7 years ago, Slate Magazine published the Black Film Cannon, a collection of 50 of the

best films directed by Black filmmakers. The intent was to challenge both gatekeepers

and makers of Best of Lists to consider the breadth of artistry Black creators had demonstrated

on screen, despite the odds being historically stacked against them. Since then, the opportunities

for Black filmmakers to flourish have only increased. Moonlight won best picture at the

Oscars Get Out was a cultural phenomenon. And so, we teamed up with Slate to update

the Black Film Cannon. I'm Aisha Harris, and on this episode of NPR's Pop Culture

Happy Hour, we're sharing highlights from the expanded Black Film Cannon.

Joining me today is the host of NPR's It's Been a Minute, Brittany Luce. Welcome back, Brittany.

Thank you so much for having me. I'm happy to be here. Yay! And also joining us is my former

colleague at Slate, Slate writer Dan Coise, who is also the author of the new novel Vintage

Contemporaries. Welcome to the show, Dan. I'm so happy to be back talking to you, Aisha.

I know. It's a nice little reunion here. I'm very excited. So, back in 2016, I was a

culture writer at Slate Magazine. Dan and I put together this big project called The Black

Film Cannon. We reached out to a variety of esteemed critics, scholars, and filmmakers,

including Robert Townsend and Ava De Verne. And they shared their picks for the best films

by Black directors. Then Dan and I curated a list of 50 excellent and culturally significant

films. So this list spanned almost a centuries worth of Black representation on screen. It

included films directed by Spike Lee, Charles Burnett, and D Rees. But it also included everything

from Oscar Macho's groundbreaking 1920 silent film within our gates to pop classics like Friday

and Waiting to Exhale. And all the way up to Ezra Edelman's Epic 7.5 hour documentary series,

OJ Made in America. Seven years later, the landscape for Black on screen storytelling has only grown

...