2020
All films seen with a first national release or festival screening I…
Ranked by average user rating. The list was extracted largely thanks to this megalist of films directed by Black directors. It will be updated monthly and is an official list progress project on all-time stats pages for Pro and Patron users.
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ELIGIBILITY RULES:
• This list includes Black co-directors or any Black directors on a diverse team.
• Films must be feature-length (45+ minutes), with a theatrical and/or festival release.
• Documentaries of any kind, short films, theater/stage, TV movies, TV series or miniseries, and episodes are excluded.
• There is a 1,000 minimum ratings threshold.
This list is by no means a definitive canon of Black directors in film history. This is merely a consensus list based off a specific criteria. It is, indeed, the tip of the iceberg. Please feel free to let me know any movies I've missed that fit the criteria or of any movies that do not belong. Please also feel free to recommend any films that need discovering.
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STATS:
Top Decade: 2010s (26 films)
Top Decade, 20th Century only: 1990s (18 films)
Top Year: 2020 (8 films, by Letterboxd year)
Top Year, 20th Century only: 1992 (4 films, by Letterboxd year)
Newest Film: American Fiction (2023)
Oldest Film: Black Girl (1966)
Longest Film: Malcolm X (202 mins)
Shortest Films: The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun; Looking for Langston (45 mins)
Oscar Nominations: 71 (between 21 films)
Oscar Wins: 18 (between 12 films)
Best Picture Nominees: 8 out of 11 (includes 12 Years A Slave, Selma, Moonlight, Get Out, BlacKkKlansman, Judas and the Black Messiah, King Richard & American Fiction—excludes Precious, Fences & Black Panther)
Oscar Nominees for Best Director: 5 out of 6 (includes John Singleton, Steve McQueen, Barry Jenkins, Jordan Peele & Spike Lee—excludes Lee Daniels)
Animated Films: 3
Non-English Language Films: 27
Non-American Directors: 22
Films Directed By Women: 21 (there is an 11 film overlap with the top female-directed films list.)
TOP DIRECTORS TALLY:
• Spike Lee – 7 films
• Steve McQueen – 7 films
• Ousmane Sembène – 5 films
• Charles Burnett – 3 films
• Nabwana I.G.G. – 3 films
• Djibril Diop Mambéty – 3 films
• Ryan Coogler – 2 films
• Bill Duke – 2 films
• Haile Gerima – 2 films
• F. Gary Gray – 2 films
• Med Hondo – 2 films
• Barry Jenkins – 2 films
• Gabriel Martins – 2 films
• Jordan Peele – 2 films
• Kemp Powers – 2 films
• Gina Prince-Bythewood – 2 films
• Dee Rees – 2 films
• Abderrahmane Sissako – 2 films
• Melvin Van Peebles – 2 films
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Other lists of Black directors / protagonists / themes:
• Black Life On Film
• Films By Black Directors You Should Watch
• Educate Yourself / Educate Yourself
• Black Power
• Black Lives Matter
• black lgbtq+ films watchlist / Queer, Black, 21st Century
• Please Stop Watching The Help
• If you like [film by non-black director] watch [film by black director]
• Films By Black Filmmakers from the Arab World
• Black/African Cinema Education
• Black British Directors
• Black American Filmmakers
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I also run top 50s of each year since 2016, the official top 250 documentaries and the official top 250 films by women directors lists, among others. See the Letterboxd 'Official List Network for more lists ranking films by Letterboxd member average rating.
