User:Bhumiya/African American cinema

African American cinema is the corpus of films created by, about, or specifically for African Americans. Along with African American literature, it is one of the primary artistic outlets of African American culture, and has historically concerned itself with themes of racism, equality, poverty, and the struggle for cultural identity.

As a distinct cinematic genre, it dates to the early silent era, when so-called race films were produced to meet the demands of black theatergoers. Although most of these early films were produced by white studios, pioneering black filmmakers like Oscar Micheaux were able to achieve success outside the studio system, producing some of the first financially viable independent films.

After the Second World War and the onset of the American Civil Rights Movement, mainstream American cinema became more widely disseminated among African Americans, who in turn found greater acceptance in Hollywood. This would lead to the demise of the race film and the eventual rise of new genres, such as Blaxploitation. This introduced black actors and filmmakers to a wider audience, but remained formulaic and stereotype-driven.

It was not until the late 1980s that the "New Black Wave" of young directors like John Singleton and Spike Lee began using film to address serious social and racial issues. These films recognized a changing cultural landscape, crossed racial divides, questioned long-standing stereotypes, and in the process, achieved mainstream success. By the 1990s, black actors had done the same, culminating with the 74th Academy Awards, where both the Best Actor and Best Actress Oscars were awarded to African-American actors for the first time in Academy Award history. This, in addition to Sidney Poitier winning the Lifetime Achievement award, led some to dub the evening "The Bloscars" and "The Blackademy Awards".

Today, African American cinema retains a distinct position within the American film industry. Nevertheless, creative cross-pollination has brought it into closer contact with the mainstream, and "black films" regularly attract moviegoers of all races.