Films For Your Black History Month Viewing Pleasure

We’ve made it to another Black History Month and the celebration is in full swing. While we regularly drop gems in support of Black culture, this week we’ve curated a watchlist just for# BHM because Black history truly is American history.

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Several platforms have stepped into the inclusion bubble, providing Black History Month titles that perfectly fit in with celebrating our history and culture. Netflix’s Black Lives Matter genre boasts a number of films and documentaries about racial injustice and the experience of the Black American while Prime Video is promoting its “Black Is Remarkable” theme with an 8-episode Black History Month series exploring historical milestones made by African Americans.

Comcast Xfinity is celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Black Experience on Xfinity, which has funded more than 25 Black creators and organizations on and off the screen. The Black Experience channel features the largest curated independent Black film collection on demand.

Source: Leon Bennett / Getty

Comcast NBCUniversal is celebrating with plans to offer $1M in the form of ten $100K grants to emerging Black filmmakers and BET has 28 original programs featuring current HBCU students titled “BLACK ICONS – Past, Present, Future”, new documentaries “Black + Iconic: Style Gods,” and a new primetime newsmagazine, “America in Black.”

There’s tons of BHM programming for your viewing pleasure, keep reading for some top picks.

The Black Beauty Effect

The Black Beauty Effect stars some of the beauty industry’s biggest names including actress Meagan Good, actress/singer Amber Riley, beauty influencers and EPs Jackie Aina and Kahlana Barfield Brown, industry titans Whitney White, Mikki Taylor, Cara Sabin, Esi Eggleston Bracey, Sam Fine, Amber Riley, Elaine Welteroth, Jessica Cruel, Kayla Greaves, Sir John, and Shalom Blac who discuss three key aspects of beauty – makeup, hair, and skin – from a Black perspective.

Executive-produced by Barfield-Brown, Aina, and Keesha Boyd and created by Andrea Lewis, the series focuses on as it features candid conversations and expertise from beauty editors, celebrity makeup artists, and brand executives about the industry’s perception of beauty.

The 3-part story is available for streaming on Xfinity and XUMO.

You People

Lauren London, Eddie Murphy, and Jonah Hill star in this pop culture rom-com about an unlikely couple who struggle to navigate love in an interracial relationship. The film aired on January 27th on Netflix.

13TH

Ava DuVernay’s eye-opening documentary 13TH refers to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Shocking archival footage and firsthand accounts of activists, politicians, historians, and formerly incarcerated women and men make this a BHM must-see. You can stream 13TH on Netflix.

Sylvie’s Love

Tessa Thompson and Nnamdi Asomugha star in this 1950s romance film about a young woman who meets an aspiring saxophonist in her father’s record store, and the love story that follows. Sylvie’s Love is available for streaming on Amazon.

Seven Seconds

Seven Seconds finds Regina King as a grieving mother, whose teenage son was killed by police as he rode his bicycle home in the New York snow. The film touches on the failure of a system that murdered a young black male, then proceeded to cover it up in lieu of justice. Stream Seven Seconds on Netflix.

Passing

Passing tells the story of two Black women, Irene Redfield (Tessa Thompson) and Clare Kendry (Academy Award nominee Ruth Negga), who can “pass” as white but choose to live on opposite sides of the color line during the height of the Harlem Renaissance in late 1920s New York. Based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Nella Larsen, Passing can be streamed on Netflix.

Colin In Black & White

Colin In Black and White details the coming-of-age story of Colin Kaepernick’s high school years. The athlete-turned-activist joined Jaden Michaels to tell the story of how growing up biracial in a white household taught him more about himself than he could have ever imagined. Watch Colin in Black & White on Netflix.

Becoming

Becoming is an intimate look into the life of Forever FLOTUS Michelle Obama. The 1-hour 29-minute film started streaming on Netflix on May 6, 2020.

Which films do you plan to catch this month?