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African American Film Directors
JMU Libraries has many films by African American directors. This guide lists prominent directors and some of their works, along with links for more information.
Orlando Bagwell
Documentary filmmaker.
"In the past twenty years, Bagwell has executive produced two series, and produced and directed thirteen documentaries for PBS that trace the lived experience of African-American history and explore the shifting but persistent realities of racism in America."
--Abrash, Barbara. (2004) "Matters of race: an interview with Orlando Bagwell." Cineaste. 30:1 34.
Among his many films are Roots of Resistance: A Story of the Underground Railroad (1990), Malcolm X: Make it Plain (1995), The Africans in America: America's Journey Through Slavery (1998), the PBS series Matters of Race (2003) and Citizen King (2004).
VIVA Streaming Video Collection (JMU/VIVA users)
The Terrible Transformation (1998) VIVA Streaming Video Collection (JMU/VIVA users)
Malcolm X: Make it Plain (1995) JMU Media Resources Videotape no.4054
New Worlds, New Forms (1993) JMU Media Resources Videotape no.3235 JMU Music Library VC 223 no.5
Roots of Resistance: a Story of the Underground Railroad (1990) VIVA Streaming Video Collection (JMU/VIVA users) JMU Media Resources Videotape no.1982
Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years (1986) (Producer)
More about Orlando Bagwell
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Thomas Carter (1954- )
Directed pilots for successful television series, including "St. Elsewhere" and "Miami Vice." Won an Emmy in 1990 for directing the television show "Equal Justice." Swing Kids was his first feature film.
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Coach Carter (2005) JMU Media Resources DVD 6474
Save the Last Dance (2001) JMU Media Resources DVD 6496
Metro (1997) JMU Media Resources DVD 6492
Swing Kids (1993)
More about Thomas Carter
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Lee Daniels (1959- )
Produced Monster's Ball and directed the film Precious, which received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Director; the film won two of the awards.
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JMU Media Resources DVD 6970
Shadowboxer (2006)
More about Julie Dash
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Julie Dash (1952- )
Directed Daughters of the Dust, the "first first commercial feature-length film produced by a black woman."
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Shooting Script (online)
Illusions (1982) Shooting Script (online)
More about Julie Dash
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Carl Franklin (1949- )
Television actor; television and film director. Famous films include One False Move (1992), Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), One True Thing (1998), and High Crimes (2002).
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High Crimes (2002) JMU Media Resources DVD 6505
One True Thing (1998)
One False Move (1991) JMU Media Resources DVD 1703
More about Carl Franklin
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Allen Hughes (1972- ) and Albert Hughes (1972- )
Twin brother team that began in music videos and went on to feature films. Films include Menace II Society (1993), Dead Presidents (1995), American Pimp (1999), and From Hell (2001).
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JMU Media Resources DVD 7021
New York, I Love You (2009) JMU Media Resources DVD 6554
From Hell (2001) JMU Media Resources DVD 1758
Dead Presidents (1995)
Menace II Society (1993)
More about the Hughes Brothers
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Stan Lathan
Lathan's television directing career goes back to 1969 with "Sesame Street." He has a long list of directing credits, including "Sanford and Son" (1972), "Barney Miller" (1975), "Eight is Enough" (1977), "Hill Street Blues" (1981), "Fame" (1982), "Roc" (1991), and "Moesha" (1996).
Richard Wright's Almos' a Man (1976) JMU Media Resources DVD 3294
More about Stan Lathan
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Spike Lee (1957- )
"'Fight the power,' the theme song to his 1989 film Do the Right Thing, could easily be Spike Lee's personal motto. From his earliest days as a student filmmaker to his $33-million epic Malcolm X, Lee demonstrated a willingness to tackle prickly issues of relevance to the black community, while savoring every ounce of controversy his films invariably produce."
-- American Decades. Gale Research, 1998.
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JMU Media Resources DVD 6494
Inside Man (2006) JMU Media Resources DVD 6471
When the Levees Broke (2006) JMU Media Resources DVD 2740-2742
25th Hour (2003) JMU Media Resources DVD 1735
A Huey P. Newton Story (2001) JMU Media Resources DVD 1819
Bamboozled (2000) JMU Media Resources DVD 1371
The Original Kings of Comedy JMU Media Resources DVD 459
Summer of Sam (1999) JMU Media Resources DVD 141
He Got Game (1998) JMU Media Resources DVD 203
4 Little Girls (1997) JMU Media Resources DVD 407
Girl 6 (1996) JMU Media Resources DVD 1815
Clockers (1995) JMU Media Resources DVD 144
Crooklyn (1994) JMU Media Resources DVD 150
Malcolm X (1992) JMU Media Resources DVD 1737-1738
Jungle Fever (1991) JMU Media Resources DVD 193
Mo' Better Blues (1990) JMU Media Resources DVD 413
Do the Right Thing (1989)
School Daze (1988) JMU Media Resources DVD 1759
More about Spike Lee |
Kasi Lemmons (1961- )
"With the release of Eve's Bayou in late 1997, Kasi Lemmons emerged as one of the American film industry's most talked about young filmmakers."
--Contemporary Black Biography, Gale Group, 1998.
JMU Media Resources DVD 6512
Eve's Bayou (1997)
More about Kasi Lemmons
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Oscar Micheaux (1884-1951)
In a career that began in 1919, Oscar Micheaux (January 2, 1884–March 26, 1951) produced more than forty "race movies"—motion pictures made for African-American audiences—a record unmatched in American cinema history.
-- Encyclopedia of the Great Depression, Gale Biography in Context, 2004
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Lying Lips (1939) JMU Media Resources DVD 6419
God's Step Children (1938) JMU Media Resources DVD 6420
Swing! (1938) JMU Media Resources DVD 6421
Murder in Harlem (1935) JMU Media Resources DVD 6412
The Girl from Chicago (1932) JMU Media Resources DVD 6418
Paul Robeson: Portraits of the Artist, Disc 2: Body and Soul (1925) JMU Media Resources DVD 6046 - 6049
Within Our Gates (1920) JMU Media Resources DVD 6260
The African American Cinema I: Oscar Micheaux's Within Our Gates (1920) JMU Media Resources Videotape no. 4108
More about Gordon Parks |
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Stanley Nelson (1955- )
Documentary filmmaker and winner of a 2002 MacArthur Fellowship, also known as a "genius" award.
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JMU Media Resources DVD 5377
The Murder of Emmett Till (2003) VIVA Streaming Video Collection (JMU/VIVA users)
Marcus Garvey: Look for me in the Whirlwind (2001) JMU Media Resources Videotape no.7141 VIVA Streaming Video Collection (JMU/VIVA users)
The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords (1998) JMU Media Resources Videotape no. 5971 JMU Media Resources Multimedia CD 168
Shattering the Silences (1997) JMU Media Resources Videotape no. 5282
More about Stanley Nelson
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Gordon Parks (1912-2006)
Writer, photojournalist, director, composer.
"Gordon Parks's 'life constitutes an American success story of almost mythic proportions,' Andy Grundberg once commented in New York Times. "
-- Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2006.
JMU Media Resources Videotape no. 4886
Gordon Parks' "Visions": The Images, Words, and Music of Gordon Parks (1991) JMU Media Resources Videotape no. 3955
Shaft (1971) JMU Media Resources DVD 1761
More about Gordon Parks |
Gordon Parks, Jr. (1934-1979)
Son of the more famous Gordon Parks who directed Shaft, Parks, Jr., made four films from 1972 to 1975. In 1979, he died in a plane crash in Kenya.
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More about Gordon Parks, Jr.
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Tyler Perry (1969- )
Actor, director, playwright, screenwriter, producer, author, and songwriter. Perry wrote and produced many stage plays in the South during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, he released his first film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman. In 2009, Perry was ranked by Forbes magazine as the sixth highest-paid man in Hollywood. As of June 2011, Perry's films had grossed over $500 million worldwide.
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JMU Media Resources DVD 7064
For Colored Girls (2010) JMU Media Resources DVD 6439
Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010) JMU Media Resources DVD 7067
JMU Media Resources DVD 7065
Madea's Family Reunion (2006) JMU Media Resources DVD 7063
The Family that Preys (2008) JMU Media Resources DVD 7047
JMU Media Resources DVD 7062
Why Did I Get Married (2007) JMU Media Resources DVD 7066
Daddy's Little Girls (2007 JMU Media Resources DVD 7066
More about Tyler Perry
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Michael Schultz (1938- )
Film, theatre, and television director. Film work includes Cooley High (1975), Car Wash (1976), Which Way is Up? (1977), Greased Lightning (1977), and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978). Recent work includes films as well as television series such as "Charmed," "JAG," "Boston Public," and "City of Angels."
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The Last Dragon (1985)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)
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John Singleton (1968- )
Film screenwriter, producer and director. His works include Boyz 'n the Hood (1991), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, Poetic Justice (1993), Higher Learning (1994), Rosewood (1997), Shaft (2000), Baby Boy (2001), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), and Four Brothers (2005).
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Four Brothers (2005) JMU Media Resources DVD 1731
Baby Boy (2001)
Shaft (2000) JMU Media Resources DVD 1259
Rosewood (1997) JMU Media Resources DVD 1287
Boyz 'n the Hood (1991)
More about John Singleton
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Melvin Van Peebles (1932- )
"...Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, is probably his best known work to date. He made the film in three weeks, using nonunion crews while keeping union officials disinterested by spreading rumors that he was making a pornographic film..."
-- Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2006.
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Shooting Script (online)
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song: a Guerilla Filmmaking Manifesto JMU Carrier Library Stacks PN1997.S9 V3 2004
More about Melvin Van Peebles
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Spencer Williams (1893 - 1969)
American actor, writer, director, and producer whose early pioneering work in African-American or "race" films was eclipsed in fame by his role as one of the title characters in the equally pioneering and also controversial 1950s sitcom "The Amos 'n Andy Show".
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Girl in Room 20 (1946) JMU Media Resources DVD 6420
The Blood of Jesus (1941) JMU Media Resources DVD 6419
More about Spencer Williams
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Related Books and Videos
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Literary Adaptations in Black American Cinema (2010) JMU Carrier Library Stacks PN1995.9.N4 L87 2010
Reflections on Blaxploitation: Actors and Directors Speak (2009) JMU Carrier Library Stacks PN1995.9.N4 R46 2009
Black Hollywood (2008) JMU Media Resources DVD 5536
JMU Media Resources DVD 2696
BaadAssss Cinema: a Bold Look at 70's Blaxploitation Films (2002)
Black City Cinema: African American Urban Experiences in Film (2003) JMU Carrier Library Stacks PN1995.9.N4 M33 2003
Black Directors in Hollywood (2003) JMU Carrier Library Stacks PN1995.9.N4 D66 2003 Online (JMU users)
Black Lenses, Black Voices: African American Film Now (2005) JMU Carrier Library Stacks PN1995.9.N4 R43 2005
Historical Dictionary of African American Cinema (2007) JMU Carrier Library Reference PN1995.9.N4 B433 2007
Screens Fade to Black: Contemporary African American Cinema JMU Carrier Library Stacks PN1995.9.N4 L46 2006
Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks: an Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films (2004) JMU Carrier Library Stacks PN1995.9.N4 B6 2004
Why We Make Movies: Black Filmmakers Talk about the Magic of Cinema (2003) JMU Carrier Library Stacks PN1995.9.N4 A43 2003 Online (JMU users) |
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This page last reviewed by Carl Nelson on 09/26/2011
