rush me but to suggest that this work had filled a void and there was more work to be done. I would always respond with, ‘what would you like to see?’ Taking notes from the audience directly.

Fast forward to: A few weeks ago, a major milestone on my journey of becoming the president occurred: I acquired my first film.² Milestone Films, focusing on repertory titles³ (and will continue to during my reign), means this acquisition is an older film that hasn’t received nationwide distribution before. The details of the film— directed by a Black director, with a Black writing team— won’t be the focus here. I will allow the film to have its own moment but my thinking, as promised in my announcement of becoming a film distributor, will be.

Some Personal News

Acquisition of any art work is a delicate dance of trust. Countless hours and people make the magic of movies happen, with varying degrees of pay or public understanding. There is a long history of filmworkers of color being burned by film distribution. When we consider that often these films are made outside of Hollywood’s expectations, financing, and public relations machine, they also aren’t a one sized fits all mold for distribution or exhibition.⁴ In the modern era, by the time distributors are aware of a repertory title for release, academics or public demand make it so distribution feels like a natural course of action.

Come Back, Africa (1959) dir. Lionel Rogosin

Here are three essential things I’m asking myself as I forge ahead on this distribution path:

1. How do I honor the full legacy of film history? With the releases I am working on for my first year as President, there are varying degrees of public knowledge of them; with some having no public awareness at all. Distribution—and the acquisition of new films— often relies on other historical tools— positive New York Times reviews, big festival splashes, et al— to make the contextual shorthand easier for audiences to grasp onto. Honoring the legacy of films that have never received any historical recognition is harder work... Audiences have become accustomed to repertory films having a certain kind of anticipation but if I follow the path of exporting my curatorial taste to other institutions’s validation, only a certain type of film could be acquired. Honoring the legacy of the films I hope to release means breaking this chain of logic.

2. How do I allow a film to reach its intended audience? Like common convention for acquisition, there is common convention for how a repertory film should be released. Honoring the full legacy of films mean that I must believe there are more than one path for films to find their way. I am doing deep readings of the past to find new ways to exhibit films in the future.

3. How do I honor myself by understanding things take time? The “glamour” of this work— grand stories of rediscovery and new restorations— take time. Acquiring films is the first step among several before a movie, hopefully, reaches cinemas. The dance of trust and patience that filmworkers employ for cinema’s creation must also be applied to distribution. By honoring that things take time, we can also create individual strategies for each film that allows it to reach those who are anticipating the work even if they do not yet know it.

If you’ve followed my writing for any length of time, you’ll know that I am an optimist. As headlines roll on about the death of cinemas, I see unshakeable opportunities to engage audiences with film. The labor and birth of Black Film Archive has taught me, time and time again, that there will always be a way for audiences to cherish and engage meaningfully with art. Let us follow that path to new dimensions while honoring the paths that brought us here.

As I wrote in my announcement of the distribution diary, the focus of this newsletter will remain on Black Film Archive beyond a missive here or there on distribution. Also, I want to re-elevate something I wrote a year ago that has been on my mind to reshare:

1. The Year of Naked Acts is written about here.

2. I have worked with Milestone on the acquisition of other films before I was incoming President and because film restoration timelines vary, other films I’m working on may be released before this film :-)

3. Repertory distribution means the distributor focuses on classic/older films. Bringing back films into the fold instead of focusing on new releases. Some distro labels do both.

4. Exhibition of movies is showing films in cinemas, non theatrical spaces, or film festivals. Cinema owner/operators are exhibitors.

5 Black Pride Films to Urgently Watch on Black Film Archive

+ The first Los Angeles Black Film Archive event on Juneteenth at Philosophical Research Society at 7 pm

In moments of societal and personal weakness, I refer back to June Jordan’s “Civil Wars,”¹ her 1981 collection of writing. In the foreword she writes of an idea that was implanted in her after the 1964 Harlem Riots:

“It came to me that this condition, if it lasted, would mean that I had lost the point: not to resemble my enemies, not to dwarf my world, not to lose my willingness and ability to love.”

The Harlem Riots of 1964 began in response to the slaying of a 15-year-old Black boy, James Powell, at the hands of a NYPD officer. Powell’s offense? Gathering on a stoop after summer school classes. The murder of Powell sparked 6 days of protests across Harlem and Brooklyn. The demonstrations turned violent at the hands of the NYPD as they viscously beat countless residents who demanded justice. This is an inflection point we are all to familiar with as history mirrors our current moment.

June Jordan continues to write in reflection of the riots, “I resolved not to run on hatred but, instead, to use what I loved, words, for the sake of the people I loved. However, beyond my people, I did not know the content of my love: what was I for?”

Each moment working towards a revolution, we are infinitely becoming… who or what are we for? Perhaps you’ve asked yourself the same question as you march in the streets, lend a hand to a neighbor, check in on your community, and demand the freedoms of those we know and don’t. Agony of the unknown cannot dwarf us into invisibility. We are here and to be here means to know what’s done is never final as long as we maintain our hearts.

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Flyer for the first Black Film Archive event in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles: The first Black Film Archive event in L.A. is happening at 7 p.m. on Juneteenth (6/19) at Philosophical Research Society. Bridgett M. Davis and I will gather for an intimate conversation on writing as freedom and the ways Davis has used her craft to chronicle Black truth and the intricacies of our soul through her career as a memorist (The World According to Fannie Davis) and filmmaker (“Naked Acts,” 1996). This will be our first public conversation since its been announced I will soon be her film distributor. I’m giving away two tickets to the event. Entry information below.²

+On 6/20 at 7:30, we will screen “Naked Acts” at Vidiots followed by a conversation with us. Each ticket purchase comes with a DVD of “Naked Acts” courtesy of Milestone Films :-)

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In moments of noted societal harm and during fascism’s reign, I am often challenged on how can film reflect the wholeness of Black lives; queer lives. I think of June Jordan, the bisexual poet who makes the future feel tangible, as she witnessed the riots and committed herself to art-making or those who committed themselves to marching in the past and present. Before there is a final solution, there is an offering. As Essex Hemphill, legendary Black queer poet, writes in his poem “When My Brother Fell:”

“When my brother fell I picked up his weapons. I didn't question whether I could aim or be as precise as he.”

Film can often be that offering to reflect and contemplate the wholeness of queer lives as Black queer filmic works transcend the rigidity of form. The selections below— with films ranging from comedy and animation— offer visual windows you may not have seen before. Watch them as you tend to the world and make our future feel possible. View all the films on Black Film Archive here.

Greta’s Girls (1978) dir. Greta Schiller

In this narrative short, one of the first narrative films to focus on lesbians, we see the lives of a tender couple and their dog as they make a home and way out of New York City.

The Mark of Lilith (1986) dirs. Bruna Fionda. Polly Gladwin, and Zach Mack-Nataf

When Lillia encounters Zena (Pamela Lofton), a Black lesbian vampire, who is studying goddess across time and the horror genre, Lilla, a white bisexual vampire, is awakened from the slumber of life’s doldrums.

Greetings from Africa (1994) dir. Cheryl Dunye

Cheryl Dunye, playing a comedic version of herself, rolls her camera on this diaristic short addressing the tensions and pleasures of lesbian dating in the 1990s.

Adam (1996) dir. Andrea Stoops

“Adam” is a joyful exploration of gender identity. A young girl relishes in being mistaken for a boy on the playground in this claymation short.

If She Grows Up Gay (1983) dir. Karen Sloe

Jan, the working class mother at the center of this intimate documentary, comes to terms with the weight of the world, her queer identity, and choosing a life with her woman partner, Renee, as she raises her daughter.

View all the films on Black Film Archive here.

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I’m giving away two tickets for Black Film Archive’s Juneteenth Philosophical Research Society event with Bridgett M. Davis. To enter, reply to this email in your inbox or write(maya@blackfilmarchive.com) with the subject line “tickets.” I will pick two winners at random by Tuesday 6/17. Hope to see you there.

P.S. - Thank you all for your kind words on the announcement I will soon become the president / owner of Milestone Films. I am deeply appreciative.

1. Read the book here.

2. Entry information directly above these footnotes. Good luck :-)

Some Personal News

I will soon be the President & owner of Milestone Films, a mighty film distributor

This morning, The New York Times announced some personal news that I have wanted to share with you for a long time: In 2026, I will become the President and sole owner of Milestone Films, the distribution home of brilliant Black works from Charles Burnett, Ayoka Chenzira, Kathleen Collins, Billy Woodberry, Bridgett M. Davis, and countless others from across the filmmaking spectrum.

Bill Gunn and Seret Scott in Kathleen Collins’s masterpiece “Losing Ground,” a film distributed by Milestone Films

For 35 years, Milestone Films– co-founded by Dennis Doros and Amy Heller –has been distributing films–theatrically and on home video– at the margins of film canonization. It is an honor to build on their storied and crucial legacy to transform Milestone Films into one of very few Black-owned and managed film distribution companies.

Milestone Films’s library, that I will soon be the caretaker of, has Black Film Archive favorites— like “Killer of Sheep” (1978) dir. Charles Burnett, “Alma’s Rainbow” (1994) dir. Ayoka Chenzira, “Bless Their Little Hearts” (1983) dir. Billy Woodberry, “Losing Ground” (1982) dir. Kathleen Collins— and discoveries from across the filmmaking spectrum of taste and sensibility that I look forward to caring for all the same.

How Do You Resurrect a Black Cinematic Monument? On Restoring “Killer of Sheep”

This moment comes as much of my last two years were spent ushering in “Naked Acts” (1996), a very special film by Bridgett M. Davis distributed by Milestone, that I rediscovered and led the distribution efforts on. While we worked to release Bridgett’s never-distributed-before film– called a ‘rediscovery that expands cinema’ by Richard Brody in the New Yorker– it became clear that distribution work is something I could do more expansively and consistently. Since then, I have worked on Charles Burnett’s “Annihilation of Fish” and “Killer of Sheep” alongside Milestone’s co-founders.

The Year of Naked Acts

My news feels like the culmination of a promise I made when launching Black Film Archive in August 2021 of widening knowledge of Black cinema’s abundance. To build awareness about the dynamic range of Black cinema was always the first step–and a step that will continue for years to come– but to bring equity to the distribution process remains crucial for Black repertory¹ cinema’s survival. Through distribution —and proper marketing, release, relationship with cinemas and exhibition venues in community, and director/family participation— Black repertory cinema can continue to thrive. I am grateful for my peers who have been doing this work, whether its filmmakers who are taking it upon themselves to release their own works or other distributors who have recognized the call with care.

Black Film Archive –and my curation of it– will not change. My work began with community in mind and will continue with that, too. Through your support–yes, you, reading this– the possibility of what the future holds has been enhanced, sharpened, and wielded into reality. Community trust remains paramount and I will continue supporting Black filmmakers, moviegoers, community members and their agency to choose what speaks to them while working hard to ensure the films I unearth for distribution fits that distinction.

The pride I feel in this moment is credit to Jessie Maple (20West), Ava DuVernay (ARRAY), Haile Gerima and Shirikiana Aina (Mypheduh Films), Michelle Materre (KJM3 Entertainment Group, Inc.), Warrington Hudlin (Black Filmmakers Foundation), Oscar Micheaux (Lincoln Motion Picture Company) and the countless named and unnamed Black pioneers who have carved a path for me to follow in film distribution and beyond. Thank you simply does not feel like enough.

As I work to build upon the legacy of Milestone Films and transitioning it to Black ownership, I will be launching a Distribution Diary column—of which this serves as the first— via this Substack that gives me space to share lessons learned as the building of what’s to come continues. However, the focus here will remain a celebration of the Black cinema ecosystem beyond my own contributions to it. Thank you, all and thank you again. If you have any questions, concerns, or celebrations, please leave a comment below or send me a private note at maya@blackfilmarchive.com, I look forward to hearing from you.

1. A repertory film distribution company is one that focuses on ‘classic films’ and releasing cinema that has been previously made to new audiences as opposed to first run films. Some companies choose to do both repertory films and new run films.

How Do You Resurrect a Black Cinematic Monument? On Restoring “Killer of Sheep”

When Black Film Archive launched in August 2021, one of my most asked questions was “well… How do I watch “Killer of Sheep?” – the 1978 masterpiece of every day Black poetry from Charles Burnett. Then a student at UCLA, his student thesis became a monument of Black filmmaking’s possibility and has been long unavailable. In the whisper network that followed the film’s release (and underground sharing of film reels), the film’s title alone conjured images of what the art of filmmaking is and could be. The cinematic siren song drew deep imagery of filmmaking as a revolutionary act. Burnett– in his thirties during the film’s completion– found his revolutionary freedom in using his community in frame—the children he would pass on the streets daily, the doldrums of Black life, the drylongso— and in creation— the neighborhood children captured the sound and helped with every part of the filmmaking process when not on screen. As Burnett told me during my Q&A for the LA premiere of “Killer of Sheep” at the Aero on April 16, 2025, “People always said the community couldn’t do this or that with filmmaking so I wanted to put it in their hands.”

Burnett (b. April 13, 1944) was the first of the infamous L.A. Rebellion¹ cohort to enter UCLA in 1967. Every poet finds their form and Burnett, who originally wanted to study within the rigidity of practicality, found filmmaking on a whim. “Killer of Sheep” is a lyrical sonnet of a Watts family’s life. Stan (the brilliant Henry G. Sanders) is a slaughterhouse worker who drags the stench of his life’s dissatisfaction home as the pressures and bitterness of masculinity pour out of him and onto his wife (the effective Kaycee Moore), children, and community. Men with gentle hands and hearts are given the burden of a unit’s survival and the distance the burdens offer in this tender outline of life’s cruelties and determination. “Killer of Sheep” gave sight and sound to our beings unlike many films before it and few after. So how does a film like this disappear?

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NYC! L.A. Rebellion: Then and Now is playing at Film at Lincoln Center April 25 to May 4. The curated series is a buffet of popular (Burnett’s "To Sleep with Anger") and lesser-seen ("Passing Through" 1977) L.A. Rebellion jewels with recent essential Black works to showcase the intergenerational ties in Black filmmaking and our greater community. I’ve worked with Film at Lincoln Center to provide a discount code for Black Film Archive subscribers. Use promo code BURNETT for $5 off any film in the series.

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Charles Burnett oversees the restoration of “Killer of Sheep” in the fall 2024. Photo by me

Originally created as a student thesis and away from the concerns of marketability, Hollywood oversight, or copyright, “Killer of Sheep” found itself in the whims of copyright’s claim from a distinct soundtrack that pulsates from the dynamic range of Black sound and Burnett’s own sonic impulses. Pulling vinyls from his collection as he saw fit, Burnett used the soundtrack as a dialogue between what the screen can capture and what the soul can not say. As an essential element of the film, the soundtrack— with songs from Earth, Wind, & Fire, Paul Robeson, Dinah Washington, and countless others— and the film’s image could never be fully severed.

In 1990, the Library of Congress placed “Killer of Sheep” among the first 50 films in its newly formed National Film Registry for historically significant films. In the early 2000s, the National Society of Film Critics selected it as one of their most essential films of all time. The acclaim it garnered across time took the film from whisper network, unreleased sensation to cinephilic household name without proper release as the film elements began to show their age from wide use. In 2000, Ross Lipman, then the senior film preservationist at UCLA, began the work to restore the film and protect the film’s elements and made a 35mm print from the 16mm negative.² But before a film can make it from archival holding to our hearts and homes with a commercial release, it must be cleared from copyright. Dennis Doros and Amy Heller, the co-founders of Milestone Films—a repertory³ distributor with a commitment to distribute a dynamic range of film—undertook the complicated and expensive task to secure the music rights and bring the film out theatrically and home video. With UCLA Film & TV Archive’s preservationists Ross Lipman and Jillian Borders leading the restoration, “Killer of Sheep” was commercially released for the first time in fall 2007. The type of music clearances offered at the time had an expiration date, which meant the film’s commercial life was relatively short and was out of print roughly a decade later.

A photo during the Fall 2024 restoration process of “Killer of Sheep.” A film restoration happens frame by frame. Photo by me.

Film Restoration is a frame by frame resurrection of sound, sight, and form. For a revolutionary film like “Killer of Sheep,” whose existence, despite the 2007 release, has remained the diametrically opposed both/and as a film at the margins and cult classic, is now back in the fold. The Criterion Collection, UCLA Film and Television Archive, and Milestone Films underwent an extensive frame-by-frame transformation of sound, image, and clearances to present “Killer of Sheep” as it was intended to be seen. The new 4K director approved restoration was overseen by Ross Lipman and Jillian Borders. I was also proud to serve as a consulting producer for this release and bear witness to the magic unfolding.

A still from the 4K restoration of “Killer of Sheep” (Photo courtesy of Milestone Films)

With modern film restoration tools, a director can pose new curiosities, edits, and modalities of thought. In the restoration room, Charles, the poet revisiting his earliest full-length prose, posed ideas to how scenes could be shortened, enhanced, and altered. We listened as he offered his considerations for what was, is, and could be. Ultimately, as we all saw the resurrection come back to life, we understood that the film was already made in a divine Black image and our task was to serve that image so it could change the world again and always again. It is often said that Black film has never reached the heights Black literature has; “Killer of Sheep” challenges that thought as Burnett’s tender work and heart provides an everlasting intimacy of our spirit that touches the soul and moves filmmaking forward.

The 4K restoration of “Killer of Sheep” (1978) premieres at New York’s Film Forum tonight, April 18, at 7:50 pm ET with Charles Burnett in person. In Los Angeles, the Laemmle NoHo 7 will open the film on April 25, 2025 with a run. There are also showtimes across the country.

“Killer of Sheep” enters the Criterion Collection on May 27, 2025 in 4K / Blu-Ray.

You can watch many of Charles Burnett’s other films on Black Film Archive here.

1. As I wrote last newsletter, LA Rebellion is a cohort of Black filmmakers at UCLA who’s commitment to Black image and craft-making pushes beyond the presumption of film’s white, hierarchal, and aesthetic framework.

2. Killer of Sheep was originally shot on 16mm film cameras.

3. Repertory films are older films, classic films, that play in art-house cinemas across the country.