Gina Prince-Bythewood began her career in television but is best known for her first film Love & Basketball (2000).

Documentation exists of Black women producing and directing films during the prolific interim of Black film production from 1910 through the 1920s. Another woman who got her start acting on-screen before transitioning to being behind it. The innovative news site also provides authoritative lifestyle and entertainment coverage. Top Black Filmmakers (Directors & Producers) by VAFilmBoy | created - 23 Jun 2019 | updated - 23 Jun 2019 | Public This is a list of top black filmmakers in no particular order. Mati Diop is renowned for her documentary shorts, such as A Thousand Suns, centered around actor Magaye Niang, and Atlantiques, about two friends who embark on a dangerous boat journey, which was later adapted into the fictional Atlantics, her feature film debut. Prince-Bythewood is currently garnering a lot of attention for her superhero film The Old Guard. It's Friday, which means it's time for a FANGRRLS favorite: Female Filmmaker Friday. Madame C.J. Chinoye Chukwu, Nigerian-American director of Clemency. DaCosta will not only be directing the Candyman follow-up but also co-writing the script as well.

All Rights Reserved. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, Chukwu wrote and directed the 2019 film Clemency, which gave Alfre Woodard one of her most acclaimed—and underrated—performances.

[14] Hurston was trained as an anthropologist, and created documentaries, particularly about the lives of black people in the south. With a cast comprised almost entirely of African American women, “Daughters” was the first film by a black female director to receive U.S. theatrical release – and has since become a classic of independent cinema. Daughters of the Dust was placed on the National Film Resgistry by the Library of Congress in 2004, making it one of 400 other American-made films that are preserved and protected as national treasures. The film was hailed by the black press as "“the first of its kind to be produced by a young woman of our race.”[11], Zora Neale Hurston, best known for her novels including the renowned Their Eyes Were Watching God, was also a folklorist who created work centering on ethnographic films, she earned her MA in Cultural Anthropology at Columbia University. Wanuri Kahiu is a Kenyan filmmaker and co-founder of AFROBUBBLEGUM, “a media company that supports, creates and commissions fun, fierce and frivolous African art.” Kahiu’s first feature film debuted in 2008 and won five awards at the Africa Movie Academy Awards. In 1989, she co-wrote and directed A Dry White Season (1989) becoming the first black female director produced by a major Hollywood studio (MGM) Furthermore, Ms. Palcy is the first black woman filmmaker to direct an actor to an Oscar nomination with Marlon Brando being recognized for his performance as Ian McKenzie in A Dry White Season (1989). Diop toys with the idea of identity and through her filmography has managed to confront her own, allowing her work to stand out. Dee Rees is outspoken about the challenges she has overcome to achieve staying power and legitimacy in the film industry as a black queer woman. These talented women have established themselves as breakthrough directors. New York: Routledge, 1998. p. 6. One of the issues concerning the involvement of Black females in film making is not simply the involvement or lack in numbers, but the influence given to them. Lemmons is masterful in her intertwining of supernatural themes with realistic narratives and conveying her characters in an intimate light. The recent  Harriet director is best known for her directorial debut Eve’s Bayou, praised for its emotional resonance and complexity. They deserve our recognition as they continue to leverage their influence for better representation both in front of and behind the camera. DuVernay continued her career in filmmaking with A Wrinkle in Time,[26] released in 2018 with an estimated budget surpassing $100 million, making DuVernay the first black female to direct a live-action film with a budget of that size. Lemmons also works as a mentor for the next generation of filmmakers through several independent filmmaking labs and giving talks at film schools across the country. Next up is A Taste of Power, based on the memoir of former Black Panther chairwoman Elaine Brown. [3], Ava DuVernay, a pioneer of black female filmmakers, became the first black woman to win the US Dramatic Directing Award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Considered "an historical marker...suggestive of what will hallmark the next stage of development-a more pronounced diasporic and Afrafemcentic orientation",[24] the film was recognized in 1999 by the 25th annual Newark Black Film Festival as one of the most important cinematic achievements in black cinema in the 20th century. In 1991, Julie Dash became the first black female filmmaker to have a full-length general theatrical release in the US for her film Daughters of the Dust. In addition to her retail business, Walker owned the Walker Theater in Indianapolis, Indiana and produced training and promotional films about her cosmetics factory. In 1972, Angelou became the first Black woman to sell a movie script, “Georgia, Georgia” — directed by Swedish filmmaker Stig Björkman. In 2018, her film Rafiki was the first Kenyan film to screen at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation.

Her second film script was 1982’s “Sister, Sister.” 4. In 2008, Gina Prince-Bythewood performed the difficult task of adapting a classic, beloved book to film with great success in her portrayal of The Secret Life of Bees. She tweeted the film is “at the intersection of white violence and black pain is about unwilling martyrs. More recently, Harriet won her awards from both the Black Film Critics Circle and at the Women Film Critics Circle Awards in addition to an Oscar nomination for lead actress Cynthia Erivo. Victoria Mahoney made history last year as she became the first woman — and thus first Black woman — to direct a Star Wars movie. Walker, one of the first Black millionaires, made her fortune manufacturing and distributing cosmetics and hair-care products for Black women. From indie flicks to bigger budget films, Black female filmmakers are making waves.

Rees consistently brings a level of authenticity to her work that audiences respond to. Dunye's work has been influential in both Black and LGBTQ filmmaking spheres.