February 2023 Film Watches

Photographer Nina Mosley (Nia Long) in one of the best Black romances ever made: Love Jones.

With my February film watch, the primary goal focused on Black films including a few on the released NPR and Slate’s New Black Film Canon. Some are in my home collection such as Theodore Witcher’s Love Jones in the Criterion Collection and some were seen in theaters (all of Miryam Charles’s short films and her debut Cette Maison played for one memorable evening at the Maysles Documentary Center in Harlem and Alice Diop’s Saint Omer played at the Lincoln Center). 

February 2023 Watches


1.) “Split Ends, I Feel Wonderful” (2012) Akosua Adoma Owusu *+ 10/10

2.) “Fig” (2011) Ryan Coogler #^ 8/10

3.) “Brown Sugar” (2002) Rick Famuyiwa ^ 6/10

4.) “Night Catches Us” (2010) Tanya Hamilton #*+ 9.5/10

5.) “Black Sister’s Revenge” (1976) Jamaa Fanaka #^ 7.5/10

6.) “Jealousy Is My Middle Name” (2002) Park Chan-ok #*^ 6.7/10

7.) “Naysayer” (2019) David Helman # 7/10

8.) “Locks” (2011) Ryan Coogler #^ 9/10

9.) “Sparrow” (2018) Ali Kurr #* 7/10

10.) “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Ryan Coogler #^ 8.7/10

11.) “Second Coming” (2018) debbie tucker green #*+ 8/10

12.) “Towards the Colonies” (2016) Miryam Charles #*+ 9.5/10

13.) “A Fortress” (2018) Miryam Charles #*+ 10/10

14.) “Drei Atlas” (2018) Miryam Charles #*+ 10/10

15.) “Second Generation” (2019) Miryam Charles #*+ 10/10

16.) “Song for the New World” (2021) Miryam Charles #*+ 8/10

17.) “Cette Maison” (2022) Miryam Charles #*+ 10/10

18.) “Saint Omer” (2022) Alice Diop #*+ 10/10

19.) “Gyeongju” (2014) Zhang Lu #^ 7/10

20.) “Quiet As It’s Kept” (2023) Ja’Tovia Gary # *+ 9.5/10

21.) “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000) Ang Lee #^ 10/10

22.) “Love Your Mama” (1990) Ruby Oliver #*+ 6/10

23.) “Just Another Girl on the I. R. T.” (1992) Leslie Harris *+ 8.5/10

24.) “Cane River” (1982) Horace Jenkins ^ 10/10

25.) “Us” (2019) Jordan Peale ^ 8.7/10

26.) “Restless City” (2012) Andrew Dosunmo #^ 9/10

27.) “Hollywood Shuffle” (1987) Robert Townsend #^ 8.5/10

28.) “Love Jones” (1997) Theodore Witcher ^ 9.7/10


# first time watch

*woman filmmaker

*+Black woman filmmaker

*^ nonwhite woman filmmaker

^nonwhite filmmaker

Other notes: 22 first time watches, 26 films directed/written by nonwhite filmmakers, and 14 films made by women. March is Women’s History Month and my upcoming film selection will reflect that.