American Black Film Festival showcases the latest black cinema renaissance: 'Fruitvale Station,' and more

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Will this renaissance continue?

Accordingly, Tillman is not convinced that black films will continue to be produced in vivid varieties moving forward. Tillman has watched the momentum of African-American film production rise and fall in the past, and anticipates that his current project, a Miles Davis biopic, will be difficult to greenlight.

“In Hollywood, they only make certain films. They have to be comedies or action for African-Americans,” Tillman feels. “With films that tell the very harsh realities, sometimes those are very tough to get going.”

When there isn’t interest or funding from studios, black filmmakers are seeking money from unique sources.

A black, lesbian filmmaker finds creative funding

Filmmaker Yoruba Richen’s upcoming documentary The New Black, which chronicles the acceptance of homosexuality in the black community, was made almost entirely from grants. She says she was able to find support quickly.

“There’s always a challenge, but there was a feeling when I told people and funders that they were excited to see a film like this get made, really delving into the issues attacking race and sexuality in a way that hasn’t been done before,” Richen told theGrio.

Airing on PBS later this year and in festivals, The New Black explores the role of the black church in both dissuading and promoting homophobia, and the challenge of pursuing gay rights politically while many feel other matters are more pressing. Targeted primarily at the African-American, LGBT, and faith communities, Richen believes a larger audience will appreciate the debate and sentiment of her film. More importantly, it’s about giving projects with exceptional storylines a chance.

“We, as artists in whatever field, are trying to makes stories that are not being made and funded at the same rate,” she remarked. “We’re always going to be categorized, and we’re always going to be colorized in that way. That hasn’t stopped black filmmakers certainly. We know the situation that we’re in.”

Question: Should great films be labelled “black”?

Experts agree that the anticipated success of these African-American films is a major milestone, but will defining these films as “black” hurt their reception? Their success at the box office is critical to seeing this trend of proliferating black films continue.

“I don’t take shame in defining a film that way,” Friday said. “In this country, niche things, niche organizations, niche universities support different segments of our population.”

Friday feels the audience for black films will always be predominately African-American, and referenced a BET study, which found that African-American moviegoers consume all types of movies, unlike other audiences.

“I just don’t think in 2013 we’ll see nonblack people going to see these films at a higher rate than they were in the 90’s,” he said. “There’s always the anomaly. We’re talking about across the board. Precious, for example, had a broader audience because of the accolades it got within the industry. That’s a different thing. In fact, the industry accolades might drive more nonblack audiences than black audiences because I think nonblacks are more influenced by reviews than blacks.”

Gil Robertson, author and president of the African-American Film Critics Association, does, however, see repercussions in unnecessary labeling.

“It really does hurt black cinema commercially-speaking when a film is labeled a black movie,” he observed. “If you don’t feel a close identification to the urban market or to black culture, then you’ll somehow feel that film is not one that you should be watching.”

Basking in the moment of black film ascendance

Tillman says he’s achieved general appeal with his films by selecting stories that support black issues and black characters, yet carry a common truth.

“I try to tell stories that are very specific, but very universal at the same time,” Tillman said. “So, there shouldn’t be any labels.”

For Tilane Jones, producer of director Ava DuVernay’s Middle of Nowhere, Black Girls Rock, and the new ESPN documentary Nine for IX, debating semantics distracts from the positive times at hand.

“Any film by a black director seeing the light of day in theaters is significant and worthy of discussion in my book,” she told theGrio. “Ten films by black directors seeing the light of day in theaters within six months is very much worthy of press coverage, worthy of community awareness, worthy of industry awareness, worthy of our collective attention.”

Follow Courtney Garcia on Twitter at @courtgarcia