The World of Black Film - by Ashley Clark (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

My Brother Ashley Clark Has Broke It Down To What Black Film Was, Is Present Day, And What The Future Might Be. BLAK IZ BLAK. YA-DIG? SHO-NUFF. Enjoy This BLAK CINEMATIC SCIENCE. - Spike Lee

The World of Black Film is an entertaining, informed, and thought-provoking survey of important and influential Black films from around the globe. Starting with the unfinished silent comedy Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913) and concluding with Steve McQueen's World War II epic Blitz (2024), this book takes readers on an exciting journey through an eclectic mix of classics and hidden gems spanning more than 100 years and 30 countries. Beautifully designed and bursting with eye-catching film imagery and poster art, this is essential reading for general film fans, enthusiasts of Black cinema, educators, and students alike.
Includes a foreword by Sir John Akomfrah, CBE RA.

Films and directors include:
Black Orpheus (Marcel Camus, 1959)
Black Girl (Ousmane Sembène, 1966)
Hollywood Shuffle (Robert Townsend, 1987)
Malcolm X (Spike Lee, 1992)
Belle (Amma Asante, 2013)
Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako, 2015)
Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2016)
Black Panther (Ryan Coogler, 2018)
Saint Omer (Alice Diop, 2022)
Dahomey (Mati Diop, 2024)
Blitz (Steve McQueen, 2024)

About the Author

Ashley Clark is a writer, broadcaster, and film programmer. He has organized numerous film seasons at international venues including London's BFI Southbank, New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Toronto's TIFF Lightbox. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, Reverse Shot, Sight & Sound, and Film Comment, and he is the author of Facing Blackness: Media and Minstrelsy in Spike Lee's Bamboozled (2015). Ashley was born in London, lives in Jersey City, and works in New York City, where he has been the curatorial director of the Criterion Collection since 2020.