Prepared by
Nick S
Nick S
Revised
March 15, 2023

Movies celebrate Black joy
Bring the Black Joy Film Series home!
Keep the movie marathon going with picks inspired by the titles selected for the in-person film series. These movies span the decades and cross genres to celebrate Black joy and the Black experience.
Music and art
Pete Docter
Soul
2021
A New York jazz musician suddenly finds himself stuck between Earth and the afterlife.
Benny Boom
All Eyez on Me
2017
The true story of prolific rapper, actor, poet and activist Tupac Shakur, from his early days in New York City through his evolution into one of the world’s most influential voices before his untimely death at the age of 25.
Bill Condon
Dreamgirls
2012
Three female, African American soul singers try to come to terms with fame as they become an overnight success as a pop group.
Questlove
Summer of Soul
2022
Never-before-seen footage from the Harlem Cultural Festival in the summer of 1969 features concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension and more.
Sidney Lumet
The Wiz
1978
A schoolteacher in Harlem is whisked away by a snowstorm to a fantasy New York City in order to find herself.
Fantasy and action
Ryan Coogler
Black Panther
2018
King T'Challa returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as new leader, but soon finds that he is challenged for the throne from divisions within his own country.
Ryan Coogler
Creed
2016
Apollo Creed's son Adonis Johnson turns to his late father's friend Rocky Balboa to train him to be a fighter.
Michael Schultz
The Last Dragon
1985
A teenage boy living in New York City pursues his dream of becoming a martial arts master.
F. Gary Gray
Set it Off
1996
Four poor black women try to get some payback from the social system which has abused them by a staging a series of bank robberies.
Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman
Spider-man Into the Spider-verse
2018
Spider-Man crosses parallel dimensions and teams up with the Spider-Men of those dimensions to stop a threat to all reality.
Drama
Doug Atchison
Akeelah and the Bee
2006
Eleven year-old Akeelah decides to participate in a spelling bee to avoid detention for her many absences. Much to her surprise and embarrassment, she wins.
Salim Akil
Jumping the Broom
2011
A collision of worlds when two African-American families from divergent socioeconomic backgrounds get together one weekend in Martha's Vineyard for a wedding.
Wayne Wang
Last Holiday
2006
After a woman is diagnosed with a terminal illness, she decides to spend her last few weeks having fun and spending her life savings.
Barry Jenkins
Moonlight
2017
A young black man struggles to find his place in the world while growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami.
George Tillman Jr.
Soul Food
1997
Set against the backdrop of Sunday dinner and delicious soul food, an African American family tries to pull itself back together after the matriarch becomes ill.
Comedy
Bill Duke
Sister Act 2
1999
Whoopi Goldberg returns as the lounge singer who goes undercover as a nun to help an ailing inner-city school.
Rick Famuyiwa
Dope
2015
When a student in Los Angeles, whose dream is to attend Harvard, attends an underground party, he has the chance to go from geek to dope.
Malcolm D. Lee
Girls Trip
2017
When four lifelong friends travel to New Orleans for the annual Essence Festival, sisterhoods are rekindled, wild sides are rediscovered and there's enough dancing, drinking, brawling and romancing to make the Big Easy blush.
Reginald Hudlin
House Party
1990
Kid, a typical teenager, has to deal with punks, an over-protective father and beautiful best friends who want him to choose between them.
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