10 Must-See African-American Films

Black Panther

Release Date 2018

Rating : 7.3 Production Companies: Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Pictures Director: Dawn Gilliam, Andy Gill, Darrin Prescott Stars: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o

Summary: King T'Challa returns home to the reclusive, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as his country's new leader. However, T'Challa soon finds that he is challenged for the throne by factions within his own country as well as without. Using powers reserved to Wakandan kings, T'Challa assumes the Black Panther mantle to join with ex-girlfriend Nakia, the queen-mother, his princess-kid sister, members of the Dora Milaje (the Wakandan 'special forces') and an American secret agent, to prevent Wakanda from being dragged into a world war.

BlacKkKlansman

Release Date 2018

Rating : 7.5 Production Companies: Blumhouse Productions, QC Entertainment Director: Spike Lee, Alexandra Torterotot, Christina Ann Walker Stars: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Topher Grace

Summary: Colorado Springs, late 1970s. Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer, and Flip Zimmerman, his Jewish colleague, run an undercover operation to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.

Hoop Dreams

Release Date 1994

Rating : 8.3 Production Companies: Fine Line Features, Kartemquin Films Director: Steve James Stars: William Gates, Arthur Agee, Gene Pingatore

Summary: Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominately white suburban school well-known for the excellence of its basketball program. Gates and Agee dream of NBA stardom, and with the support of their close-knit families, they battle the social and physical obstacles that stand in their way. This acclaimed documentary was shot over the course of five years.

Eve's Bayou

Release Date 1997

Rating : 7.2 Production Companies: Trimark Pictures, Addis Wechsler Pictures Director: Kasi Lemmons, Noel Dawkins Stars: Jurnee Smollett, Meagan Good, Samuel L. Jackson

Summary: Summer heats up in rural Louisiana beside Eve’s Bayou, 1962, as the Batiste family tries to survive the secrets they’ve kept and the betrayals they’ve endured.

Precious

Release Date 2009

Rating : 7.3 Production Companies: Smokewood Entertainment Group Director: Lee Daniels Stars: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton

Summary: Set in Harlem in 1987, Claireece "Precious" Jones is a 16-year-old African American girl born into a life no one would want. She's pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother, an angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is chaotic and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and a secret; She can't read.

Do the Right Thing

Release Date 1989

Rating : 8 Production Companies: 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, Universal Pictures Director: Spike Lee, Christopher Lopez, Randy Fletcher Stars: Danny Aiello, Spike Lee, Ossie Davis

Summary: Salvatore "Sal" Fragione is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out, becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria's Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors. Buggin' Out believes a pizzeria in a black neighborhood should showcase black actors, but Sal disagrees. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to Buggin' Out and to other people in the neighborhood, and tensions rise.

The Pursuit of Happyness

Release Date 2006

Rating : 8 Production Companies: Escape Artists, Relativity Media Director: Michael Viglietta, Lars P. Winther, Carol DePasquale Stars: Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Thandiwe Newton

Summary: A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career.

Ali

Release Date 2001

Rating : 6.7 Production Companies: Columbia Pictures Corporation, Columbia Pictures Director: Jody Spilkoman, Michael Mann Stars: Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Jon Voight

Summary: In 1964, a brash, new pro boxer, fresh from his Olympic gold medal victory, explodes onto the scene: Cassius Clay. Bold and outspoken, he cuts an entirely new image for African Americans in sport with his proud public self-confidence and his unapologetic belief that he is the greatest boxer of all time. Yet at the top of his game, both Ali's personal and professional lives face the ultimate test.

Django Unchained

Release Date 2012

Rating : 8.5 Production Companies: Columbia Pictures, The Weinstein Company Director: Martin Kitrosser, Greg Hale, Quentin Tarantino Stars: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio

Summary: With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.

Moonlight

Release Date 2016

Rating : 7.4 Production Companies: Plan B Entertainment, Upload Films Director: Melinda Taksen, Laura Pinto, Roger Mendoza Stars: Trevante Rhodes, André Holland, Janelle Monáe

Summary: The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.