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Over the last 22 years, the Criterion Collection has become Hollywood’s most prestigious DVD/Blu line. But while it includes over 1000 films, only 4 are from African American directors. @uugwuu and I probed the “blind spots” in cinema’s most highbrow canon https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/20/movies/criterion-collection-african-americans.html
"Every month, [Criterion puts] out an alert about their films coming out," said the director Gina Prince-Bythewood, "and every month, I open it to see if they're going to highlight any Black filmmakers. And it never happens." https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/20/movies/criterion-collection-african-americans.html
Wes Anderson has called the Criterion Collection the "Louvre of movies." There are more films in the collection directed by Anderson than there are by all of Criterion's African American filmmakers combined. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/20/movies/criterion-collection-african-americans.html
"There's no excuse," said Criterion president Peter Becker. "It's not possible. Is it my own blind spots that are reflected? 1,000%. What does that say about me? That I have a lot of work to do." https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/20/movies/criterion-collection-african-americans.html
Criterion’s streaming service touted Julie Dash’s DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST in June, but for decades, Criterion had no interest in releasing the film on DVD. “I didn’t understand what I was looking at,” said Criterion president Peter Becker. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/20/movies/criterion-collection-african-americans.html
Becker said Criterion hopes to add MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY, Barry Jenkins' influential 1st film. The collection has 1st films from Gus Van Sant, Terry Zwigoff, Miranda July, David Gordon Green, Greg Mottola & many more, but no living African American has a debut in the collection
Other IFC debuts or breakthroughs, like Lena Dunham's TINY FURNITURE (2010) and Paul Dano's WILDLIFE (2018), received Criterion editions within two years of their release. Why has it taken so long for Criterion to add MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY (also IFC), which came out in 2008?
"I will admit that I didn't know MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY when it came out," said Becker, who first contacted Jenkins about the film in 2018, two years after the director stopped by Criterion during a MOONLIGHT press tour. "I didn't see it until later."
Gina Prince-Bythewood says those "blind spots" are rampant within the Oscars' directors branch, too. "The reality is that so many of those white filmmakers in that room haven't even seen the work of Black filmmakers. If you haven't even seen those films, how would you know?
"It's the same as Criterion," she said. "When you're in those positions of power, deciding what gets seen and what gets elevated, and you're not even familiar with these filmmakers or their work, that is absolutely represented in the films they have on that service."
In the early 1990s, Criterion put out several acclaimed films by Black directors on laser disc, including BOYZ N THE HOOD, SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT, and MENACE II SOCIETY. But none of those titles survived the transition, in 1998, to DVD. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/20/movies/criterion-collection-african-americans.html
"When we were doing our thing with [Criterion], they were a really small, mom-and-pop operation. It was intimate. And something happened," said Albert Hughes, who directed MENACE II SOCIETY with his brother Allen. "I hate to pull the card, but it's a subconscious racism."
Allen Hughes was even more blunt about Criterion's exclusion. "How dare that be an oversight," he said. "Shame on you, and shame on the whole business. This business needs to be mindful. It may not line your pockets the way you want, but it certainly pays your soul big dividends"
