Hi Geena,
Do you have any recommendations for shows and/or movies that center Black queer joy (most importantly have Black queer writers and directors)?
Hey, there.
I have a few recommendations, but they're likely media you've seen before (you tell me) as they're often recommended. Also, also: Films like Pariah and Moonlight are more in my wheelhouse, so I feel unqualified here.
Off the top of my head, Rafiki and The Watermelon Woman are the closest films that come to being explicitly unconcerned with angst and are most slice-of-life. Both directors and writers are African women - Black American (Cheryl Dunne, Lesbian) and Kenyan (Wanuri Kahiu, unknown).
A television show in that neighborhood is the CW's Black Lightning. It's a Black ensemble series based on DC Comics characters. One lead (Anissa Pierce) is a lesbian (with lightning based powers and superhuman strength) who goes through multiple relationships with other Black women (casual, long-term, etc.) before settling down with a woman named Grace Choi, a shapeshifter.
From my recollection, its writers and directors ranged from Black, non-Black, and white. Salim Akil is the showrunner, and Mara Brock Akil is (IIRC) the only Black executive producer. Neither are queer, however. It has its moments, but it's a budget TV show at the end of the day, and super corny. It strives to be Black in a way that the other CW shows avoided. But the show is about Anissa's father, and while she's no slouch in the lead/story department, her identity and relationships are secondary to that.
A show I've never been able to find is Noah's Arc. That's the one explicitly Black gay series everyone brings up as an example of the disparity in (mainstream) LGBT+ media. Considering its age, it's bound to be as "of-its-time" as something like The L Word, so YMMV. The creator, Patrik-Ian Polk (a gay man), also wrote and directed a comedy called Punks in 2000.
There was Courthouse, a 90s procedural drama that starred Jennifer Lewis and Cree Summer as a lesbian couple with children. I know Gina-Prince Bythewood (The Old Guard, Love & Basketball) was a writer for an episode on the series. But this is also a series I can't find online to watch, and I don't think it ever got a physical DVD release. And a white woman also created it, one who was involved in creating Superman: The Adventures of Lois & Clark. It was cancelled after eleven episodes (two went unaired).
I wish I could be more helpful, but at best I can recommend Letterboxd lists and articles I'm still going through.
Letterboxd Lists I can Recommend
Black Life on Film (LGBTQ)
Every Black Queer Film I Can Find In Chronological Order (history, archive)
woc in lesbian media
Articles I can Recommend
20 Must-Watch Black Queer Films to Celebrate Pride Month
22 Black LGBTQ+ Films That Deserve Your Attention
Black Alphabet: Black LGBTQ+ Films - Black Queer Cinema Database
And, no worries about sending the ask to my main blog. I would answer either way.