i just found out that hidden figures was directed by a white guy, which is sort of disappointing. i was wondering if you could recommend some cool directors who are black women? (besides ava duvernay and regina king) thank you!!
Oh thank you for this great question! There are more amazing directors who are black women working than ever before and they really don't get enough love:
My modern indie darlings:
Victoria Mahoney director of Yelling to the Sky , Channing Godfrey Peoples (who did the underrated and beautiful Miss Juneteenth), Shatara Michelle Ford director of Test Pattern (this really tiny and powerful indie that really blew me away recently). Garrett Bradley who works in documentaries and whose movie Time was nominated for an Oscar, Mati Diop (Atlantics).
More mainstream directors:
Dee Rees (Pariah, Mudbound and Bessie are all excellent), Stella Meghie who has been called a black Nancy Meyers. Really loved her debut Jean of the Joneses, Amma Asante (who did Belle, duh). Gina Prince-Bythewood (all her movies are great but I particularly love Beyond the Lights), Angela Robinson (D.E.B.S. is great! Watch D.E.B.S.)
Older directors and by older I mean women who directed movies pre- 2000, most of these women are still alive and not that old:
Safi Faye (her movies are really hard to track down but if you can find it Mossane is beautiful), Kathleen Collins (Losing Ground, the background of how this movie was lost and then "found" is worthy of a movie itself), Julie Dash (Daughters of the Dust), Cheryl Dunye (The Watermelon Woman, a cinema lover's dream of a movie), Kasi Lemmons (Eve's Bayou), Leslie Harris (Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.), Darnell Martin (I Like It Like That).
Anyway these are just a few to get you started, I'm sure I forgot a ton of great ones. Support black women in film! So many gems that will blow your mind!
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