If you are searching for unique Black History Month film programming options, look no further than Kanopy, a unique streaming service that offers thousands of films through your public library or university. Kanopy is home to a wide range of narrative films, documentaries, and interviews that explore Black lives in the United States and Canada.
Users can search Kanopy’s extensive selection of films, documentaries, and classic films relevant to Black History Month. These titles are sorted by categories like African American cinema, history, major figures, current events, and Blaxploitation. Patrons and students can use this incredible free streaming collection to learn more about African American leaders, civil rights, and other significant aspects of the Black American and Canadian experience. This list includes five examples of the diverse narrative films and documentaries offered by Kanopy.
Subjects of Desire
Subjects of Desire (2021) is an incredibly relevant documentary that interrogates the positive and negative depictions of Black women in the media. A recent cultural shift in North American beauty standards embraces Black female aesthetics such as fuller lips and ethnic hairstyles. While this shift may seem inclusive, many argue that this trend favors White women who appropriate traditionally Black features. Told from the perspective of several Black women challenging conventional beauty standards, Subjects of Desire is a unique and layered film. This documentary can help start many important conversations in the classroom for Black History Month programming.
Killer of Sheep
Killer of Sheep (1978) is a critically acclaimed film by director Charles Burnett, told through his distinctive style reminiscent of Italian neorealism. The film takes a stark, documentary-like approach to examine a working-class Black family in Watts, Los Angeles. Killer of Sheep focuses on Stan, an employee at a slaughterhouse whose monotonous and grueling job affects his relationship with his family.
The film shows the quiet nobility of hard work and connecting with your loved ones during times of struggle. Killer of Sheep offers an authentic and uncompromising glimpse into a side of Black culture that is rarely depicted in traditional cinema. This film would be ideal for cinephile patrons, film studies students, and film collections focusing on African American history.
Read our review of Killer of Sheep
Neptune Frost
If you are looking for a film to break the mold of traditional Black History Month programming, look no further than Neptune Frost (2021). Director Saul Williams’ kinetic vision comes to life in this Afrofuturist sci-fi musical. The film focuses on a group of coal miners enslaved under an authoritarian regime in a fictionalized version of Burundi. This group joins an anti-colonist computer hacker collective to overthrow the system that exploits them.
Neptune Frost centers on the psychic bond between a coal miner and an intersex runaway that sparks the revolution. Combining multiple genres and themes, Neptune Frost is a feast for the senses that will expand your vision of Black film. This off-beat celebration of Black music, love, and culture would be a groundbreaking choice for a Black History Month public screening.
Read our review of Neptune Frost
Dolemite
This legendary cult classic is the perfect introduction to the Blaxploitation genre. Blaxploitation emerged as a subgenre of exploitation cinema in the 1970s. Aimed at an urban African American audience, Blaxploitation films featured Black characters as protagonists rather than part of a supporting cast. These films often explored themes of crime, violence, and Black power. Although often portraying harmful stereotypes, Blaxploitation films helped Hollywood realize the potential in marketing films to Black audiences and have continued to influence modern filmmaking.
Dolemite (1975) stars Randy Ray Moore as a wrongly-imprisoned man offered freedom if he can help bring down criminals terrorizing his city. This fast-paced, energetic film is a historically significant selection for Black History Month screenings and lessons. Kanopy also offers several other Blaxploitation titles to expand your knowledge of this entertaining genre.
Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart
Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart (2017) is the first documentary feature to be made about Lorraine Hansberry, the groundbreaking playwright who wrote A Raisin in the Sun. The play was revolutionary in its realistic depictions of Black families, housing discrimination, and racism. Although A Raisin in the Sun immediately received recognition and acclaim, the remarkable story of Lorraine Hansberry’s life is often overlooked.
This documentary uses Hansberry’s personal archives, home movies, and testimonies from friends and peers to paint an intimate portrait of her as both an artist and activist. The film focuses on Hansberry’s unshakeable drive to make the world a more tolerant place that dominated her tragically short life. This easy-to-watch documentary would be an excellent choice for public library Black History Month programming and film collections focusing on theatre, queer history, and women’s liberation.
Read our review of Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart
These titles and many more are available at your university or library through Kanopy. Visit Kanopy's Black History Month Collection to explore their full range of streaming options offered for Black History Month.