28 Films for the 28 Days of Black History Month

28 Films to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Black History Month

LOS ANGELES: On February 12 at 7 p.m., I have the honor of speaking at Rep Club with BlackStar as a contributor of their SEEN Journal Issue 009. Tickets and more information here.

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Happy Black History Month! I hope this month is generous to you all. A few weeks ago I received an email from a subscriber who, looking at fascism continuing to reign in the United States, asked: “What does Black film do for me right now?” It is a fair, urgent question… I replied:

Knowledge building, radicalism, is not a one-to-one act; It is an enduring practice that requires full commitment from us. The struggles we face have been documented across time in text and yes, cinema. All tools in our arsenal– including films– help us in our fight against fascism’s reign. The magic of film (and yes, a danger, too) is that it can transport you to other worlds. It is a tool of consistent imagination, wonder, and documentation— we need to hold fast to that as acts of wonder and inspiration are weaponized against us. Films are confrontations of constant invention, you do not have to believe every myth presented on screen but allow yourself to learn how the myths are being made, give yourself space to fully understand how our pain, struggle, and hopes are interconnected across time. We need to grieve, we need to feel beyond ourselves… cinema, from the beginning of its creation, has been a tool to unlock that. We have the power to hear directly from those who have walked our path and those who walked the path we don’t have the courage to face; we cannot underestimate the power of carrying their momentum forward. We ultimately do ourselves a disservice when we assume there is only one solution– one method of success to our shared goal of liberation…let us try them all as long as they help us believe sincerely change is possible, tangible.

As this year marks the 100th celebration of Black History Month¹, I am thinking of why Black History Month was created: to commemorate the struggles, lives, and achievements that animate Black history. It seems to me that our task remains animating the full history. We are the keepers and the torchbearers. For my sixth² annual 28 Films for the 28 Days of Black History Month list, the films center fundamental Black stories and truths. The films below serve as a reminder that the function of tyranny is to seize our imaginations of tomorrow.

The films on this year’s list are in conversation with the dreams planted at birth to remind us that the only way to build a better Black tomorrow is to imagine it. Art is here to be a guide to construct new modes of understanding, communicating, and believing. In this moment of collective reckoning, Black cinematic history remains a prism of possibility that reflects the times and illuminates the possibilities of our beings. We can conceive of a world outside of the constraints placed upon us. You can find the full list on Black Film Archive here and log the films on Letterboxd here.

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Black Moderates and Black Militants (1969)

The debate to end racial oppression is intertwined with the debate of capitalism, fascism, and the belief that a future that serves us is possible. In “Black Moderates and Black Militants” Chicago-based members of the Black Panthers, including the future Congressman Bobby Rush, debate the issue of their times and our times with a community steward.

Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones (1990) dir. Ellen Weissbrod

Quincy Jones, the most consequential artist of our times, orchestrated the soundtrack of our lives. But who is the man behind the music? “Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones” interviews the artists and collaborators who were his vessel of creation—Miles Davis, Flavor Fav, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin and countless others–to lead a sonic, visual, and cultural revolution.

Aimé Césaire, Un homme une terre (1976) dir. Sarah Maldoror

An intimate portrait of Aimé Césaire— Martinican poet, playwright, and politician whose worked centered on the decolonization of Africa’s French colonies— unfolding through pointed conversation with director, Sarah Maldoror, and scenes of how the poet lived.

T.V. Transvestite (1982) dirs. Michele Capozzi and Simone de Bagno

An enduring, intimate look at the pageantry and circumstance of the Harlem drag scene pre-AIDS. Pepper LaBeija, Tracy Africa, and Nichelle LaBeija twirl us into their dynamic world years before “Paris is Burning” later made its debut. Considered lost for decades, the intimate portrait is one to urgently behold.

Black Liberation (1967) dir. Édouard de Laurot

“This film is not a documentary ‘on the negroes’ but an authentic outcry from the Black people in America… Rather than a posteriori reconstruction of history, it was made as an act of engagement in its onward thrust” reads the opening card of this portrait of our struggle. Narrated by Ossie Davis, this social document pulls from texts written in the key of Black life and liberation.

A Bayou Legend (1981) dir. John Thomson

William Grant Still, the legendary Black composer of over 200 works, set a Bayou Legend opera around Brazille, a wandering man who falls for a spirit Aurore as he is relentlessly pursued by the deeply-jealous Clothide. The Mississippi-centered televised film of the composition is one of the earliest all-Black opera works on TV.

Lost in the Stars (1974) dir. Daniel Mann

Brock Peters, Melba Moore, Clifton Davis, and Raymond St. Jacques star in this South-African set musical at the dawn of Apartheid. The musical interpretation of the 1948 novel Cry the Beloved Country, has minister Stephen Kumalo (Peters) searching for his son (Davis) and soul’s purpose throughout Johannesburg.

Now is the Time (1967) dir. Jim Crum

“Now is the Time” is a mosaic of marches, Black spiritual, emotional, and inner life set to the readings of Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Mari Evans, and countless others. The documentary is guided by in-studio readings from Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis.

The Black and the Green (1983) dir. St. Clair Bourne

How do we build solidarity across regions? This St. Clair Bourne directed documentary explores the influence of Black American Civil Rights Movement on Ireland as a group of Black activists seek to understand the plight of Ireland’s fight for Catholic independence struggle beyond sanitized headlines. PBS, the broadcaster of the film, originally deemed the 1983 work objectionable and delayed its initial premiere.

From these Roots (1974) dir. William Greaves

With William Greaves’ tender, encompassing gaze, he examines the root of a Black renaissance– The Harlem Renaissance. Directed, written, and produced by Greaves, “From These Roots” is a vivid exploration of the artistic and cultural buds planted in the Harlem Renaissance from an insider’s view. This is a thesis Greaves later revisits with “Once Upon a Time in Harlem,” which premiered at this year’s Sundance. ³

Adwa (1999) dir. Haile Gerima

It is often said ‘history is told by the victors,’ Gerima uses his 1999 work to tell the story of Ethiopia’s Tigray region 1896 battle of defeating the Italian military’s colonial efforts. Gerima’s “Adwa” explores how winning this battle was foundational to Ethiopia’s spirit as he travels to the streets to hear from those who experienced a dimension of the battle for themselves. Reminding us that ultimately, history belongs to us all.

By Right of Birth (1921) dir. Harry A. Gant

In the only surviving fragments of this film produced by the Black-owned studio Lincoln Motion Picture Company, we understand Black cinema’s earliest ambition: Black-cast films of emotional substance. The fragments feature early Black film star Noble Johnson, Clarence Brooks, and Booker T. Washington

Panther (1995) dir. Mario Van Peebles

This semi-historical dramatization of the Black Panthers’ origin story is a furious film whose desire is to engross a new generation with the history–neighborhood protection to public enemy number one– that shapes theirs. Written by Melvin Van Peebles and directed by the younger Van Peebles, this collaboration of senses, history, and generations stars Kadeem Hardison, Jenifer Lewis, Courtney B. Vance, Roger Guenveur Smith, and Bookem Woodbine.

These Hands (1993) Dir. Flora M’mbugu-Schelling

A mesmerizing, heartbreaking portrait of the back-breaking labor of Mozambican women refugees who work as stone crushers in a quarry. A document of the ways capitalism’s hold takes bondage as the women tend to children, each other, and the greater community.

The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973) dir. Ivan Dixon

In Dixon’s work of fiery rage, CIA’s first Black agent returns home to use the man’s tools of colonization against them as they plot for a Black power-led revolution. Based on the novel of the same name by co-writer Sam Greenlee, the film was pulled from distribution with Grenlee contending the underseen film was shelved by the FBI. Shot guerrilla-style in secrecy by Dixon, most of the funding for the underground classic came from Black Americans desiring to see a film like this.

Mass of Images (1978) dir. Ulysses Jenkins

Engaging in a myriad of racial stereotypes of Black Americans in media, experimental artist Jenkins declares in a major voice, “You’re just a mass of images you’ve gotten to know, from years and years of TV shows.” The short considers the weight of racial stereotyping in visual media and how the psychological loop we are crushed under.

Ambushed (1998) dir. Ernest Dickerson

Black cop (Courtney B. Vance) is left to tend to a violently racist kid after his KKK father is shot dead and the kid serves as the only witness. When Jerry Robinson’s (Vance) patrol crew is ambushed and killed, Robinson must prove his innocence in this pursuit thriller. Dickerson’s genre style is on full display with a stacked cast.

Jack Johnson (1970) dir. Jim Jacobs

This archive-rich documentary animates the life of Jack Johnson, the first Black heavyweight boxing champion. Chronicling Johnson’s journey from turn-of-the century Black fighter to international icon, an original score by Miles Davis punctuates his extraordinary life.

Killer of Sheep (1978) dir. Charles Burnett

Burnett’s neorealist masterwork lays bare an extraordinary display of the poetic tenderness, temptation, and terror daily life brings Stan, a slaughterhouse worker in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Stony Island (1978) dir. Andrew Davis

The independently-made, underseen feature centers a ragtag group of musicians forming an R&B band in the South side of Chicago. At the center of the film, real-life saxophonist Gene Barge plays Percy Price, the elder statesman and spiritual guide of the under-resourced yet resilient group of musicians trying to make it despite the odds.

I & I: An African Allegory (1979) dir. Ben Caldwell

Directed, written, and produced by Ben Caldwell, key L.A. Rebellion figure, ‘African Allegory’ is an experimental reflection on the ties that bind us together. The ‘i and i’ links us as one when otherness attempts to divide.

In the Best Interests of the Children (1977) dirs. Elizabeth Stevens, Cathy Zheutlin, and Frances Reid

Centering the plight of lesbian mothers and their children, “In the Best Interests of Children” examines the then-groundbreaking truth that children thrive in queer households. Chronicling the experiences of families mostly in the Bay Area, the short documentary works through the legal pitfalls and social biases that tear families apart. Interviews animate the tenderness at the heart of the fight in this award-winning short.

Mississippi Triangle (1983) dirs. Christine Choy, Worth Long, and Allen Siegel

In the Mississippi Delta region, the racial triangulation of Black and Chinese communities are framed alongside the unique class, race, and power structures that force people to divide, conquer, and coexist. With an incredible focus on the labor conditions that reinforce circumstances, this powerful documentary is an essential primer to what “Sinners” (2025) framed. Associated produced by legendary Black cinema chronicler Pearl Bowser.

Word, Sound and Power (1980) dir. Jerry Stein

Named after the group of the same name, the documentary is a look into the Soul Syndicate–a session band fundamental to reggae’s global sound.

Three Pick-Up Men for Herrick (1957) dir. Melvin Van Peebles

Melvin Van Peebles’ sophomore short is a look at Black day laborers as they compete for a chance to work. With striking harmonica and scenes of 1950s San Francisco, here we see an artist bursting at their seams as they firmly mold their talent.

Cultural Nationalism (1968) dir. Skip Norman

Skip Norman is an artist painting a scene of a Black child in the snow accentuated by the sounds of Black Panther Party’s Bobby Seale. Seale illustrates the ways Cultural Nationalism robs the style of Blackness from Black people without care of Black lives.

Josépha (1975) dir. Joesph Akouissone

Originally presented as a television series on the conditions of women in Europe, Josépha trails the Black beautician talk– beauty, racism, aesthetic sensibility, and daily pains– that animates the lives of Black women across the globe.

The Devil Queen (1974) dir. Antonio Carlos da Fontoura

A hypnotic, daring wonder centering a trans queenpin (Milton Gonçalves) with a fondness for violence ruling the underworld of Brazil.

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You can find the full list on Black Film Archive here and log the films on Letterboxd here.

1. Learn more here.

2. Though Black Film Archive is 4.5 years old, the list pre-dates Black Film Archive.

3. I loved, loved, love this film.