What is Film Noir? These and other intriguing questions are explored in Justin Simien’s new documentary, Hollywood Black

What is a black film? How will we comprehend it is a black film? These are slippery questions that belie Dr. Umar’s simplicity about what is and is not black. Is it a black film since it is a story about black characters with black actors? OK, but what if that story about black characters is directed by a white person?Wizard” is a decidedly black story that has a very African-American touch to it. But the director is the good Sidney Lumet, who was white.Violet color” (1995) and “Soldier’s Story” tell deeply African-American stories, but they, too, were directed by white men — Steven Spielberg and Norman Jewison. What about Quentin Tarantino’s film “Jackie Brown”? Even though it was released in 1997, it is essentially a blaxploitation film. But what in regards to the sensible film “Shame” by British legend Steve McQueen? It has no predominant black characters, however the director is a black man.

This query and many more are a part of a captivating new documentary series on the history of black cinema on MGM+ titled “Black Hollywood” by director Justin Simien, best known for steering “Dear White People.” Premiering Sunday, August 11, Simien takes us through an encyclopedic vision of black cinema from “The Birth of a Nation” to Jordan Peele’s complex movies. Simien argues that whoever controls cinema controls history, and the ability to make movies is the ability to liberate. When we take into consideration how moving images can shape the way in which people perceive society, we all know that there have been movies which have contributed to our oppression by highlighting anti-Black stereotypes, and there are movies which have contributed to our liberation by making us look amazing.

Simien interviews a who’s who of black cinema giants like Ava DuVernay, Ryan Coogler, Reggie Hudlin, Forest Whitaker, Issa Rae, Giancarlo Esposito, Lena Waithe and more. Together, they work through the genius of Hattie McDaniel, the brilliance of the 1968 documentary “Symbiopsychotacplasma“William Greaves and the Meaning of the 1978 Film”Sheep Killer” by Charles Burnett. This is a deep dive into the history of film noir.

People who know Hollywood’s relationship with black creators often debate a central query: Are we in or out now? As in, are we hot or cold? One of the central questions of “Hollywood Black” is: Are we cyclical or a part of the firmament? Hollywood tends to like black creators for some time and then ignore them. Every boom makes it look like, OK, this time we’re finally a part of the material of this place. And then the energy around black movies evaporates.

In the early and mid-Nineteen Seventies, the Blaxploitation explosion led to lots of black-led movies. By the tip of the last decade, the wave had ended. Black cinema took a step forward in the mid-to-late Nineteen Eighties, when Spike Lee, John Singleton, the Hughes brothers, and others were making hot movies. That boom, too, has waned. In recent years, it gave the impression of we finally made it. From 2016 to 2018, we saw the Oscar-winning “Moonlight“Barry Jenkins, box office champion”Black Panther“by Ryan Coogler, “Get off“by Jordan Peele, “Sorry for disturbing you” by Boots Riley and the large success of Ava DuVernay, Issa Rae, Lena Waithe and others. It looked like this was greater than just one other boom. We were in for good. Right?

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Simien says no. He says that moment is over and now it’s almost unimaginable to do anything unless it is a sequel. It’s back to the drafting board. Anyone hoping to hitch this industry and make black movies needs to be careful. Sometimes Hollywood loves us, and sometimes we are the forgotten stepchild. Your profession will rise and fall based on things that don’t have anything to do with the standard of your work. But as a option to understand what is going on on, watch “Hollywood Black,” an epic history of this epic thing called black cinema.