#OscarsSoWhite – Watch 100 films made by #POC

January 17, 2015

Creed dir. Ryan Coogler 2015

#AllWhiteOscar was a hashtag in 2015 because of the snubs to films made by and about People of Color (POC).

The Oscar nominations have been announced, and again and history repeats itself with #OscarsSoWhite as the hashtag for 2016. My hope is that Chris Rock launches a blistering comedic routine when he hosts this years ceremony.

How can we all be positive about this?

We can do something that is in our control right now and watch films made by POC. We can protest AS WELL AS support filmmakers by watching the work when it comes to our cinemas. We can demand the films are shown in cinemas/Netflix/TV. We can demand the work is easy to access. We can also share the filmmakers’ work on social media rather than helping Hollywood market their mainstream films on social media, when they already have huge PR budgets and media exposure anyway. Follow filmmakers on social media and engage with them and their work.

I made a quick list of feature length films both historical and contemporary, experimental and narrative, documentary and fiction. The list of POC filmmakers is intersectional and so includes women/men/and LGBTQ people. The films are not in any particular order of quality or importance. Please also check out the other films made by the filmmakers as well. Please do add more films in the comments, I would love to hear your thoughts on the list.

Creed 2015 dir. Ryan Coogler
Selma 2014 dir. Ava DuVernay
Dry White Season 1989 dir. Euzhan Palcy
The Watermelon Woman 1996 dir Cheryl Dunye
Daughters of the Dust 1991 dir.Julie Dash
Go Fish 1994 dir. Rose Troche
Beasts of No Nation 2015 dir Cary Joji Fukunaga
Bend it Like Beckham 2002 dir. Gurinder Chadha
Bessie 2015 dir. Dee Rees
Yaaba 1989 dir. Idrissa Ouedraogo
Stranger Inside 2001 dir. Cheryl Dunye
Baldwin’s Nigger 1968 dir. Horace Ove
Alma’s Rainbow 1994 dir. Ayoka Chenzira
Car Wash 1976 dir. Michael Schultz
Appropriate Behavior 2014 dir. Desiree Akhavan
Shaft 1971 dir. Gordon Parks
B for Boy 2013 dir. Chika Anadu
Belle 2013 dir. Amma Asante
Beyond the Lights 2014 dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood
Where Do We Go Now? 2011 dir. Nadine Labaki
Circumstance 2011 dir. Maryam Keshavarz
Eve’s Bayou 1997 dir. Kasi Lemmons
Dear White People 2014 dir. Justin Simien
Fire 1996 dir. Deepa Mehta
Mississippi Masala 1991 dir. Mira Nair
Gun Hill Road 2011 dir. Rashaad Ernesto Green
Picture Bride 1994 dir. Kayo Hatta
Second Coming 2014 dir. Debbie Tucker Green
Rue Cases-Negre/ Black Shack Alley 1983 dir. by Euzhan Palcy
Half of a Yellow Sun 2013 dir. Biyi Bandele
Their Eyes Were Watching God 2005 dir. Darnell Martin
Something Necessary 2013 dir. Judy Kibinge
Just Another Girl on the I.R.T 1992 dir. Leslie Harris
Wadjda 2012 dir. Haifaa Al-Mansour
Yelling to the Sky 2011 dir. Victoria Mahoney
The Wedding Banquet 1994 dir. Ang Lee
A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde 1995 dir Michelle Parkerson
Middle of Nowhere 2012 dir. Ava DuVernay
Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl 1998 dir. by Joan Chen
Woman Thou Art Loosed: On The 7th Day 2012 dir. Neema Barnette
The Secret Life of Bees 2008 dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood
Set it Off 1996 dir. F Gary Gray
Fruitvale Station 2013 dir. Ryan Coogler
Black Girl 1966 dir Ousmane Sembene
Fifty 2015 dir. Biyi Bandele
I Like it Like That 1994 dir. Darnell Martin
Facing Mirrors 2011 dir. Negar Azarbayjani
The Kite 2003 dir. Randa Chahal Sabag
Night Catches Us 2010 dir. Tanya Hamilton
Ethan Mao 2004 dir. Quentin Lee
Handsworth Songs dir. 1987 John Akomfrah
Malcolm X 1992 dir. Spike Lee
Still the Water 2014 dir. Naomi Kawase
Something New 2006 dir. Sanaa Hamri
Restless City 2011 dir Andrew Dosumnu
Looking for Langston 1989 dir Isaac Julien
I Will Follow 2010 dir. Ava DuVernay
Viva Riva! 2010 dir. Djo Munga
Necktie Youth 2015 dir. Sibs Shongwe-La Mer
Vigilante – The Crossing 2015 dir. Marcia Weekes
Saving Face 2004 dir. Alice Wu
Elza 2011 dir. Mariette Montpierre
Brokeback Mountain 2005 dir. Ang Lee
Let’s Love Hong Kong 2002 dir. Yau Ching
Mississippi Damned 2009 dir. Tina Mabry
D.E.B.S 2004 dir Angela Robinson
Kaddy Beykat 1976 dir. Safi Faye
Children of God 2010 dir. Kareem Mortimer
Treeless Mountain 2008 dir. So-yong Kim
Margarita, With a Straw 2015 dir. Shonali Bose & Nilesh Maniyar
Big Gay Love 2013 dir. Ringo Le
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara 2011 dir. Zoya Akhtar
The Stuart Hall Project 2013 dir. John Akomfrah
Tongues Untied 1989 dir. Marlon Riggs
Drylongso 1998 dir. Cauleen Smith
Double Happiness 1994 dir. Mina Shum
Girlfight 2000 dir. Karyn Kusama
Living With Pride – Ruth Ellis @ 100 1999 dir Yvonne Welbon
Advantageous dir. 2015 Jennifer Phang
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night 2014 dir. Ana Lily Amirpour
A Different Image dir. 1982 Alile Sharon Larkin
Kingston Paradise 2012 dir Mary Wells
Karmen Gei 2001 dir Joseph Gai Ramaka
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One 1968 dir William Greaves
Yeelen 1987 dir. Souleymane Cissé
From a Whisper 2009 dir. Wanuri Kahiu
Zamizanga 1972 dir. Sarah Maldoror
Pariah 2011 dir. Dee Rees
Alice Walker – Beauty in Truth 2013 dir. Pratibha Parmar
The New Black 2013 dir Yoruba Richen
Brother to Brother dir. 2004 Rodney Evans
Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song 1971 dir. Melvin Van Peebles
Killer of Sheep 1978 dir Charles Burnett
Boyz n The Hood 1991 dir John Singleton
A Girl At My Door 2014 dir. July Jung
Devil in a Blue Dress 1995 dir. Carl Franklin
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution 2015 dir. Stanley Nelson Jr
Searching for Sugar Man 2012 dir. Malik Bendjelloul
Gone Too Far 2013 dir. Destiny Ekaragha
Our Homeland 2012 dir. Yong-hi Yang