For Black History Month, MovieJawn is celebrating some of our favorite up and coming Black directors and actors. See all of the posts here.

by Fiona Underhill, Contributor

A few facts and stats before we get started:

• There are 13 women and 9 men on the list (22 directors, 29 films mentioned)

• There are 10 films from 2020 and 6 films from 2019 (the rest older, but all from the last decade)

• I didn’t want to call this a list of up-and-coming or breakthrough directors. This is not about age – at least four people on the list are in their 40s/50s. 

• Directors on this list who have directed episodes of TV show Queen Sugar (created by Ava DuVernay) – Tchaiko Omawale, Numa Perrier, Garett Bradley and Nijla Mumin. Channing Godfrey Peoples has written for Queen Sugar also. Others who have Queen Sugar directing credits include Cheryl Dunye, Julie Dash, So Yong Kim, Victoria Mahoney and Christina Choe. As you can see, it’s hard to overstate how important DuVernay has been in helping the careers of women of color.

• There are four ARRAY NOW (DuVernay’s distribution company) films on this list. Other films from ARRAY Releasing that I would recommend: Lingua Franca, Ainu Mosir, The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open (all available on Netflix).

• This list is alphabetical by surname. 

1)    Shola Amoo

• A Moving Image, 2016 (Kanopy) 

• The Last Tree, 2019 (Prime)

A Moving Image is a British counterpart to Residue (look out for that further along the list), about the gentrification of Brixton. The protagonist is a middle-class Black artist, who grew up in the area and then returns and tries to make a film about the changes it has gone through. A white working-class man (who has found success as an actor and moved into the area) is kind of pitted against her, but the film does not provide easy answers to the intersection of race and class.

The Last Tree has a strong start (following a Black boy fostered by an older white lady) and a strong end, that shows the now teenage boy meeting his father for the first time in Africa. The middle sags a little, as it becomes a fairly standard inner-city gang tale.

Shola Amoo is one of only two British directors on this list and I desperately wish there were more young Black British directors that I could shine a light on. With Steve McQueen’s recent exemplary Small Axeseries, let’s hope that we will be getting more stories that depict this specific viewpoint.

2)    Eugene Ashe

• Homecoming, 2012 (VOD) 

• Sylvie’s Love, 2020 (Prime)

Eugene Ashe is one of the older directors on the list – he has had a recording career, but has now made the transition from music to film. Homecoming is a low-budget theatrical adaptation about a reunion of a group of college friends.

Sylvie’s Love is a romantic drama set in the 1960s, starring Tessa Thompson, which is much bigger in scope and production values. It’s great to see a period film with Black central characters that isn’t about trauma, but instead is an old-fashioned Hollywood romance.

3)    Blitz Bazawule

• The Burial of Kojo, 2018 (Netflix/Array) 

• Black is King, 2020 (Disney +)

Bazawule was born in Ghana and The Burial of Kojo is set there. It has some stunning cinematography, use of color and strikingly composed images – each one is like a work of art. It astonishes me that this is just sitting on Netflix, for anyone to discover, but most people will never find it. It’s the first of four films on the list from Ava DuVernay’s Array Now distribution company, which should be mentioned in the same breath as A24, NEON and other big names. Array have a deal with Netflix and their films cover a huge range of cultural experiences.

4)    Radha Blank 

• The Forty-Year-Old Version, 2020 (Netflix) – feature debut

The Forty-Year-Old Version is a phenomenal debut that is funny, extremely well-written and gorgeously directed in black-and-white. Blank writes, directs and stars in this highly personal and relatable story of a teacher-playwright who tries to find fulfillment in her career and personal life through exploring hip hop.

5)    Garett Bradley

• Below Dreams, 2014 (VOD)

• Time, 2020 (Prime) 

Bradley has broken through recently with her documentary Time (another black-and-white film) being much-acclaimed. It follows a wife’s unceasing campaign for her husband’s release from prison. The intercutting of early home-movie footage with present-day documentary footage is very well done by Bradley. 

Below Dreams is a strange one, as it seems a dip of the toe into narrative film, but it is clear that Bradley is more comfortable in the arena of documentary. Her short film America is also highly recommended.

6)    Chinonye Chukwu

• AlaskaLand, 2012 (VOD) 

• Clemency, 2019 (Hulu) 

AlaskaLand comes across as very much a student film, with the limitations of budget being very clear. It does follow Black characters in Alaska, however, something we do not see very often at all.

Chukwu garnered a lot of attention from critics’ circles and Film Independent etc for Clemency, with much of the plaudits being focused on Alfre Woodard’s central performance as a warden at a prison that has a Death Row. Aldis Hodge and Wendell Pierce are also brilliant in their supporting roles, though and it has some great shots, demonstrating what Chukwu can do with more of a budget. I admit I put this one off for a long time, because I knew it would be upsetting and the execution scenes are difficult to witness.

7)    J.D. Dillard

• Sleight, 2016 (HBO Max)

• Sweetheart, 2019 (Netflix)

Sleight is an interesting twist on a drug-and-gang story with the teen protagonist having a ‘superpower’ that is sleight-of-hand magic, augmented by an invention he has added to his body.

Sweetheart is a refreshing take on the kaiju myth, starring Kiersey Clemons on a desert island.

8)    Mati Diop

• Atlantics, 2019 (Netflix) – feature debut

Diop’s short documentary films had gained her quite a following before she made her narrative feature debut with Atlantics, a stunning film about a group of refugees who leave Senegal and are taken by the sea. Focusing on those left behind (particularly the women), it is a haunting tale with beautiful cinematography and a fantastic lead performance by Mame Bineta Sane.

9)    Mewawi Gerima

• Residue, 2020 (Netflix/Array) – feature debut

Residue is about the gentrification of the Washington DC neighborhood that Gerima grew up in. It’s beautifully shot and edited, has a dreamlike quality and the way it conveys memory is very evocative. 

10)  Rashaad Ernesto Green

• Gun Hill Road, 2011 (Tubi)

• Premature, 2019 (Hulu)

Unlike some others on this list, the earlier of these two films–Gun Hill Road–is of the same quality of the later one. From the title and poster, you may be expecting Gun Hill Road to be about a certain subject-matter and it is about a man (played Esai Morales) fresh out prison. The surprising element is that he has a teenager who is experimenting with gender and frequently lives as a girl when not at home or school. There have been more films about gender non-conforming kids and teens recently (Cowboys, Palmer, Lorelei) and this is a very good thing. It also stars Scrubs’ Judy Reyes.

Premature is a tender love story centered around teenagers in the summer between High School and college which is very well acted.

11)  Wanuri Kahiu

• Rafiki, 2018 (Kanopy) 

Rafiki is a lesbian love story set in Nairobi, with an incredibly vibrant color palette and influences from the “Afrobubblegum” movement. It has a joyful use of music, animation and costuming/hairstyling, while also addressing the challenges this young couple face. The film was banned in Kenya, but was recently shown on the Criterion Channel. Kahiu and Rungano Nyoni (later on the list) were both part of the Africa First project.

12)  Ekwa Msangi

• Farewell Amor, 2020 (VOD) – feature debut

Farewell Amor follows a family who are reunited after 17 years. Walter has been living and working in New York and his wife Esther and teenage daughter Sylvia have been living in Angola. Esther and Syliva come to live with Walter in his small one-bedroom apartment and they have to get to know one another. A well-acted film about two cultures having to dove-tail with one another and how different generations cope with that.

13)  Nijla Mumin 

• Jinn, 2018 (Prime) – feature debut

Jade (Simone Missick) is a single mother who converts to Islam, which presents challenges to her teenage daughter Summer (Zoe Renee). The excellent up-and-coming actor Kelvin Harrison Jr has a supporting role. This film has a great score and great performances. Mumin has worked on both Queen Sugar and Insecure.

14)  Rungano Nyoni

• I am Not A Witch, 2017 (Kanopy) – feature debut

In Zambia, a child is branded a witch and sent to live in a “witches camp” with women of various ages. While this has light-hearted, absurdist and satirical elements, the subject-matter is obviously quite unsettling and upsetting. Fantastic performances and imagery, though.

15)  Tchaiko Omawale

• Solace, 2018 (Kanopy) – feature debut

Solace is about Sole (Hope Olaidé Wilson), a 17-year-old in New York whose father dies, leaving her an orphan. Her only remaining family is her estranged grandmother (played by Lynn Whitfield) in LA, who is “close with” her Pastor (played by Glynn Turman, currently getting awards-attention for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom). At her grandmother’s house, Sole enlists the help of her neighbor – Jasmine (Chelsea Tavares) to make a political artwork. Like most films on this list, this has fantastic performances.

16)  Prentice Penny

• Uncorked, 2020 (Netflix) 

Prentice Penny is a writer-producer of Insecure (another important show for Black directors, including Melina Matsoukas, Stella Meghie, Regina King, Debbie Allen, Kerry Washington and Nijla Mumin). Uncorked stars the delightful actor Mamoudou Athie (Unicorn Store, Underwater and Black Box) as a teenager torn between his father’s BBQ joint and his ambitions of becoming a sommelier. Co-starring Courtney B. Vance and Niecy Nash, this is a lovely little film that got buried on Netflix and hardly anyone has seen. It’s good!

17)  Channing Godfrey Peoples

• Miss Juneteenth, 2020 (Kanopy) – feature debut

Miss Juneteenth features a compelling central performance by Nicole Beharie as former pageant queen Turquoise Jones, who is determined for her daughter Kai (Alexis Chikaeze) to follow in her footsteps. Kendrick Sampson plays Ronnie, Kai’s father. Nearly everyone on this list has proven a talent for working with actors and drawing out exceptional performances, and Peoples is no exception here.

18) Numa Perrier

• Jezebel, 2019 (Netflix/Array) – feature debut

Jezebel (along with recent films Cam and PVT Chat) is a look into the world of cam girls and it’s good that we are starting to see films such as these help to destigmatize the sex work industry. Tiffany Tenille plays a teenager living in a small apartment with her older sister Sabrina (played by Perrier herself) and her partner. She gets a job as a cam girl and ends up getting too involved with one particular client. 

19)  Remi Weekes

• His House, 2020 (Netflix) – feature debut

His House is a British horror film about a refugee couple (played by Sope Dirisu and Wunmi Mosaku) from South Sudan who move into a run-down house provided for them by the British government. They are followed by the ghosts that haunt them from their home country. This makes a good companion piece with Atlantics, which demonstrates that both those that do manage to escape and those that are left behind are very much marked by trauma. Weekes is only the second British director on this list and let’s hope the critical success of His House leads to much more opportunities for Black British writer-directors.

20)  Tarayisha Poe

• Selah & The Spades, 2020 (Prime) – feature debut

Selah and the Spades is about the various ‘factions’ at an elite private school, with the most powerful one being led by Selah (Lovie Simone). Jharrel Jerome plays Selah’s best friend Maxxie, Jesse Williams plays the headmaster and Gina Torres plays Selah’s mother. The film features many classic High School concerns eg. cheerleading, parties, drugs and drinking. It is very well shot, costumed and performed. It is one of a host of (very good) recent coming-of-age and YA films that seem to be addressing the modern-day feeling of nihilism that comes with being a teenager, due to the future looking so bleak. It is also why teen and High School rituals and rites-of-passage can come to seem so important, as it’s something familiar and unchanging to cling onto. It’s very, very good to get a Black perspective on this, particularly within the privileged environment depicted in Selah and the Spades, as this is something we rarely see.

21)  Leilah Weinraub

• Shakedown, 2018 (Criterion Channel) – feature debut

Shakedown is a documentary that somehow made it from PornHub to the Criterion Channel. It focuses on the various women involved in the titular lesbian strip club, which was forced to move location in LA several times. You really feel like you get to know these women and go on a journey into their memories.

22)  Phillip Youmans

• Burning Cane, 2019 (Netflix/Array) – feature debut

Youmans was only SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD when he wrote, directed and edited Burning Cane – an astonishing feat, considering the characters created, the performances garnered and the visuals captured. Wendell Pierce is the biggest name involved in this story of a boy in the South struggling with his religious upbringing and surroundings. The dreamy and woozy way in which it is shot is similar to another film on the list (Residue) and it also feels a little like We the Animals. It’s incredibly exciting for a director this young to demonstrate this level of talent and we can only imagine where his career is going to go.

BONUS: Michaela Coel (TV writer: Chewing Gum, TV writer/director: I May Destroy You) 

I didn’t want to let this opportunity go by without mentioning the supremely talented genius of Michaela Coel who created possibly the best TV show OR film of last year – I May Destroy You. She deserves all of the awards and all of the career opportunities she could possibly want.