Afro Sensual

I ask myself this often. Especially when its the weekend and I find myself wanting to go see a new movie and there’s nothing for me to go see, so I end up watching old movies. I like many of those titles but what I love about Crooklyn is that it tells the story of a young Black girls perspective but it is easily the struggle of a young woman or an much older woman dealing with family, responsibility, being a woman, life and loss.

I don’t think all hope is lost. I think it is time for Black people in the industry to start being accountable and not just recognizing the problem but trying to come up with a solution. For people who are looking to break into the industry, try new innovative ideas, do something that no other Black director/writer has done before. Change the way Black people see themselves on film and put them on film more often. It is only fair considering African-American buying power, (some 900 billion per 41 million Blacks in this country). I understand it is easy to write down the ideas, but it confuses me that we went from having a strong, frequent presence to almost no presence at all. If we are represented it is often degrading. How do we backtrack? We as a people are suppose to be progressive.

tabilikesthis:

I was watching Crooklyn (1994) last night, and suddenly it hit me: Where are all of the great black filmmakers?

It seems as if once the millennium came, black was done in Hollywood. The ninties were, be it bad or good, a successful decade for African American filmmakers. There wasn’t any wonder of when you’d finally see a film made by someone that looked like you. There was Spike Lee with Mo’ Better Blues(1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Malcolm X (1992) and countless other films throughout the decade. John Singleton with Boyz N The Hood (1991), Poetic Justice (1993), Higher Learning (1995) and Rosewood (1997). Mario Van Peebles with New Jack City (1991), Posse (1993) and Panther(1995). Robert Townsend with The Five Heartbeats (1991), The Meteor Man (1993) and dare I say, B.A.P.S (1997). Reginald Hudlin with House Party(1990), Boomerang (1992) and The Great White Hype (1996). The Hughes brothers (Albert & Allen) with Menace II Society (1993) and Dead Presidents (1995). Rusty Cundieff with Tales From The Hood (1995) andSprung (1997). Rick Famuyiwa with The Wood (1999). Malcolm D. Lee withThe Best Man (1999). Kasi Lemmons with Eve’s Bayou (1997)…I think my point has been made, so I’ll stop here.

Anyway, once the year 2000 came, it seemed as if things began to die down, drastically. There were films like The Brothers (2001) and Deliver Us From Eva (2003) directed by Gary Hardwick, and Two Can Play That Game (2001) directed by Mark Brown, but nothing that had as much of an impact like films from the ninties.

A lot of people argue that in the last five years, Tyler Perry has been carrying the torch for us, but…quite frankly, I’d like to see something other than Madea. His best film, in my opinion, was For Colored Girls (2010), based on Ntozake Shange’s Obie Award-winning 1975 play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.

There are some people like Lee Daniels [Shadowboxer (2005) and Precious(2009)] and newcomer Tanya Hamilton [Night Catches Us (2010)] that are creating buzz for their work, but there isn’t enough buzz.

So, in conclusion, with the way things are looking, right now, would anyone say that there is hope for Black cinema?