10 Rare Movies That Belong in the Black Film Canon

March 1, 2025 1

Every few years, a major publication compiles a list of important films to represent the Black film canon. Sometimes these lists are good, sometimes they’re great, and sometimes they seem like they’ve been written by AI (The Help as the No. 1 “Best Black Film of All Time” is insane).

But even when these lists are on point, they can still be, at least a little, predictable. To be clear, “predictable” doesn’t mean “bad.” There are only so many times you can list Do The Right Thing or Boyz N The Hood as important Black films. By now, it should be common knowledge that filmmakers like Spike Lee, John Singleton, Julie Dash and Robert Townsend have had an undeniable impact on modern cinema and popular culture, as evidenced by the awards they’ve won and their work becoming reference points for everyone from Beyonce to brands like Nike.

We will forever sing the praises of Hollywood Shuffle, Poetic Justice and Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song, but, as we celebrate Black History Month 2025, we must acknowledge that there’s room for some lesser-known movies and directors to get some shine too.

Twenty years ago it was difficult to see the films of Isaac Julien, Charles Lane and Bill Gunn, but thanks to various streaming services, film archivists like Maya S. Cade, and repertory theaters all over the world, semi-rare and hard-to-find films are easier than ever to come by — if you know where to look.

Here are some recommendations to help you start your Black cinema search.

‘Murder In Harlem’ (1935)

We know Tubi has a reputation for questionable original programming that can appear to be cheap and exploitative, but if you dig past Trap House (2023) and Red Flags (2022), you’ll find hundreds of classic and forgotten films waiting to be discovered. Murder In Harlem is one of them. Since we’re adding to and reassessing the canon, what better place to start than the earliest period of Black-directed features? Murder In Harlem is the story of a Black night watchman who is framed for the murder of a white woman — make sure to read up on the real trial of Leo Frank that served as the inspiration for the film.

The film’s director, Oscar Micheaux, is sometimes credited as the first Black filmmaker with over 40 films under his belt. More than half of his movies have been lost over the years due to neglect and improper preservation techniques, so the ones that have survived are important artifacts for showing post-Slavery/pre-Jim Crow Black life in America.

Watch it on YouTube or Tubi.

‘Dutchman’ (1967)

Contrary to what some critics might say about the post-Get Out era we’re in right now, the taboo of interracial relationships — specifically between Black men and white women — has been explored on film for decades in movies like Jungle Fever and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. Dutchman, based on the 1964 Amiri Baraka play, plays out like a minimalist yet more transgressive version of Get Out before Get Out existed. Now that films and television shows like Ma, Lovecraft Country, Alice and Antebellum have found an audience, perhaps it’s time to give this movie a proper reassessment.

Watch it on YouTube (while you can).

‘The Session’

While the Spike Lee-produced drama The Drop Squad may have missed the mark upon its initial release, its predecessor and early short film version; The Session, a lower budget version of Black militant fantasy, is pitch perfect.

For those who don’t remember, the “sellout” was a hot topic amongst Black people in the ‘90s. Spike Lee, Ice Cube, Public Enemy and other prominent culture critics always made a point to take jabs at the Black conservative or the self-hating Black person that distanced themselves from others that looked like them, but there hadn’t been anything that focused solely on the subject until the work of director David C. Johnson.

The basic premise is still there — a group of Black radicals kidnap “sellouts” in an effort to deprogram and reprogram brainwashed brothers and sisters in a controversial style similar to the techniques shown in Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. The difference between this version and the final version is that The Session is presented as a faux documentary with far more dark humor and cynicism than the more dramatic feature film version some of us are familiar with.

Fake documentaries like Spinal Tap were successful in the early ‘80s but they weren’t as common as they are today (The Office, Abbot Elementary, What We Do In The Shadows, etc). Perhaps The Session was ahead of its time?

Like Dutchman, The Session has been on YouTube for years and hasn’t been taken down. The only difference is that it’s broken up into six parts. But if you put the videos into a playlist and use the autoplay feature on YouTube, you can solve that problem.

Watch it on YouTube.

‘Bless Their Little Hearts’

The LA Rebellion was an unofficial film movement spearheaded by young Black filmmakers that studied at UCLA. Names like Charles Burnett (Killer Of Sheep and To Sleep With Anger) and Julie Dash (Daughters Of The Dust) are some of the biggest names to come out of that scene, but lesser acknowledged filmmakers like Billy Woodberry were just as important. Thanks to curators like Ashley Clark at the Criterion Channel, Woodberry’s films are now available to stream. Like Killer Of Sheep, Bless Their Little Hearts chronicles the day-to-day life of a group of residents in late ‘70s/early ‘80s Watts, California dealing with everything from depression and infidelity to unemployment and poverty. Not only do both films share the same cast of actors, but they essentially take place in the same cinematic universe. Burnett also served as cinematographer for Bless Their Little Hearts.

Watch on the Criterion Channel.

‘Sidewalk Stories’

Charles Lane’s feature debut is not only commentary on homelessness and drug addiction in post-Reagan-era America, but an homage to silent cinema — it’s a loose remake of Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid. While films like Jungle Fever and New Jack City certainly touched on drug addiction and poverty in the Black and Latino community in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, Lane dove in head first and didn’t sugarcoat anything. Without giving away too much, the final moments of the film are incredibly bleak.

Sidewalk Stories may be obscure to some, but it did go on to influence recent films like the academy award winning The Artist — director Michel Hazanavicius made a point to mention Lane during the press run for The Artist.

Watch it on Max with a subscription or YouTube.

‘Young Soul Rebels’

Isaac Julien’s story of two pirate DJs in 1970s London starts out as a coming of age tale and quickly morphs into a racially charged neo-noir/murder mystery when they come in possession of an audio recording of the murder of their queer friend. Beyond that, the beauty of this film is that it shows the cultural similarities between American Black people and European-based Black people.

Watch it on either the Criterion Channel or on Apple TV with a subscription.

‘Watermelon Woman’ (1996)

Before Cheryl Dunye became the go-to director for prestige Black television (Lovecraft Country, Queen Sugar, The Chi, Dear White People, etc), she was at the forefront of experimental American independent film in the ‘90s. Some of her features are still difficult to find but not her masterwork. Watermelon Woman is the story of an aspiring filmmaker/video store clerk consumed with researching the origins of the “mammy” stereotype. With references and homages to everyone from Melvin Van Peebles to Spike Lee – Watermelon Woman is both a well-crafted movie mixtape and the personal diary of a Black queer movie lover.

Watch it on the Criterion Channel with a subscription or for free via the Internet Archive.

‘Mulignans’ (2015)

Between the wonderful Newlyweeds and the Academy Award-winning Judas and The Black Messiah, director Shaka King crafted a string of wonderful short films that deserve just as much attention as his features. What so many filmmakers try to do in two hours, Shaka King manages to do masterfully in under five minutes in this darkly comical race role reversal about gentrification in Brooklyn. While some of the topics in this film are very specific to Brooklyn/New York City, this can be enjoyed and appreciated by anyone with a sense of humor and an understanding of displacement.

Watch it on Vimeo or YouTube.

‘The Inheritance’ (2020)

The story of a group of Pan-Africanists in West Philadelphia that set out to make their own isolated community collective away from the rest of the world sounds very niche and specific, but this movie touches on issues like white supremacy, separatism, gun ownership and control, the creation of art, activism, the deconstruction of traditional education, and more — a big part of this film’s identity is connected to the Move bombing that took place in Philadelphia four decades ago. The story of The Inheritance may sound like it was made for a very niche audience within a subgenre of people, but I honestly believe it can be appreciated by anyone. With direct references to everything from the French New Wave to The Spook Who Sat By The Door, this film is, in my opinion, one of the best and most original works of the decade so far.

Watch it on Amazon Prime or AppleTV with a subscription.

‘Personal Problems’ (1980)

Personal Problems is the epitome of DIY filmmaking. Instead of waiting for the standard equipment and the right budget, actor/writer/director Bill Gunn grabbed a secondhand digital video camera and just made a film. He didn’t let a lack of resources stop him from creating. While there is a plot to this epic three-hour family drama (the two-act film centers on a Black family living in Harlem burdened by the unexpected arrival of their dysfunctional extended family), Personal Problems is really about the banalities and authentic qualities that you don’t always see in most modern films about Black Americans. The audio is far from perfect, some of the dialogue is improvised, and the visuals are quite grainy, but that just adds to the film’s textured charm.

Watch it on The Black Film Archive and purchase it on Blu-Ray via Kino Lorber.

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