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{{Short description|Online database of streamable Black films released from 1915–1979}}
{{Infobox website
| name = Black Film Archive
| logo =
| logo_size =
| logo_alt =
| logo_caption =
| screenshot =
| screenshot_size =
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| company_type =
| type = Film database
| language = English
| country_of_origin = United States
| founder = Maya Cade
| subsidiaries = 
| url = {{URL|blackfilmarchive.com/}}
| launch_date = {{Start date and age|df=yes/no|2021|08|26}}
}}
'''Black Film Archive''' is an online database of Black films<ref>"Black films" refers to films oriented to Black audiences and those with Black leads or Black production teams</ref> released from 1915–1979 that are available to view via streaming platforms. The site was launched by Maya Cade in 2021.

== History ==
Black Film Archive is a curated database of Black films released between 1915 and 1979 that are currently streaming on online platforms like [[YouTube]], [[Netflix]], and [[Tubi]].<ref name=chitrib>{{Cite web|last=Metz|first=Nina|date=2021-09-02|title=Newly launched Black Film Archive provides history and context to more than 200 Black films made from 1915 to 1979 that are currently streaming|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/what-to-watch/ct-ent-black-film-archive-maya-cade-20210902-nmdpx24mibe7dngjjfvaijk7cm-story.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-17|website=chicagotribune.com}}</ref> Some of the films are free to view due to [[public domain]] laws.<ref name="chitrib" /> The site is inclusive of approximately 250 Black films as of its August 26, 2021 launch.<ref name="undefeated">{{Cite web|last=Blay|first=Zeba|date=2021-09-29|title=Maya Cade’s Black Film Archive is just the beginning|url=https://theundefeated.com/features/maya-cades-black-film-archive-is-just-the-beginning/|access-date=2021-11-17|website=The Undefeated|language=en-US}}</ref> The films range in genre and are organized by decade.<ref name="chitrib" />

Maya Cade, the site's creator, is an American screenwriter and an audience editor for [[The Criterion Collection]]. The genesis for Black Film Archive came in June 2020, after Cade posted a viral [[Twitter]] thread of classic Black films amid the [[George Floyd protests]], to provide solace and comfort to others.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2021-09-08|title=Maya Cade, Creator Of The Black Film Archive, On Making Black Cinema More Accessible|language=en|work=NPR.org|url=https://www.npr.org/2021/09/08/1035224899/creator-of-criterions-black-film-archive-on-making-black-cinema-history-accessib|access-date=2021-11-17}}</ref><ref name="latimes">{{Cite web|last=Jackson|first=Nate|date=2021-09-19|title=Black Film Archive revives an ignored history of cinema through streaming|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-09-19/black-film-archive-forgotten-history-streaming|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-17|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref> She then began to research and assemble a database of Black films. She focused on historical selections in part because she has felt disconnected from modern Black cinema.<ref name="undefeated" /> Cade intentionally limited the database to movies released up to 1979 because film studios heavily invested in Black cinema until the commercial failure of 1978's ''[[The Wiz (film)|The Wiz]]''.<ref name="chitrib" />

One of her goals for the archive was to introduce cinephiles to unfamiliar and alternative depictions of Black people and Black culture "whether people agree with the portrayals or not."<ref name="latimes" /> In putting together the archive, she selected films oriented to Black audiences and those with Black leads or Black production teams.<ref name="chitrib" /> Part of her selection process was to determine whether people "need" a particular film and what it offers.<ref name="undefeated" /> Certain films could not be included because they are not currently streaming, such as ''[[Killer of Sheep]]''.<ref name=rogerebert>{{Cite web|last=Minow|first=Nell|date=2021-09-22|title=Something Significant to Say About the Black Experience: Maya Cade on the Black Film Archive|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/something-significant-to-say-about-the-black-experience-maya-cade-on-the-black-film-archive|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-17|website=Roger Ebert|language=en}}</ref>

== Selections ==
Some of the site's selections include:

*''[[Within Our Gates]]'' (1920)<ref name="chitrib" />
* ''[[Siren of the Tropics]]'' (1927)<ref name="latimes" />
*''[[Carmen Jones (film)|Carmen Jones]]'' (1954)<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Asmelash|first=Leah|date=2021-09-19|title=The Black Film Archive wants to show the world just how limitless Black cinema really is|url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/19/entertainment/black-film-archive-cec/index.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-17|website=CNN}}</ref>
*''[[Anna Lucasta (1958 film)|Anna Lucasta]]'' (1958)<ref name="chitrib" />
* ''[[The Cry of Jazz]]'' (1959)<ref name="chitrib" />
*''[[Shaft (1971 film)|Shaft]]'' (1971)<ref name="latimes" />
* ''[[The Black Gestapo]]'' (1975)<ref name="chitrib" />
* [[Fronza Woods#Killing Time (1979)|''Killing Time'' (1979)]]<ref name=":0" />
In an interview with ''[[The New York Times]]'', Cade cited these selections as her favorite films of each decade from the 1920s to the 1970s:<ref>{{Cite news|last=Zornosa|first=Laura|date=2022-02-16|title=Six Highlights From the Black Film Archive|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/16/movies/black-film-archive-highlights.html|access-date=2022-02-19|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

* ''[[Hallelujah (film)|Hallelujah]]'' (1929)
* ''[[The Green Pastures (film)|The Green Pastures]]'' (1936)
* ''[[Commandment Keeper Church, Beaufort South Carolina, May 1940]]'' (1940)
* ''[[The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959 film)|The World, the Flesh and the Devil]]'' (1959)
* ''[[A Man Called Adam (film)|A Man Called Adam]]'' (1966)
* ''[[Claudine (film)|Claudine]]'' (1974)

== Accolades ==
Maya Cade has received the following awards and nominations:
* 2021 – Special Award, [[New York Film Critics Circle|NYFCC]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Awards - New York Film Critics Circle - NYFCC|url=https://www.nyfcc.com/awards/|access-date=2021-12-08|language=en-US}}</ref>
* 2021 – Outstanding Achievement by A Woman in The Film Industry (Nominee), [[Alliance of Women Film Journalists]] EDA Awards<ref name="eda-awards">{{cite web |title=2021 EDA AWARDS NOMINEES |url=https://awfj.org/eda-awards-2/2021-eda-awards-nominees/?doing_wp_cron=1639166909.2972590923309326171875 |access-date=10 December 2021}}</ref>

==See also==

* [[African American cinema]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://blackfilmarchive.com/ Official website]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ucIInAC8G4 "Our Favorite Picks from the Black Film Archive"] --''Keep It'' podcast hosts on YouTube.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Film Archive}}

[[Category:American websites]]
[[Category:Internet properties established in 2021]]
[[Category:Film websites]]
[[Category:African-American mass media]]
[[Category:Film archives in the United States]]
[[Category:African-American films]]

Black Film Archive - Revision history

JJR: 1 revision imported

w>ZI Jony: v2.04b - Fix errors for CW project (Reference before punctuation)