What to watch on Netflix — Exploring Black Cinema (Part 2)

Part 2 — Indie Directors to Keep an Eye On

Last time I’ve focused purely on films by established directors you might already know, now I also want to bring attention to up-and-coming indie directors who I hope you will hear about more over the next few years.

Chiwetel Ejiofor — The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

While already famous as an actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor made his directorial debut with ‘The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind’. It is the story of a 13 year old Malawian boy William Kamkwamba who after his village suffers from a severe drought, builds a windmill to power an electric water pump to restore some crops. While Chiwetel Ejiofor gives a warm-hearted performance in the role of the boys father who supports his big dreams, the spotlight is really on Maxwell Simba who gives a deeply moving performance as William in his first big role out of drama school in Kenya.

Numa Perrier — Jezebel

Haitian-American multi-hyphenate Numa Perrier writes, directs, produces and stars in her directorial debut set in Las Vegas and partly based on her own experiences as an online sex worker in the 90s.

In the late 90s Tiffany (Tiffany Tenille) is living at her older sister Sabrina’s house as they are all gathered together to be close to their dying mother. Sabrina (Numa Perrier) supports the entire family including Tiffany, her boyfriend, younger brother Dominic, and young daughter Juju through phone sex work. Once their mother dies Sabrina pressures Tiffany to get a job and move out and suggesting she gets into the same line of work as her. She also gives Tiffany one of her wigs and nicknames her Jezebel.

While not the first film to deal with the virtual sex industry and the precarious rules protecting sex workers it is certainly the first that spotlights the racism and injustices woman of colour face in the industry. When a customer calls Jezebel a racial slur and the company she works for refuses to take it seriously, she tries to stand up for herself only to encounter more obstacles.

Clark Johnson — Juanita

Starring the amazing Alfre Woodard as the eponymous Juanita who gets fed up with trying to Band-Aid the lives of her adult children her entire life and decides to take a greyhound bus to escape from Columbus, Ohio and get as far away as possible to recharge — this happens to be Butte, Montana.

There she meets a lively group of characters at a French restaurant run by First Nations chef Jess and eventually gets a job working there in the kitchen all of which help her to finally live her own life and discover what she wants from it. Stylistically the film uses the now familiar talking to the camera approach for some interior monologues and imaginary discussions with her imaginary crush actor Blair Underwood who plays himself. The film tackles important themes about self-love and gender non-conformity all through a well-paced feel-good story that shows it’s never too late to find yourself.

Raashad Ernesto Green — Premature

Premature is a beautiful love story about 17 year old Ayanna (Zora Howard) who meets charming music producer Isaiah (Joshua Boone) the summer before she is about to go away for college. The film shares the dreamlike and poetic qualities of Barry Jenkin’s recent film ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ but is so much more and filled with it’s own bittersweet flavours. There’s definitely some visual influences coming from Spike Lee’s debut feature ‘She’s Gotta Have it’ particularly in the scene where Isaiah initially picks up Ayanna as well as in their love scene. There is also a bit of Linklaters ‘Before Trilogy’ particularly the lyrical dialogues when the characters walk around and explore each other’s love.

Blitz the Ambassador — The Burial of Kojo

Filmed entirely in Ghana on a microbudget, Brooklyn based Ghanaian Hip Hop artist Blitz the Ambassador crafts a visually stunning tale of magical realism about a girl who searches the spirit world for her father who was double crossed and left for dead in a mine shaft. The film cuts between time and stunning dream sequences such as the opening scene of the beach with a buggie burning in the sand and poetic voice overs told by the girl as she recounts her search for her father. There are also some great low frame rate shots similar to what Wong Kar Wai does to emphasize the dreamlike quality of events. Not only is this film a feast for the eyes but it also tackles important issues such as La Chineafrique and in general the impact of globalisation on Ghana (the family watches Latin American telenovelas in their spare time). After making this film Blitz went on to collaborate with Beyonce on Black is King and helped influence the visual style of her musical. This is one director you’ll definitely hearing more about in the next few years!

Kagiso Lediga — Catching Feelings

Directed by Kagiso Lediga a South African stand up comic / writer / director, Catching Feeling is a dramedy starring Lediga himself as Max a novelist/ academic who’s lost his way and Samkelo (Pearl Thusi) his successful and loving wife. The couple has some underlying trust issues that are accentuated by Max’s insecurity about his career particularly when compared to his much more successful minor celebrity brother. Their relationship is completely thrown off-kilter when a celebrity novelist arrives at the university where Max lectures who befriends him and eventually ends up living with Max and Samkelo for a few weeks. Lediga is another director to watch particularly after the release of his acclaimed South African TV series ‘Queen Sono’ on Netflix last year (also starring Pearl Thusi).

Steve Gukas — 93 Days

93 days is a Nigerian drama/thriller film from 2014 that is set in Lagos and recounts the 2014 Ebola outbreak, this is a highly prescient film about the early days of coronavirus this year and the difficult position physicians are placed in working on the front lines. While starring a mostly local Nigerian cast, there are some surprising familiar faces such as Danny Glover playing one of the lead physicians at the hospital. You might want to wait to watch this one for a few years because right now it will certainly feel a little too close to home for all of us!

Malik Vitthal — Imperial Dreams

Back in 2014 on the cusp of stardom John Boyega stars in this indie feature breakout film by Malik Vitthal about a young man trying to go straight after getting out of prison while in the meantime taking care and trying to reconnect with his kid. The film focuses in on how ‘the system’ makes it impossible to go straight and how despite the best intentions of parents who are in dire straits for their children, circumstances are sometimes just too much to handle. While the film is a bit slow moving it does realistically capture the hum drum of Boyega trying to get his life back and it presents a hopeful tone throughout his journey despite the bleak ending.

Phillip Youmans — Burning Cane

Set in rural Louisiana, Philip Youmans gives a very personal and nuanced portrayal of black Southern Baptist life through the eyes of Helen Wayne, a deeply religious mother, as she tries to mend both her self-destructive son and the alcoholic pastor of her church. The film explores both the cyclical nature of vices and dangers of a fundamentalist interpretation of religion. Burning Cane is Youman’s first feature an extraordinary piece of work considering he made it in his final year of high school and at the same time managed to get it into major festivals and even get a limited theatrical release.

Mati Diop — Atlantics

For those of you stuck with me until the very end, I’ve saved the best indie for last.

I fell in love with Mati Diop’s acting in Claire Deni’s ’35 Shots of Rum’ (2008) and I’ve since been following her career. So when I heard that she was making her feature film debut with Atlantics at last year Cannes, I was thrilled that she finally made the jump into directing with such a magical film as this one.

Atlantics or Atlantique in its original French title is hard to categorise. It’s a love story, it’s a ghost story, it’s an elegy to a love lost before it’s time, it’s a story about the human tragedy of migration but not from the perspective of the boys and men who leave but from their wives and lovers who are left behind.

From the very first image we are enmeshed in the beautiful cinematography by Claire Mathon (also shot Portrait of a Lady on Fire last year) who uses strong teals and blues to paint Dakar under a dreamlike curtain. This effect is enhanced through the ethereal soundtrack by Senegal born Kuwaiti DJ Fatima Al Quadiri (check out her stuff here).

During a London screening of this film I asked the director about this film and the one thought she would like the audience to take away, she said that it would be that migration is not only about leaving but returning. In the highly politicised world we live in where migration has become the scapegoat of most populist parties who demonise them as causing every imaginable ill, it is important not to forget how difficult it must be for people to leave their whole world behind, their families, their lovers, their homeland, everything they know, to then face unimaginable odds in their journey all in the hopes of a better life. Some do make it and find a better life but many do not and their loved ones are forever haunted by not knowing what happened to them. This film is one of their stories but also so much more.