Black Film Archive
Type of site | Film database |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Founder | Maya Cade |
| URL | blackfilmarchive |
| Launched | 26 August 2021 |
Black Film Archive is an online database of Black films[1] released from 1898–1999 that are available to view via streaming platforms. The site was launched by Maya Cade in 2021.
History
[edit | edit source]Black Film Archive is a curated database of Black films released between 1898 and 1999 that are currently streaming on online platforms like YouTube, Netflix, and Tubi.[2] Some of the films are free to view due to public domain laws.[2] The site is inclusive of approximately 250 Black films as of its August 26, 2021 launch.[3] The films range in genre and are organized by decade.[2]
Maya Cade, the site's creator, is an American screenwriter, audience editor for The Criterion Collection, and owner of Milestone Films.[4] The genesis for Black Film Archive came in June 2020, after Cade posted a viral Twitter thread of classic Black films amid the George Floyd protests, to provide solace and comfort to others.[5][6] She then began to research and assemble a database of Black films. She focused on historical selections in part because she has felt disconnected from modern Black cinema.[3] Cade intentionally limited the database to movies released up to 1979 because film studios heavily invested in Black cinema until the commercial failure of 1978's The Wiz.[2]
One of her goals for the archive was to introduce cinephiles to unfamiliar and alternative depictions of Black people and Black culture "whether people agree with the portrayals or not."[6] In putting together the archive, she selected films oriented to Black audiences and those with Black leads or Black production teams.[2] Part of her selection process was to determine whether people "need" a particular film and what it offers.[3] Certain films could not be included because they are not currently streaming, such as Killer of Sheep.[7]
Selections
[edit | edit source]Some of the site's selections include:
- Within Our Gates (1920)[2]
- Siren of the Tropics (1927)[6]
- Carmen Jones (1954)[8]
- Anna Lucasta (1958)[2]
- The Cry of Jazz (1959)[2]
- Shaft (1971)[6]
- The Black Gestapo (1975)[2]
- Killing Time (1979)[8]
In an interview with The New York Times, Cade cited these selections as her favorite films of each decade from the 1920s to the 1970s:[9]
- Hallelujah (1929)
- The Green Pastures (1936)
- Commandment Keeper Church, Beaufort South Carolina, May 1940 (1940)
- The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)
- A Man Called Adam (1966)
- Claudine (1974)
Accolades
[edit | edit source]Maya Cade has received the following awards and nominations:
- 2021 – Special Award, NYFCC[10]
- 2021 – Outstanding Achievement by A Woman in The Film Industry (Nominee), Alliance of Women Film Journalists EDA Awards[11]
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ^ "Black films" refers to films oriented to Black audiences and those with Black leads or Black production teams
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External links
[edit | edit source]- Official website
- "Our Favorite Picks from the Black Film Archive" --Keep It podcast hosts on YouTube.com