This page seeks to highlight the cinematic contributions of a handful of directors whose works are featured in this project. In singling out these directors of color, I hope to make clear that efforts to increase diversity in education are multidirectional, in which one can select works based on the identity of the creator and can broaden their perspective on what types of work are “worthy” of teaching and in the process find more diverse filmmakers.
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Kathleen Collins (1942-1988)
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Kathleen Collins is best remembered for her multidimensional portrayals of the lives of Black women. Her groundbreaking film, Losing Ground (1982), is included in this project. Collins’ fight for this film to be made and the lack of industrial interest in developing her other works makes her inclusion in cinema studies education all the more necessary. Losing Ground is one of the first fiction features by an African-American woman filmmaker.
As Haley O’Malley notes in “Art on Her Mind: The Making of Kathleen Collins’ Cinema of Interiority,” most of Collins work was unpublished in her lifetime, and she has gotten more recognition for her contributions to literature and film posthumously in the 21st-century. She is still an under-appreciated agent in the independent Black film scene. Collins operated in a time (unfortunately similar to the present) where financiers did not want to give money to Black female filmmakers to realize their projects and encouraged them to bring on male producers and directors to make their work more legitimate (O'Malley). However, Collins sought to create stories and roles that allowed for Black female character complexity and a showcasing of acting talents. As such, Collins’ inclusion in this project is an attempt to give flowers to a brilliant Black female filmmaker whose work has been overlooked for long enough. I encourage you to not only watch Losing Ground but to explore her other previously unpublished works that have become available. |
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A filmmaker born of the L.A. Rebellion class, Charles Burnett’s work is nothing short of rebellious. The L.A. Rebellion refers to a group of African and African-American students who attended UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television in the late 1960s through the 1980s and the works they made during their time at the school and in the years after. Burnett graduated from UCLA in 1977 and went on to write and direct, most notably, Killer of Sheep (1978) and To Sleep with Anger (1990), among other projects. These two films are included in this project. Burnett’s work, like those of his UCLA peers, is marked by imaginations of a better society, consciousness of racial and gender issues, questioning of the status quo, and explicit embracing of Black pride (Story of L.A. Rebellion). |
Bill Gunn (1934-1989) |
A screenwriter, novelist, playwright, director, and actor, Bill Gunn was an influential part of the evolution of independent Black film in the 1970s. His experimental horror film Ganja and Hess (1973) is included in this project. In 1970, Gunn became the second Black filmmaker to direct a feature film for a major studio with his (unreleased) debut film Stop. Gunn received critical acclaim for Ganja and Hess, including selection for Critic’s Week at the 1973 Cannes Film festival. His highlight on this page serves to encourage students and educators to not only indulge in this cult classic but also to explore the numerous creative works of this prolific creator.
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Leslie Harris (1965- )
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Leslie Harris is best known for her 1992 film Just Another Girl on the I.R.T., which is included in this project. The film is Harris’ only feature film and was filmed in just 17 days on the tight budget of $130,000. Harris has discussed the difficulty she faced in producing additional feature films since her debut, as financiers refused to fund projects with a Black female lead (The Guardian). Harris had to fight to have such a film made that successfully integrates experiences of poverty, pregnancy/abortion, and racism into a coming-of-age story that does not feed off of Black trauma but rather finds a pocket of joy amongst the difficulties. In a rare centering of the Black female youth experience, Harris strikes gold. Highlighting her work in this project serves to show the ways in which battles must be fought to make Black female-led films and to inspire youth to keep trying to make those stories even in the face of rejection.
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Jordan Peele (1979- ) |
Beginning his film career with the hit Get Out in 2017, Jordan Peele has experienced a major catapult into critical cinematic circles. He has since released beloved film Us (2019) and Nope (2022), the latter of which surprisingly garnered no Academy award nominations in 2023. Nope is included in this project. Despite his fame, there is a place for him in this project because of the uncertain relationship between critical acclaim/popularity and canonization. I include Jordan Peele in this project to begin an early championing of the canonization of his works (traditional or otherwise).
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Julie Dash (1952- ) |
A filmmaker of the L.A. Rebellion as well, Julie Dash’s career as a writer and director spans several decades. Her debut feature-length film Daughters of the Dust (1991) is included in this project. With the release of this film, Dash became the first African-American female director to receive a full-length general theatrical release in the US (Wikipedia). The film also won the Sundance Film Festival award for Best Cinematography and was inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry along with her MFA thesis film Illusions (JulieDash.com). Dash has also directed for television, including select episodes of Ava Duvernay’s Queen Sugar. Julie Dash’s creative talents have also extended to the realms of commercial work, museum design, and documentary films. To uplift the work that Dash has released over the years is to recognize an early auteur that inspired generations of African-American filmmakers and creatives.
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