Black History Month comes to a close tomorrow, but it should really be celebrated all year round because Black history is American history, and Black history goes far beyond US borders. After opening the month with our tribute to pioneering filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, we’re spotlighting other Black trailblazers you should know. From the father of African cinema to influential political leaders to visionary artists revolutionizing their respective fields, here are 10 titles that celebrate Black excellence and the key figures who embody it past and present. Stream them all on Kino Film Collection and continue the celebration beyond this month.
Nationtime (1972)
Nationtime is much more than a political account; it’s a who’s who of Black pioneers. From William Greaves, who wrote and directed nearly 100 documentaries—most notably the avant-garde, genre-redefining documentary Symbiopsychotaxiplasm—Nationtime is a report on the National Black Political Convention held in Gary, Indiana in 1972. The historic event brought together Black voices from across the political spectrum, who were each groundbreakers in their own right: Jesse Jackson, Dick Gregory, Coretta Scott King, Dr. Betty Shabazz, Isaac Hayes, and more. Nationtime is also narrated by two actors who broke racial barriers in Hollywood in the 1950s: Sidney Poitier, the first Black actor to win the Oscar for Best Actor, and Harry Belafonte, activist, Calypso music vanguard, and the first Black performer to win an Emmy. At the time of its release, Nationtime was considered too militant for television and was circulated as a 58-minute cutdown. Today, Kino Lorber is proud to bring to audiences a 4K restoration of the original 80-minute version on both Kino Film Collection and on Blu-ray.
Ganja & Hess (1973)
Hailed as “a seminal take on Blaxploitation and horror” by The Chicago Reader, Ganja & Hess is a highly stylized and utterly original treatise on sex, religion, and African-American identity. The film follows anthropologist Hess Green (Duane Jones), who is stabbed by an ancient ceremonial dagger that turns him into an immortal vampire. When he meets Ganja (Marlene Clark), the two form an unexpected bond and together they explore just how much power blood holds. Last year, Ganja & Hess was selected as one of 25 films added to the Library of Congress’s prestigious National Film Registry for preservation. The film is arguably the most prominent film by Bill Gunn, a director known for defying convention for his portrayal of Blackness and queerness on film.
Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts (2018)
Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts examines the life of one of the most remarkable self-taught American folk artists in history. Born into slavery in 1853 on a cotton plantation in Alabama, Bill Traylor was just a boy when the Civil War ended. He would spend the vast majority of his life working as a farm laborer and it was not until he was in his late 80s, homeless and living on the streets of Montgomery, that he took up painting and drawing. Between 1939 and 1942, Traylor produced over 1,000 pieces of art depicting the African-American experience: his life on the plantation, rapidly changing urban landscapes, and other social and political change he witnessed over a lifetime spanning slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow segregation, and the Great Migration. The film weaves in tap dance, period music, dramatic readings, and interviews from Traylor’s family members to tell the story of “the greatest artist you’ve never heard of.”
Grace Jones: Bloodlight & Bami (2018)
Grace Jones is both many things and completely indefinable. Her eclectic résumé includes singer, model, actress, and all-around icon. The Jamaican chanteuse’s reggae-influenced take on new wave cemented her as one of the most exciting and original musicians of the ‘70s and ‘80s and her otherworldly androgynous look has made “Grace Jones” shorthand for “style.” Sophie Fiennes’s documentary Grace Jones: Bloodlight & Bami takes viewers through the public and private worlds of its subject, contrasting musical sequences with intimate personal footage, taking us to Jamaica to reveal the lover, mother, and daughter behind the larger-than-life persona. And fans of Jones’s electrifying stage performances will get plenty of those too with hits like “Slave to the Rhythm,” “Pull Up to the Bumper,” “Love Is the Drug,” and more. According to Jones herself, watching the film “will be like seeing me almost naked.”
Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters (2020)
In the world of modern dance, Bill T. Jones is widely recognized as one of the most important choreographers of our time. In the early ‘70s, Jones met his partner (in life and in dance) Arnie Zane and together they formed the Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1982, at the height of the AIDS epidemic. Rosalynde LeBlanc and Tom Hurwitz’s Peabody Award-winning documentary Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters chronicles the creative process behind Jones’s tour de force ballet D-Man in the Waters, a physical manifestation of fear, anger, and grief and one of the most important works of art to come out of the AIDS crisis. As a group of present-day young dancers reinterpret the work, they deepen their understanding of its power. The documentary combines interviews, archival material, and striking cinematography to tell the powerful story behind this dance and illustrate the triumph of the human spirit.
King: A Filmed Record…Montgomery to Memphis (1970)
Directed by Sidney Lumet and Joseph L. Mankiewicz, King: A Filmed Record…Montgomery to Memphis is a monumental documentary that follows Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from 1955 to 1968 as he rose from local activist to globally celebrated leader of the Civil Rights movement. The film pieces together a wealth of archival footage, including King’s speeches, protests, and arrests, as well as scenes of other key figures in the cause and testimonials from Hollywood stars including Harry Belafonte, James Earl Jones, and Paul Newman. A comprehensive account of Dr. King’s crusade, the film was added to the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry in 1999 as a cinematic national treasure to be preserved for its historical significance. In 1971, it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Sembene! (2015)
Sembene! tells the unbelievable true story of the father of African cinema. In 1952, Ousmane Sembene, a dock worker and fifth-grade dropout from Senegal, began chasing a seemingly impossible dream: to become the storyteller for a new Africa. Sembene! chronicles the life of the laborer-turned-novelist and filmmaker, who fought, against enormous odds, a 50-year battle to return African stories to Africans. Told through the experiences of and co-directed by the man who knew him best, colleague and Sembene biographer Samba Gadjigo, Sembene! uses rare archival footage and more than 100 hours of exclusive materials to illustrate the epic journey of an ordinary man who transformed himself into a fearless spokesperson for the marginalized and became a hero to millions.
Jazz on a Summer’s Day (1959)
If you’ve ever wanted to see the greatest jazz legends of all time play on one stage, you’d either have to travel back in time or watch Bert Stern’s Jazz on a Summer’s Day. Filmed at the 1968 Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island, the documentary features performances by jazz giants Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, and Dinah Washington, as well as rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry and gospel queen Mahalia Jackson, who closed out the festival with a goosebump-inducing rendition of “The Lord’s Prayer.” In 1999, the film was added to the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry to be preserved for its historical significance.
Slam (1998)
Slam follows Ray (Saul Williams), a young Black poet living in Washington, D.C. who is arrested and imprisoned for a petty marijuana charge. In prison, Ray meets writing teacher Lauren (The Wire’s Sonja Sohn) who inspires him to use the power of creative expression to fight for his freedom and avoid becoming another victim of the racist criminal justice system. When Ray gets out, he finds Lauren and enters her world of poetry slams, and it’s here where the film shines due to Williams’ raw, entrancing talent. In real life, Williams is a powerhouse multihyphenate—writer, musician, actor, director, and more—and one of the most prominent figures in the history of slam poetry. In 1996, he was named a Grand Slam Champion and helped lead the Nuyorican Poets slam team to the National Poetry Slam finals, which became the subject of the documentary SlamNation. Slam won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival and the Caméra d’Or at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.
When the Beat Drops (2018)
As voguing exploded out of the ballroom scene of NYC, a new form of dance was striking a pose in the Deep South: bucking. The feature debut by director Jamal Sims, famed choreographer and filmmaker who has worked with the likes of Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, and RuPaul, When the Beat Drops explores this electric and subversive underground dance scene and its captivating artistry and flair. The film follows the warm-hearted and fierce queer Black performers who make up one of the leading bucking groups in Atlanta as they train for their biggest competition yet. Some are corporate workers, some are teachers, and they all face the risk of losing their jobs and families just by competing in this dance scene. But as one of the dancers puts it, “When the beat drops, my mission is to take over the world.” If dance is a “super power,” as Sims calls it, then his film proves what that power can do to transform lives and elevate communities.