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Favorite Films from Filmmakers of Color

By Saleem Gondal

It’s easy to go online and find the favorite films of famous directors. But how often do you see the names of directors of color on those lists? Look below for a curated list of the favorite films of directors of color working today!

Michael Jai White: Black Dynamite Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) dir. Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones “There are influences in this film that caused me to write Black Dynamite. I don’t think I’ve seen a movie as physically and mentally funny with the brilliance of satire and political humor underneath it.”

Andrew Ahn: Spa Night Late Spring (1949) dir. Yasujiro Ozu “This is a film of startling humanity. Ozu is so honest and generous with us; he communicates without guise or flourish. He shows us what it means to be human in the most direct yet gentle way. He gives us the opportunity to sit with them. We join them in quiet communion. This will always be my favorite film.”

Ana Lily Amirpour: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night Antichrist (2009) dir. Lars von Trier When this came out, the hysteria over the clit-scissors scene was all I heard about, and when I watched the film, that was the least shocking thing for me. It’s comforting when someone else’s darkness mirrors your own. Lars is brave with how intimate he is in his films. He goes off and says things that get him in trouble, and his bravery gets overshadowed. This is one of my top-five favorite films of all time.

Mira Nair: Queen of Katwe, Monsoon Wedding, Mississippi Masala The Battle of Algiers (1966) dir. Gillo Pontecorvo “They completely captured the raggedy edges of what protest is really like. You know, where there’s a wave of people and then there’s nothing, and then there’s more. It’s not like so many of those movies  one sees where you paid for 2000 extras and god damn it, you’re going to show 2000 extras.”

Karyn Kusama: Girlfight, Jennifer’s Body, The Invitation Elephant Man (1980) dir. David Lynch “Though perhaps an outlier in Lynch’s seminal body of work, this film reveals the depth of his humanity and the care with which he attends to all matters of the tragic, the pitiable, and the grotesque. Lynch demands that we align ourselves with the deformed John Merrick, and in bringing the audience so close to the agony of being this man, we approach the same exquisite, unexpected grace that Merrick experiences. Misunderstood and reviled, ridiculed and feared — this is the terrible humanity that Lynch dares to reveal in all of us. We should be grateful for a statement of such compassion and hope.”

Spike Lee: Do The Right Thing, Malcolm X, Chiraq On the Waterfront (1954) dir. Elia Kazan “Because of the acting, the story, the dialogue, the score by Leonard Bernstein.”

Riz Ahmed: Post 9/11 Blues, The Night of (actor) La Haine (1995) dir. Mathieu Kassovitz “This French film bristles with authenticity and realism yet offers such a honed and composed vision. It’s probably my favorite film ever. Dangerous, hilarious, bold, game-changing.”

Gina Prince-Bythewood: Love and Basketball, Beyond the Lights Hoop Dreams (1994) dir. Steve James “A documentary that doesn’t feel like a documentary. What’s amazing is if you had scripted it the way it happened people wouldn’t buy it and wouldn’t believe it. It was so beautifully done and changed the game in terms of documentaries in making them more commercial and giving them a bigger platform than they had prior.”

Alejandro González Iñárritu: Birdman, The Revenant Melody (1971) dir. Waris Hussein “When I was a kid, it really striked me. It was one of the films that opened my soul.”

Ava Duvernay: Selma, The 13th, Middle of Nowhere Ashes and Embers (1982) dir. Haile Gerima Ashes and Embers follows an African-American Vietnam veteran wrestling with a turbulent past and a chaotic political climate to make a future for himself. There’s no record online of exactly why it’s her favorite, so we’ll just have to catch this film ourselves to find out why.