2020: Banner Year For Black Women Directors
Despite COVID-19 forcing the shutdown of movie theaters nationwide, with limited capacity in others, and major studios scrambling to reschedule some of their big-budgeted films to 2021, it was still a record year for Black filmmakers especially Black Women Directors.
Not too long ago the number of theatrical releases by Black Women directors could be counted with two hands. In 2017, there were seven films and then that was considered a breaking record. Three years later, there were more than 15 films including features and documentaries that secured distribution deals that were shown in select theaters, virtual cinemas or via streaming platform.
Thanks to a worldwide pandemic, box-office receipts are at an all-time low and have leveled the playing field for studios and independent companies. Pre-COVID, independent films wouldn’t compete with the likes of a Tenet, Croods or Wonder Woman 1984, as these films would have dominated the big-screens.
This year things have changed the course of visibility for Black Women Directors and their works. It has always been a struggle to have their films viewed, screened at a festival and eventually selected to be shared with a wider audience. With the exception of Janizca Bravo’s Zola, all of the seven Sundance Film Festival submissions from BWDs in 2020 were acquired and released this year. Not to mention three of the top jury prizes at that festival were presented to Black women (Radha Blank, Garrett Bradley and Maïmouna Doucouré). Blank’s The 40-Year-Old Version won U.S. Dramatic competition prize. Bradley’s Time won in the U.S. Documentary competition and Doucouré’s Cuties won in the World Cinema Dramatic competition.
Bradley, Blank and Peoples also received nominations for the upcoming Gotham Awards while Melissa Haizlip received the Critics Choice Award for Best First Documentary Feature for her film Mr. Soul!
In speaking with Numa Perrier, who was the first Black woman director to have a film released in 2020 with Array’s Jezebel on Netflix, she stated the following: "In my career in Hollywood, for Black women, it's just been tremendous. You've got Channing Godfrey Peoples with Miss Juneteenth. You've got Radha Blank with 40-Year-Old-Version. The films that have come out this year are classics. They are films I've watched numerous times and that’s not something that I do...So this has been an extraordinary year. This fake ass totem pole of Hollywood is crumbling. That's one gift that this year of Black cinema has given us. The sky's the limit from here. We're very emboldened now. I really feel like the momentum is in a great place right now and we're not going to let it slow down.”
While this is a banner year, let’s hope that distribution deals for Black Women Directors don’t die with the pandemic. And while we have a come a long way since the days of Julie Dash, with immense talents such as Ava DuVernay, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Dee Rees and Amma Asante keeping the door open, there needs to be more to break it off its hinge.
Here’s a list of 2020 films from Black Women Directors
Jezebel - NUMA PERRIER - Netflix (Jan. 16)
The Photograph - STELLA MEGHIE - Universal (Feb. 14)
The Last Thing He Wanted - DEE REES - Netflix (Feb. 21)
Selah and the Spades - TAYARISHA POE - Amazon (April 17)
Becoming - NADIA HALLGREN - Netflix (May 6)
(In)visible Portraits - OGE EGBOUNU - Virtual Cinemas (June 19)
Miss Juneteenth - CHANNING GODREY PEOPLES - Vertical Entertainment (June 19)
John Lewis: Good Trouble - DAWN PORTER - Magnolia (July 3)
The Old Guard - GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD - Netflix (July 10)
The Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion - LISA CORTES and Farah Khalid (July 22)
Seriously Single - Katleho Ramaphakela, RETHABILE RAMAPHAKELA - Netflix (July 31)
Mr. Soul! - MELISSA HAIZLIP - virtual cinemas (August 28)
All In: The Fight For Democracy - LISA CORTES and Liz Garbus - Amazon (Sept. 9)
Cuties - MAIMOUNA DOUCOURE - Netflix (Sept. 9)
The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show - YORUBA RICHEN - Peacock (Sept. 10)
The Way I See It - DAWN PORTER - Focus Features (Sept. 18)
A Love Song For Latasha - SOPHIA NAHLI ALLISON - Netflix (Sept. 21)
The 40-Year-Version - RADHA BLANK - Netflix (Oct. 9)
Time - GARRETT BRADLEY - Amazon (Oct.9)
No Ordinary Love - CHYNA ROBINSON - Drive-In (Oct. 24)
Farewell Amor- EKWA MSANGI - IFC Films (Dec. 11)
Through The Night - LOIRA LIMBAL - Virtual Cinems (Dec. 11)
One Night In Miami - REGINA KING - Amazon (Dec. 25)