“Just saw the BUTLER rough cut for the first time with @LennyKravitz and director leedaniels,” media maven Oprah Winfrey tweeted on June 1.
The CEO of OWN — who stars in the film based on the life of a man who served as butler to eight U.S. presidents — added a special note to audiences on the Instagram image accompanying the tweet: “Can’t wait for you all the see it. #theBUTLER.”
While she may be biased towards her own star vehicle, Winfrey is hardly the only person excited for Precious director Lee Daniel’s latest opus. The Butler, which features Forest Whitaker in the title role, is part of a coming crop of African-American films that movie critics are hailing as a stellar season for black filmmakers.
Black films make a big comeback
With nearly a dozen African-American-related pictures slated for release in the coming months, the diverse offerings look refreshing compared to previous years filled with family-oriented romantic comedies, Tyler Perry-produced features, or worse few black films at all.
Not that there’s anything wrong with Tyler Perry. What is being celebrated by industry watchers is the scope, breadth, and variety of films in the black genre on tap, and the number that will likely be serious Oscar contenders.
The large number of African-American films being released this year comes, as The New York Times points out in a recent feature, after “years of complaint about the lack of prominent movies by and about black Americans.”
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American Black Film Festival: A first look at new films
“Black filmmakers say the wave of 2013 releases was built in large part on the creativity that has flourished on the independent-film circuit,” the Times continues.
Events such as the American Black Film Festival (ABFF) have long been part of this network that nourishes black filmmakers. Many of the coming films will be first viewed by the public at ABFF.
In addition to the Sundance Film Festival favorite Fruitvale Station, the lineup of films screening at ABFF starting on June 19 in Miami sheds light on the wide scope of issues being tackled by modern black filmmakers.
Beyond the festival, upcoming historical dramas The Butler and Mandela, and the holiday film Black Nativity also highlight the range of black films in the works.
Those behind the scenes attest to the renewed opportunities that have fueled these projects, and the hope that this trend will continue.
Praising the uptick in quality African-American films
“The only way we can break down these barriers is to continue making movies, to keep pushing, to keep trying,” George Tillman, Jr., director of ABFF’s opening night movie, The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete, told theGrio.
Tillman’s film portrays the challenges of youths surviving in an area of Brooklyn untouched by gentrification. By contrast, the ABFF will close with Kevin Hart’s new comedy documentary, Let Me Explain, shot during his tour stop at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
Fruitvale Station address institutional racism and police violence. Playin’ for Love, Robert Townsend’s basketball-themed romantic comedy; Full Circle, about a drug deal gone bad; and Home, focusing on mental illness, all demonstrate how distinct this boon of films is.
Focusing on the African-American filmmaker
ABFF Founder and CEO Jeff Friday told theGrio that the emphasis this year is less on marketing and selling movies for the festival, and more on spotlighting the ingenuity of these filmmakers.
“We really are now doing things that we can control, and focusing more on developing individuals, and finding opportunities for those individuals’ talent to be showcased,” he explained.
Given the breadth of films at ABFF, as well as those in theatrical release, Friday says it’s definitely a comeback year for black cinema, and a throwback to the “glory days” of the ’90s.
“I know how we got away from it, I’m not sure why we came back,” Friday said.
Friday’s office recently did a study of African-American movies over the years, discovering that black films and artists thrived in the mid-90s when directors like Townsend, Spike Lee, and John Singleton were in their heyday.
At around the year 2000, they declined.
Reviving the fervor of the ’90s
“I say this in a jest, but the black community kind of took [the ’90s] for granted,” he admitted. “What happened in 2000, studios shifted their focus away from niche movies… Now, you don’t move [you’re] stock price until you’ve had an Iron Man or a Star Trek. People think it’s attributed to race, but that’s not true. Hollywood, I don’t think they sit around and plot against us, like, ‘Let’s put out two black films a year.’ I don’t think they do it. It’s driven by money.”
As Friday’s study further found, even the most iconic black films of all time often tapped out at $35 million in box office earnings, a mere pittance by Hollywood standards, even if that might be a handsome return for an independent film.
He found the exception to the rule, of course, was Tyler Perry.
“If Tyler Perry was happening in the mid-90s when Love Jones came out,” Friday observed, “we wouldn’t be focusing [on him] so much. He would just be one of 15.”
Today, part of Perry’s power is that he can bring in the big numbers, something with which other filmmakers, especially unproven ones, have had to contend.
The struggle for black filmmakers persists
Tillman’s movie stars a top-tier cast including Anthony Mackie, Jeffrey Wright, Jennifer Hudson and Jordin Sparks. It was produced by singer Alicia Keys among other influencers.
Despite Tillman’s reputable players, the 44-year-old director said it took three years to get this independent project off the ground. It was only possible through outside funding, bucking the Hollywood system.
“I went around to all the studios,” Tillman recalled. “They showed interest in the material, interest in the script, but it came down to [the question]: Who wants to see a film about a 13-year-old black kid surviving with an 8-year-old Asian kid?”
After spinning his wheels and exhausting sources, Tillman looked outside Hollywood to find people who believed in his story, and wanted to see something different on screen. He was then able to produce the movie, and later sold it to studio distributors at the Sundance festival.
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