"Why Are There So Few Black Directors in the Criterion Collection?"

[maigret]

It also doesn't get into the fact that a good chunk of their streaming-exclusive releases are actually from other companies as well, since while Kino Lorber is happy to give them streaming rights to their films, they are direct competitors with Criterion in the physical space and even outbid them on a fair few titles that were previously in the Collection but lost the licensing to due to Studio Canal's moves at the time. Really, a lot of the issues with on-disc diversity can be explained as "that's just how licensing works," even if Criterion can always strive to do better on that front.

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Indeed, several of the suggestions here in this thread for black filmmakers are studio movies like Boyz N The Hood (Sony) and Malcolm X (Warner Bros), which not only have their own distribution companies, are not likely to negotiate releases of these films with an independent label like Criterion and lose out on the value of releasing the movies themselves. Criterion has to negotiate for rights to release films, they cannot just release whatever they want. There is even more competition in this market now than a decade ago, with not only the studios themselves but also other boutique home video labels like Kino Lorber, who recently released a "Pioneers of African-American Cinema" set.

Regardless, there is definitely an issue with the lack of diversity in the Collection and I hope they do address it. They've spent a long time building their catalog with French/Japanese/(white) American filmmakers and I think that shows when you look at the numbers as the article does.

 

[hodayathink]

It also doesn't get into the fact that a good chunk of their streaming-exclusive releases are actually from other companies as well, since while Kino Lorber is happy to give them streaming rights to their films, they are direct competitors with Criterion in the physical space and even outbid them on a fair few titles that were previously in the Collection but lost the licensing to due to Studio Canal's moves at the time. Really, a lot of the issues with on-disc diversity can be explained as "that's just how licensing works," even if Criterion can always strive to do better on that front.

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Issues with any specific movie might be able to be explained that way, but systemic issues like this most certainly cannot. There are movies out there, directed by PoC, that they could have gotten, but just flat out said no to. There's multiple examples in the article. Ava Duvernay says in the article that they flat out rejected her first movie, which won a directing prize at Sundance.

Becker said that the lack of African-American films in the collection is in part a reflection of his personal "blind spots." These were at play, for example, in his initial reaction to Julie Dash's "Daughters of the Dust" (1991), the first theatrically released film directed by an African-American woman.

In 1992, Dash, who studied the Criterion Collection as a graduate film student at the AFI Conservatory and the University of California, Los Angeles, sent Becker a copy of "Daughters" via her distributor, Donald Krim of Kino International. The film, praised by critics for its dreamlike, multigenerational portrayal of a Gullah community on Georgia's St. Simons Island, is often cited as an influence for Beyoncé's "Lemonade." But Becker turned it down.

"I didn't understand what I was looking at," he said, reflecting on the decision. "I didn't understand it for what it was. And I wasn't talking with people who were going to help me."

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Criterion's blind spots have extended to the most recent generation of African-American filmmakers. Though the collection features the directorial debuts of multiple generations of white auteurs — including Gus Van Sant, Noah Baumbach, David Gordon Green and Lena Dunham — it has no African-American directors born after 1957.

One who potentially could have been included is Barry Jenkins, who directed the best-picture winner "Moonlight" (2016). Jenkins's influential debut feature, "Medicine for Melancholy" (2009), is distributed by IFC, which has enjoyed a long-running relationship with the Criterion Collection. Other IFC films, including Dunham's "Tiny Furniture" (2010) and Dano's "Wildlife" (2018), received Criterion editions within two years of their release.

But Becker, who said he hoped to add "Medicine" to the collection in the near future, acknowledged that he had only recently seen the film: "I will admit that I didn't know 'Medicine for Melancholy' when it came out." He first reached out to Jenkins about acquiring distribution rights in 2018.

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DuVernay said that Criterion had passed on her own film, "Middle of Nowhere" (2012), for which she became the first Black filmmaker to win the directing prize at Sundance. "There wasn't any rights issue," said DuVernay, who owns the movie. "It was just a pass." In an emailed statement, Becker said he had no record or memory of this, and offered to release "Middle of Nowhere" on Blu-ray.

"If Ava would want to work on a special edition with us, we would be honored and would just need her help to get Lionsgate to say yes," he wrote, referring to the film's current distributor.

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[CesareNorrez]

It's a mix of everything isn't it? Racial bias, licensing, budget, timing, etc. The good news is the Channel is more diverse in all regards. So I expect the physical collection to change for the better over time.

 

[Ridley327]

Indeed, several of the suggestions here in this thread for black filmmakers are studio movies like Boyz N The Hood (Sony) and Malcolm X (Warner Bros), which not only have their own distribution companies, are not likely to negotiate releases of these films with an independent label like Criterion and lose out on the value of releasing the movies themselves. Criterion has to negotiate for rights to release films, they cannot just release whatever they want. There is even more competition in this market now than a decade ago, with not only the studios themselves but also other boutique home video labels like Kino Lorber, who recently released a "Pioneers of African-American Cinema" set.

Regardless, there is definitely an issue with the lack of diversity in the Collection and I hope they do address it. They've spent a long time building their catalog with French/Japanese/American filmmakers and I think that shows when you look at the numbers as the article does.

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Boyz n the Hood is actually a really good example to bring up, as while Criterion did release it in the LaserDisc days, Sony had since then took it upon themselves to treat it as a marquee title for themselves over the years, which culminated in the 4K release earlier in the year, for which reviews beamed about its excellent A/V presentation as well as having quite a few extras, including a tribute to John Singleton that they created just for that release. There's nothing for Criterion to improve upon there, and there's really no reason for Sony to hand it off if they're giving that film a Criterion-like treatment to begin with. I don't think Malcom X is necessarily an impossible release for Criterion if WB was willing to offer it, but they've also been treating that film really well over the years for themselves, so that goes right back to what I just mentioned about Boyz n the Hood, particularly with Criterion being uninterested in 4K releases. It's really the smaller films that Criterion is more valuable for in terms of their services and exposure, which they should absolutely zero in on for, as their mission statement goes, classic and contemporary films. The Channel is a great first step as I don't think you're left for wanting on those fronts, but the "stakes" are lower there with how much cheaper streaming rights go versus the entire process of releasing on disc.

 

[Gwenpoolshark]

How the absolute fuck is Killer of Sheep not in the collection when to Sleep With Anger is?

Same goes for Daughters of the Dust, which if released should also include Dash's incredibly good student film short Illusions.

 

[StrangeRoboMemory]

Some easy choices:

Killer of Sheep
Yeelen
Xala
Ceddo
Bamako
Guimba the Tyrant
She's Gotta Have It
Collection of the films of Oscar Micheaux
Friday (if stuff like The Rock and chanbara films are culturally valuable for their own reasons, Friday is no less so)
Poetic Justice and Boyz n the Hood as a Singleton two-pack

 

[Deleted member 46493]

I'm a big Criterion fan and signed up for the Channel as early as I could, but I agree.

Criterion has not been in the business of exclusively publishing "important" films for a while. They are a regular publisher for Bambauch or Wes Anderson films as they come out. I like both of these directors so not hating on them, just saying Criterion is just the publisher for them (vs. waiting to see if their films have an impact). The biggest tell of this is the Leah Dunham film they have on there. It's... pretty bad (subjective) and was put on CC soon after its release.

Anyway, yeah, like most American artistic institutions, Criterion is pretty white. I hope they address this in the 2020s.

 

[Ridley327]

How the absolute fuck is Killer of Sheep not in the collection when to Sleep With Anger is?

Same goes for Daughters of the Dust, which if released should also include Dash's incredibly good student film short Illusions.

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Killer of Sheep is with a different label altogether, so there's really not much Criterion can do there but ask "pretty please" whenever they're able. They have Burnett's older films up for streaming quite often on the Channel, including an introduction and interview that they filmed specifically for the channel, and Killer of Sheep does show up from time to time. I'd absolutely love it if they did work out a deal with Milestone Films for a Blu-ray release, but I don't see much of a reason for Milestone to let it go since they recently got into Blu-ray themselves.

 

[gnomed]

Great article and thread. This is bringing my own lack of African-American films I have yet to see. I noticed The Watermelon Man on the channel the other day and was never informed of its impact, but modern cinephiles want to press the importance of Tiny Furniture and The Puffy Chair.

The poster who mentioned Friday as a potential release really has a strong argument. In no way can you argue the influence of the movie for the current zeitgeist and even the 90s to the aughts.

 

[Crazy_about_media]

Just off the top of my head, these are some cool picks for the Criterion treatment.

Sorry To Bother You
Queen and Slim
Moonlight
Get Out
Malcolm X
The Watermelon Woman
Boyz N The Hood
Friday (I'm serious about this one)
Hollywood Shuffle

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all good picks but
Eve's Bayou is a movie I really want see get a Criterion treatment

 

[Ridley327]

all good picks but
Eve's Bayou is a movie I really want see get a Criterion treatment

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As fantastic a pick that film would be for the Collection, its rights lie with Lionsgate these days, who are notoriously against licensing their titles out for any reason at all. It's the same reason why we don't see anything from A24 in there as well, as A24 has a distribution deal with Lionsgate for their releases until that expires... whenever that expires.

...please expire...

 

[Sean C.]

Just off the top of my head, these are some cool picks for the Criterion treatment.

Sorry To Bother You
Queen and Slim
Moonlight
Get Out
Malcolm X
The Watermelon Woman
Boyz N The Hood
Friday (I'm serious about this one)
Hollywood Shuffle

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Most of the contemporary films you list would be very unlikely to get authorized by their studio (I don't see any reason why Universal, in particular, would forfeit any revenue from Peele's very popular films that they have already released on Blu-ray).

Rights availability is by no means a catch-all defense (as the OP article notes) -- but realistically, diversifying the Criterion Collection is much more likely to be about out-of-print studio titles from the 1990s or earlier as well as their usual mix of independent and overseas releases that you may or may not have heard of before.

Rafiki, the 2018 Kenyan film about a same-sex couple that is currently available on the Criterion Channel, seems like it would be an obvious candidate to me.

 

[Naijaboy]

Just off the top of my head, these are some cool picks for the Criterion treatment.

Sorry To Bother You
Queen and Slim
Moonlight
Get Out
Malcolm X
The Watermelon Woman
Boyz N The Hood
Friday (I'm serious about this one)
Hollywood Shuffle

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Don't forget Blindspotting and Queen of Katwe.

 

[mattiewheels]

I watched Hollywood Shuffle on Criterion Channel, hopefully the selection on there is an indicator of future discs.

 

[Sean C.]

Don't forget Blindspotting and Queen of Katwe.

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The distribution rights for Blindspotting are with Lionsgate, similar to Eve's Bayou discussed above by Ridley327. But if/when that changes it would make a credible entry.

Queen of Katwe is a Disney film. I don't think Disney has ever licensed anything to Criterion, nor in the Disney+ era is it likely to start.

 

[jph139]

When we're talking licensing, I think Netflix is going to be a great source for contemporary films going forward. They've already worked out a solid deal with them in the past few years (Roma, Marriage Story, the Irishman), and they already announced Atlantics was coming at some point. I'd be surprised if Da 5 Bloods doesn't follow suit. They've got a solid back catalogue to pull from, too - Imperial Dreams, Lionheart, 13th.

Netflix is pretty good about hiring diverse directors, and I don't see Netflix breaking into the physical media space any time soon, so if that relationship keeps going it should trickle down some.

 

[Ridley327]

The distribution rights for Blindspotting are with Lionsgate, similar to Eve's Bayou discussed above by Ridley327. But if/when that changes it would make a credible entry.

Queen of Katwe is a Disney film. I don't think Disney has ever licensed anything to Criterion, nor in the Disney+ era is it likely to start.

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Disney has licensed before, but it always required director intervention. The Rock and Armageddon are in there because Bay wanted them in there, while Criterion's long time relationship with Wes Anderson started with Rushmore and continued from there with all the movies he did under Disney. Ironically, the Fox purchase means that Disney is back to owning the majority of Wes's films once more.

 

[nachum00]

Yeah their streaming service is so much better with diversity.

 

[ExhaustedWalrus]

I love Criteiron. I have about 50 blu rays. However, I have to admit this is pathetic. They need to do better. I want to hold them to that. Knowing how progressive they are, I really hope they take this criticism to heart.

 

[Relic]

This is a disappointing but important story to take in. My own amateur-made watchlist (sculpted by a racist society and canon) shouldn't have half as many Black directors as a bunch of film experts. My white ass can at least come up with a few that Criterion doesn't have:

- Xala (same director as Black Girl)
- Punks - queer, Black movie from 2000. seems to fit perfectly with the Collection's marketing. - in licensing hell because of its use of mainstream music.
- Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood
- Who Killed Captain Alex? - Has a respectable Blu-Ray (upscale) already, but definitely meets the Criterion notability requirements.

I wish IMDB had a way to filter by Black directors so I could see what great films in my history were directed by Black people.

Criterion fans have a habit of not watching anything non-Criterion. I agree with some others here, if a film has a good Blu-Ray it may not need a Criterion. (But that hasn't stopped white directors from making the cut in the past.)

Can we not second-guess the rights for every movie people suggest? If a movie's not on Blu-Ray in the US it's fair game to suggest for a Criterion release. Nobody does this for the white directors people want.

I've also taken some Asian cinema courses and I know for sure any one of those professors would've loved to collaborate with Criterion on bringing some attention to lesser-known directors or films. This one I found on my own - Talking Head, directed by Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell), and has a meta narrative that Criterion fans would love. Damn near impossible to find and less than 1000 ratings on IMDB.

There are some Chinese propaganda films from the Cultural Revolution that are special to me. They were taught in a Chinese history class but the only available versions were grainy and had terrible subtitles. Stuff like The Second Spring (1975, dir. Sang Hu and Wang Xiuwen) I think is excellent propaganda and worth highlighting with some historical context.

This article is removing some wool from my eyes. I can't imagine a world where a white version of Moonlight doesn't get put out on Criterion.

I'm also getting the feeling that there are trends in Black cinema that would be good to archive and catalog, just as Criterion currently does with white cinema.

From the article:

The Criterion Collection wasn't always quite as white as it is now. In the early 1990s, it put out several acclaimed films by Black directors on laser disc, including Melvin Van Peebles's "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song," John Singleton's "Boyz N the Hood," Spike Lee's "She's Gotta Have It," and the Hughes brothers films "Menace II Society" and "Dead Presidents." But none of those titles survived the transition, in 1998, to DVD.

Methodology: The New York Times analyzed all 22 years of DVD/Blu-ray titles issued through June 30, as listed on the Criterion website. Only features bearing the Criterion Collection label were counted. Films had to be 60 minutes or longer; streaming-only titles and those on the company's ancillary DVD labels were omitted.

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This is a non sequitur. The Collection is viewed as eternal by most fans. LaserDisc means it's in the Collection. But yeah, being 20 years out of print is bad.

Some of the responses here on Era seem misinformed though.

1. The Rock could be argued as a great piece of cinema. "Only high art can be good" is suffocating. I haven't seen Armageddon, but I agree with the response that these films were included partially as an example of an influential / archetypal type of filmmaking. The market value of these films funding lesser known acquisitions is plausible too. Armageddon also came with a pretty loose commentary track - I don't think that track would be released under Warner or Fox.

2. The marketing image of Criterion and what Criterion actually is are different. Criterion PRETENDS to be this elitist secret club with only the best films. But in reality, it's the intersection of 3 factors:
- what will sell (or at least not be a horrific loss)
- what they can license (this is how the full modern director catalogs end up in the Collection)
- what is interesting (hidden 4th factor - interesting to white leadership)

I don't know how you can be a Criterion fan and argue they only put out masterpieces. I hate how they write their slipcovers - every film is influential, spellbinding, ahead of its time. No, sometimes a film can just be interesting without being the best thing ever.

Ben Affleck’s Armageddon commentary resurfaces, along with a few other confessionals

"Just shut up, Ben!"

www.polygon.com

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/113-the-rock (to see some Criterion-backed explanation of The Rock's merits)

 

[Reverse Giraffe]

Bamboozled is in the Criterion Collection?? Do The Right Thing deserves it but come on...

 

[Ridley327]

Bamboozled is in the Criterion Collection?? Do The Right Thing deserves it but come on...

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How is Bamboozled not worthy? It's quite possibly Spike's most audacious film of all, which is no small feat, while still having a really damn powerful message at the center of it that only got more relevant in recent years. Hell, even its status as one of the very first major studio films shot largely on digital video is rather noteworthy in of itself.

 

[CesareNorrez]

Criterion has never been a company only putting out masterpieces. It was never their mission. They were always about licensing "important classic and contemporary films". This does not mean only widely recognized masterpieces of filmmaking. It's a wide net to cast because one can argue a lot of films, even bad ones, are "important".

This whole idea of what's worthy to be in the CC is silly. If it's a film made by a master director, say Spike Lee or Godard, even if it's a lesser work, that makes it important. If it's a film that is seen as a landmark of a genre or movement, like The Rock or Equinox, than it's important.

Where the management failed in the past was in their own racial biases. There are a wealth of important films from all cultures across the globe. It's clear the Criterion Channel has a much better handle on diversity of voices. I expect the physical collection to improve, but now Criterion isn't the only name in the game for exceptional home video releases. They have a lot of competition and most cinephiles are happy to buy the best release from whoever.

 

[Crawling Mushroom]

Will it work on an American blu-ray player?

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No, you would need a region free player or an European one.

 

[Border]

Do folks not realize that a Criterion release is not just some magical honor that Criterion can bestow upon any film they see fit, but is largely the result of which filmmakers and rights-holders will negotiate and deal with them?

After after all these years, people seem to be treating this like it's The Oscars or something. "RAWR why is there a Michael Bay movie on there when there is no Scorcesse?!"

All that said, they should diversify their lineup where they can, but releases are still going to be limited by both commercial viability and contractual hangups.

 

[Freddy=Legend]

Holy shit Criterion putting out two Michael Bay movies is some fucking nonsense I wouldn't have believed if I didn't see it.

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The Rock & Armageddon are a part of the Collection because of LaserDisc. Criterion was in partnership with Bay/Bruckheimer on the format & pushed the films out to try & capitalize on modern Hollywood blockbusters for higher sales numbers. LaserDisc died & well, we were left with those 2 films as part of the Collection.

 

[hiredhand]

People should stop considering Criterion releases as some kind of mythical canon of great films. They are just a boutique blu-ray label, not any different from Arrow, Kino Lorber, Vinegar Syndrome, Indicator or Eureka. It's always annoying when people whine about film X not being in the Criterion collection when there is a quality release of the very same film by another publisher.

Criterion can't pick any film they like to publish as a blu-ray. If we are talking about Hollywood films, some studios (MGM, Universal) are way more eager to let go of their films than others (WB, Disney/Fox). Often the newer and more mainstream the film is, the harder is it for them to get the rights.

They do lean too heavily on the "traditionally respected" film regions (US, western Europe, Japan) and it is particularly shocking that there are only three African films in the collection. They seem to also go more for the already canonized classics rather than hidden gems deserving more attention. Most pre-90's African-American cinema would definitely go in the latter category.

 

[hiredhand]

How the absolute fuck is Killer of Sheep not in the collection when to Sleep With Anger is?

Same goes for Daughters of the Dust, which if released should also include Dash's incredibly good student film short Illusions.

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Daughters of the Dust already has a high-quality blu-ray release by Cohen. It doesn't have the short though.

 

[KingM]

No, you would need a region free player or an European one.

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Welp, time to start Googling. Looks like indicator has some other great releases too, a blend of region B and free.

 

[Slash Ess]

Say what you want, but at the end of the day they could and should be seeking to distribute more films by Black and especially female directors ✌️

 

[Relic]

Welp, time to start Googling. Looks like indicator has some other great releases too, a blend of region B and free.

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I'm partial to ripping all the movies with MakeMKV and a computer Blu-Ray drive. Then I can do whatever I want with it. (Mux in subtitles, skip ads)

 

[CesareNorrez]

The curation of the Criterion Channel is one of its best features. They create collections based around directors and cinema movements. The Now Playing section has categories for Black Lives and Women Filmmakers. They highlight such people as Kathleen Collins, Oscar Micheaux, Spencer Williams, Zora Neale Hurston, Bill Gunn, William Greeves, Mati Diop, Ousmane Sembène, Wanuri Kahiu and more.

In many ways it's a much better value for studying film than buying the discs.

 

[Ridley327]

Say what you want, but at the end of the day they could and should be seeking to distribute more films by Black and especially female directors ✌

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They've actually been making a pretty major effort in getting more women directors in the collection in the past couple of years, already doubling where it was previously. Even when you count the Varda box as just one release altogether, they're at nearly a dozen releases this alone year from women directors with what's already been announced and what's yet to be released. We've also got future releases like Atlantics to look forward to as well, in addition to whatever else is in the pipeline.

 

[hodayathink]

Daughters of the Dust already has a high-quality blu-ray release by Cohen. It doesn't have the short though.

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If you read the article, you'll realize that that probably happened BECAUSE Criterion passed on it.

Becker said that the lack of African-American films in the collection is in part a reflection of his personal "blind spots." These were at play, for example, in his initial reaction to Julie Dash's "Daughters of the Dust" (1991), the first theatrically released film directed by an African-American woman.

In 1992, Dash, who studied the Criterion Collection as a graduate film student at the AFI Conservatory and the University of California, Los Angeles, sent Becker a copy of "Daughters" via her distributor, Donald Krim of Kino International. The film, praised by critics for its dreamlike, multigenerational portrayal of a Gullah community on Georgia's St. Simons Island, is often cited as an influence for Beyoncé's "Lemonade." But Becker turned it down.

"I didn't understand what I was looking at," he said, reflecting on the decision. "I didn't understand it for what it was. And I wasn't talking with people who were going to help me."

At the time, Dash said, she had assumed that Criterion simply didn't "get" her movie. But she later reconsidered. "It's more than 'They don't get it,'" she said. "It has to do with worldview. They don't care to get it. They're not interested."

Though "Daughters" never appeared in the Criterion Collection (in 2016, it was reissued in a digitally restored special edition by another company, the Cohen Film Collection), it was added to the Criterion Channel, the company's streaming service, this spring. In June, following the global protests prompted by the police killing of George Floyd, the film was made available for free on the service, and featured prominently on its home page as part of a special "Black Lives" package.

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[hiredhand]

If you read the article, you'll realize that that probably happened BECAUSE Criterion passed on it.

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I assumed from the article that the film was offered to Criterion during the initial release but clearly that's not the case since it predates dvd format by 5 years. The silver lining here might be that because the film was picked up by Cohen rather than Criterion it actually got a theatrical re-release.

Anyway, the point I was trying to make is that people should rather support the labels that do release these films than wait for a Criterion release that will never come.

 

[hodayathink]

I assumed from the article that the film was offered to Criterion during the initial release but clearly that's not the case since it predates dvd format by 5 years. The silver lining here might be that because the film was picked up by Cohen rather than Criterion it actually got a theatrical re-release.

Anyway, the point I was trying to make is that people should rather support the labels that do release these films than wait for a Criterion release that will never come.

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I think the point the article is making (and that I agree with), is that it's not just about a disc releases existing for these movies. It's about the combination of the lack of minority directors in the disc collection, plus people using the Criterion Collection as the "gold standard" of great cinema, and them doing a bad job of transitioning that from the disc releases to the streaming channel (and to be fair, the stuff going on with WB/HBO Max is probably a big part of that), leading to an erasure of black cinema from the history of "great cinema".

 

[Tavernade]

After/during the big protests earlier this year, Criterion put out a statement saying they felt, basically, that they not only needed to do better but that it was important they do better. They had the power to present a 'canon' of films and they weren't doing enough to include Black directors in that canon. They very quickly seemed to get together a streaming catalogue with Black directors, with movies I don't think they were streaming before, so hopefully it'll be shown in their disc releases going forward too.

 

[Ridley327]

After/during the big protests earlier this year, Criterion put out a statement saying they felt, basically, that they not only needed to do better but that it was important they do better. They had the power to present a 'canon' of films and they weren't doing enough to include Black directors in that canon. They very quickly seemed to get together a streaming catalogue with Black directors, with movies I don't think they were streaming before, so hopefully it'll be shown in their disc releases going forward too.

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It'll take time. The female director initiative I mentioned before was something they undertook in the wake of #MeToo and has been getting more and more films since then.

 

[Tavernade]

It'll take time. The female director initiative I mentioned before was something they undertook in the wake of #MeToo and has been getting more and more films since then.

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Agreed. At least streaming-wise they've been really good at having a new female director featured if not every week at least every month. Just that first crop of Black directors they put out this summer was really good, I'm hopeful for all the great films that'll get more eyes on them through this.

 

[Laserdisk]

Already on Bluray by Shout Factory.

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And a much better one by Arrow

 

[SteveWinwood]

figured id bump this with what some nyt readers thought would be good additions

i know theyve tried to get killer of sheep in the past and couldnt for whatever licensing reasons

stolen from reddit not my picture

 

[starblade]

That's crazy that they didn't pick up Daughter's of the Dust when they had the chance. That film would've been perfect for the criterion treatment (although I'm quite happy with the Cohen Blu Ray). As another poster mentioned, Eve's Bayou would also be good pick, as would The Spook Who Sat by the Door. Some others off the top of my head that I haven't seen mentioned yet:

Mississippi Damned
Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.
Dead Presidents
Straight out of Brooklyn
Jason's Lyric

 

[Barrel Cannon]

Bumping this, cause I just noticed this was the case. My first purchases from Criterion was during their last sale and I got seven Samurai, Do the right thing and Barry lyndon. I decided to buy some more films for the Barnes and Noble sale and tried finding Blakkklansman, but nope it didn't look like they had it. I looked for some other recent films by Jordan Peele...nope, anything by Barry Jenkins....nope.

I know they have their focus they did on the criterion channel for black-directed films recently in response to BLM but more needs to be done on the Criterion collection side of things. I'm not someone who's super studied in film or anything, so I don't know the names of many directors of color outside of some of the more prominent ones but I feel like Criterion is a great way to learn about some of the less prominent ones as well and see the history of film so it's a damn shame they aren't doing more. By putting the collection spotlight on black directors who've made a mark on a cinema they open the doors to countless others and more importantly let the public study and learn about films that came before.

 

[Ridley327]

Bumping this, cause I just noticed this was the case. My first purchases from Criterion was during their last sale and I got seven Samurai, Do the right thing and Barry lyndon. I decided to buy some more films for the Barnes and Noble sale and tried finding Blakkklansman, but nope it didn't look like they had it. I looked for some other recent films by Jordan Peele...nope, anything by Barry Jenkins....nope.

I know they have their focus they did on the criterion channel for black-directed films recently in response to BLM but more needs to be done on the Criterion collection side of things. I'm not someone who's super studied in film or anything, so I don't know the names of many directors of color outside of some of the more prominent ones but I feel like Criterion is a great way to learn about some of the less prominent ones as well and see the history of film so it's a damn shame they aren't doing more. By putting the collection spotlight on black directors who've made a mark on a cinema they open the doors to countless others and more importantly let the public study and learn about films that came before.

Click to shrink...

Funny you should bring this up now, as they have their lineup through February announced and they're definitely already on the way of make my good on their promise to do better with POC director's, including black filmmakers:

-both of William Greaves's Symbiopsychotaxiplasm films are being reissued on Blu-ray Dec 8
-the excellent Minding the Gap from Bing Liu comes out Jan 12
-Ousmane Sembène's Mandabi is releasing on Feb 16
-two films from Ramin Bahrani hit on Feb 23

 

[Barrel Cannon]

Sweet, this is awesome to see Ridley327 !

 

[Ridley327]

Wanted to revisit this thread as Criterion announced their December releases and have thus concluded their slate for 2021. We hadn't gotten any new film announcements for black filmmakers the last time we had activity in this thread, but considering what's been a rather huge year for them in the back half in particular for first-time inclusion, I figured it was worth pointing out what we did wind up getting since this article was posted.

June: Pariah (dir. Dee Rees), The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs (Ethnic Notions; Tongues Untied; Affirmations; Anthem; Color Adjustment; Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien (No Regret); Black Is, Black Ain't)

July: Deep Cover (dir. Bill Duke)

September: Love & Basketball (dir. Gina Prince-Blythewood), Melvin Van Peebles: Essential Films (The Story of a Three-Day Pass; Watermelon Man; Sweet
Sweetback's Baadasssss Song; Don't Play Us Cheap; the set also adds in Baadasssss! (dir. Mario Van Peebles) as a key extra feature)

November: Menace II Society (dir. Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes); as a special note, this is one of the very first titles that they're releasing on 4K

December: One Night in Miami... (dir. Regina King), The Learning Tree (dir. Gordon Parks)

Whatever caused it and however it happened, doubling your representation for black filmmakers in the span of just over six months is really damn impressive, and I can't imagine that they'll be stopping anytime soon as we already know that we're getting a few other films on the way, like Love Jones, Medicine for Melancholy, Mudbound, Eyimofe, Faya Dayi, and the surprisingly elusive Atlantics (though it's hardly the only Netflix title that was previously announced that has yet to see release).

Also, buy the Marlon Riggs set. Maybe the best thing you'll ever buy on disc, if I'm being completely honest.