Top picks from guest curator ByBlacks.com
In recognition of Black History Month, ByBlacks.com is proud to be guest curator for the NFB and present a selection of our top three favourite films from its Focus on Black Filmmakers channel. At ByBlacks.com, we firmly celebrate Black Canadian history all year round, but February is a particularly important time to reach into the archives of our experience to gain perspective on where we’ve come, what’s changed and what’s stayed the same, and where do we go from here. See more from our Black History Month Curators: Top Picks from Fondation Dynastie Top Picks from Dalton Higgings Top Picks …
In recognition of Black History Month, ByBlacks.com is proud to be guest curator for the NFB and present a selection of our top three favourite films from its Focus on Black Filmmakers channel. At ByBlacks.com, we firmly celebrate Black Canadian history all year round, but February is a particularly important time to reach into the archives of our experience to gain perspective on where we’ve come, what’s changed and what’s stayed the same, and where do we go from here.
See more from our Black History Month Curators:
Top Picks from Fondation Dynastie
Top Picks from Dalton Higgings
Top Picks from Ella Cooper
Top Picks from Michael P. Farkas
Sélection
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John Ware ReclaimedCheryl Foggo 2020 1 h 12 minIf you’ve heard of John Ware, you probably mainly know about his legendary status as a Black cowboy. His story is often more steeped in myth than the man himself. Through a mix of animation, re-enactment, archival material and live interviews, this film takes us on a journey that reveals what life was like for Ware, an illiterate former enslaved man with high intellect and skill who not only saved many lives with his knowledge but was responsible for teaching and training many Canadian ranchers. - ByBlacks.com
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Black, Bold and BeautifulNadine Valcin 1999 42 min
This film is 25 years old. And when I listen to the women talking, it literally could have been made today. It’s just as relevant now as it was 25 years ago. Which is striking, but it’s also kind of sad that when it comes to Black women’s hair, there is still so much pain wrapped up in it—but so much beauty and pride as well. I really wish I could find these women today and ask how their hair journey has changed over the last two-and-a-half decades. - ByBlacks.com
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Home Feeling: Struggle for a CommunityJennifer Hodge et Roger McTair 1983 57 min
Fair warning: this is a depressing and infuriating watch. This doc with a cinematic feel to it drops us right into the gap between the dreams and the reality of Black people living in Toronto’s Jane and Finch neighbourhood. The hidden anguish, the fury, the alienation. The mothers who’ve left their children behind in the Caribbean in search of a better life in Canada, then reunited years later only to find themselves strangers to their own kin. The men who try to maintain a sense of culture from home but see themselves criminalized for simply socializing. The film was made over 40 years ago, but not much has changed. - ByBlacks.com
