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02.26.26

Celebrating Black Excellence in Film

At BRIC, we live in a world of cameras, cutting rooms, late-night edits, and big creative swings. Film isn’t just something we watch – it’s what we study, support, produce, and champion. So this Black History Month, we’re proud to honor Black excellence in the medium that inspires so much of what we do.

We asked the creative minds at BRIC to share films of Black empowerment that they return to – the movies that challenged the form, shifted the culture, or simply told unforgettable tales. The result is a curated list of 100 favorites that celebrate visionary filmmaking and powerful storytelling.

Consider this your go-to watchlist for the weekend and beyond – and a reminder of the brilliance, range, and impact of Black cinema.

TOP 12 FILMS

A collage of six movie posters arranged in two rows of three. Top row: "Do The Right Thing" with characters on a blue background, "Black Panther" featuring the main character in a black suit with hands crossed, and "Daughters of the Dust" with a purple silhouette of three women on a warm gradient background. Bottom row: "Hidden Figures" showing three women and smaller images of men and space scenes, "Sorry to Bother You" with a man in a purple suit and white headband on a bright yellow background, and "Coming to America" featuring Eddie Murphy dressed as a king standing on a city street at night.
Six movie posters are shown in a 3x2 grid. Top row, from left to right: 1. "Moonlight" poster with a close-up of a man's face split into three overlapping profiles in blue and purple tones. 2. "Malcolm X" poster featuring Denzel Washington wearing glasses and a suit, with a large red "X" in the background. 3. "Within Our Gates" poster in black and white showing a man and a woman, with the title in bold orange and white text. Bottom row, from left to right: 1. "Crooklyn" poster showing a group of children sitting in a circle on a concrete surface. 2. "Get Out" poster with a man sitting in a chair, screaming, against a black and white split background. 3. "American Fiction" poster featuring a man in a suit with a yellow outline drawing of a jacket and accessories over him, with the tagline "a cinematic stick of dynamite.
  1. Malcom X, d. Spike Lee, 1992 

“Spike Lee’s epic drama spans the extraordinary life of activist Malcolm X, whose relentless advocacy for Black liberation made him a humanitarian icon.” – Netflix

  1. Do the Right Thing, d. Spike Lee, 1989

“A landmark in American cinema, as politically and emotionally charged now as when it first hit the big screen.” – The Criterion Collection

  1. Get Out, d. Jordan Peele, 2017

“An exhilaratingly smart and scary freakout about a black man in a white nightmare, the laughs come easily and then go in for the kill.” – Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

  1. Crooklyn, d. Spike Lee, 1994

“A heartfelt film about childhood. Co-written by Lee alongside his brother, Cinqué Lee, and sister, Joie Lee, Crooklyn is clearly a snapshot inspired by their Brooklyn upbringing.”– Alex Papaioannou, InSession Film

  1. Black Panther, d. Ryan Coogler, 2018

“A jolt of a movie, ‘Black Panther’ creates wonder with great flair and feeling partly through something Hollywood rarely dreams of anymore: myth.” – Manohla Dargis, The New York Times 

  1. Moonlight, d. Barry Jenkins, 2016

“A hard look at American reality and a poem written in light, music and vivid human faces. Like James Baldwin’s’ ‘Go Tell It on the Mountain’… ‘Moonlight’ dwells on the dignity, beauty and terrible vulnerability of black bodies.” – A.O. Scott, New York Times 

  1. Hidden Figures, d. Theodore Melfi, 2016

“The untold story of [three] brilliant African-American women working at NASA and serving as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history – the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit.” – Netflix

  1. Sorry to Bother You, d. Boots Riley, 2018

“A hilarious, moving, crazy, ambitious piece of satire… A cultural commentary on the working class, but also a dozen or so other things at the same time. It’s something you need to see to believe it exists.” – Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

  1. Within Our Gates, d. Oscar Micheaux, 1920

“Working out of his independent company on a shoestring budget, Micheaux gave his characters a dignity and humanity rarely seen on screens. An unflinching look at the legacy of white supremacy in America.” – Kristin Hunt, JSTOR Daily 

  1. Coming to America, d. John Landis, 1988

“Hoping to marry for love, a pampered African prince travels to Queens, New York, where he falls for the daughter of a local fast-food restaurant owner.” – Netflix 

  1. Daughters of the Dust, d. Julie Dash, 1991

“Julie Dash’s visually arresting ‘Daughters of the Dust’… is like no other film. It belongs to black women, it is rich with our faces, voices, and movement. This is a story we will tell our children again and again.” – Patricia Smith, Boston Globe 

  1. American Fiction, d. Cord Jefferson, 2023

“A scathing satire, a family drama, and an absolute triumph: writer-director Cord Jefferson deconstructs how white guilt stifles black creatives and skewers the publishing industry while giving Jeffrey Wright the role of a lifetime.” – David Fear, Rolling Stone

24 DOCUMENTARIES

Six documentary film posters are shown in two rows of three. Top row, from left to right: 1. "Muhammad Ali: When We Were Kings" features a close-up of Muhammad Ali's face covered in sweat. 2. "Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat" has a black and white photo of three people sitting in a car, with bold typography in cream and blue. 3. "Summer of Soul" shows a blurred image of a man singing into a microphone, with a list of featured artists below the title. Bottom row, from left to right: 1. "Luther: Never Too Much" depicts a man in a sparkling red jacket holding a microphone against a glittery red background. 2. "What Happened, Miss Simone?" features a close-up portrait of Nina Simone with the quote "I'll tell you what freedom is to me... NO FEAR." 3. "The Sun Rises in the East" has a collage of black and white photos of people with the title in bold white and black text.
Six documentary film posters arranged in two rows of three. Top row from left to right: 1. "Before There Was Punk, There Was A Band Called Death" featuring a black-and-white photo of three young men, with bold yellow and black text. 2. "Little Richard: I Am Everything" with a gold glitter background and a mouth with piano keys as teeth, the title in bold black letters inside the mouth. 3. "I Am Not Your Negro" with a close-up of a man's eyes at the top and bold red and white text on a black background. Bottom row from left to right: 1. "4 Little Girls" showing a stained glass window with four girls depicted and a bright light shining through. 2. "Tina" featuring a woman with curly hair in a white shirt blowing a kiss, with yellow text and HBO Max branding. 3. "Angola: Do You Hear Us? Voices From a Plantation Prison" with a large black fist above a prison watchtower in grayscale, with gold and black text.
  1. I Am Not Your Negro, d. Raoul Peck, 2016

“An extraordinary visual essay, distilling centuries of black history into 95 minutes, while serving as a biography of [James] Baldwin. Footage of 1960s civil rights protests lead into footage from Ferguson. The through-line is easily drawn.” – Olly Richards, NME

  1. Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), d. Questlove, 2021

“This Sundance award-winner is an absolute joy, uncovering a treasure trove of pulse-racing, heart-stopping live music footage. Intertwines music and politics in one of the best concert movies of all time.” – Mark Kermode, The Guardian

  1. Wattstax, d. Mel Stuart, 1973

“A mere concert flick it’s not. ‘Wattstax’ not only documents the soul-titan concert held at L.A. Coliseum seven years after Watts burned, but illuminates the rue and kinesis of a city in full Black Power flower.” – Laura Sinagra, Village Voice

64 FEATURE FILMS

Six movie posters arranged in two rows of three. Top row, from left to right: 1. "Claudine" poster featuring illustrated portraits of a woman and a man with smaller images of people and a building below. The names James Earl Jones and Diahann Carroll appear at the top. 2. "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" poster showing a man in a dark hooded jacket standing against a blue industrial background. Forest Whitaker's name is at the top. 3. "12 Years a Slave" poster with a man running, dressed in period clothing, on a white background. The name Solomon Northup is highlighted in orange. Bottom row, from left to right: 1. "Naked Acts" poster featuring a woman in an orange patterned dress with arms crossed, set against an orange background with text. 2. "Killer of Sheep" poster in black and white showing four children sitting on a wall, with the title in large yellow letters. 3. "The Spook Who Sat by the Door" poster illustrated with a man holding a gun, with action scenes and explosions in the background. The title is in bold black letters on the left.
Six movie posters arranged in two rows of three: Top row, from left to right: 1. "Sidewalk Stories" - A man hugging a child, set against a bright orange background. 2. "Candyman" - A close-up of an eye with a bee on the lower eyelid and a shadowy figure reflected in the red iris. 3. "Fruitvale Station" - A man in a black beanie and jacket looking to the right, with a blurred subway station background. Bottom row, from left to right: 1. "Poetic Justice" - A woman with long braided hair and a hat, facing left against a blue background with handwritten text. 2. "Us" - Two faces of a woman, one with a tear and the other wearing a glove covering her mouth, set against a black background. 3. "The Forty-Year-Old Version" - A black-and-white profile of a woman with a headwrap and large gold earring shaped like the number 40, with the text "Find your own voice.
Six movie posters featuring African American leads: 1. "Inspector Ike" shows a smiling man in a purple suit holding a glass of champagne, with a camera and various characters in the background. 2. "Love Jones" features a close-up of a smiling couple embracing, with a smaller silhouette of them kissing below the title. 3. "Nickel Boys" depicts two young men looking up at the camera from a tiled floor, with a serious tone. 4. "In the Heat of the Night" shows a man in a suit holding a wooden stick, with shadowy figures and a car in the background. 5. "Cooley High" portrays two young men standing against a brick wall, one wearing glasses and a hat, the other in a letterman jacket. 6. "One False Move" features a close-up of a woman's face with curly hair, with a nighttime scene of police and people in the background.

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