Black Is… Black Ain’t Backdrop Blur
Black Is… Black Ain’t Poster

Black Is… Black Ain’t

"A personal journey through Black identity"

African-American documentary filmmaker Marlon Riggs was working on this final film as he died from AIDS-related complications in 1994; he addresses the camera from his hospital bed in several scenes. The film directly addresses sexism and homophobia within the black community, with snippets of misogynistic and anti-gay slurs from popular hip-hop songs juxtaposed with interviews with African-American intellectuals and political theorists, including Cornel West, bell hooks and Angela Davis.

Top Cast

  • Marlon Riggs

    Marlon Riggs

    Self

  • Angela Davis

    Angela Davis

    Self

  • bell hooks

    bell hooks

    Self

  • Essex Hemphill

    Essex Hemphill

    Self

  • Cornel West

    Cornel West

    Self

  • Maulana Karenga

    Maulana Karenga

    Self

  • Barbara Smith

    Barbara Smith

    Self

  • Michele Wallace

    Michele Wallace

    Self

Overview

African-American documentary filmmaker Marlon Riggs was working on this final film as he died from AIDS-related complications in 1994; he addresses the camera from his hospital bed in several scenes. The film directly addresses sexism and homophobia within the black community, with snippets of misogynistic and anti-gay slurs from popular hip-hop songs juxtaposed with interviews with African-American intellectuals and political theorists, including Cornel West, bell hooks and Angela Davis.

Rating

5.8 / 10
12 Reviews
0 Popular

Trailers & Clips

Recommendations

Tongues Untied

Marlon Riggs, with assistance from other gay Black men, especially poet Essex Hemphill, celebrates Black men loving Black men as a revolutionary act. The film intercuts footage of Hemphill reciting his poetry, Riggs telling the story of his growing up, scenes of men in social intercourse and dance, and various comic riffs, including a visit to the "Institute of Snap!thology," where men take lessons in how to snap their fingers: the sling snap, the point snap, the diva snap.

Tongues Untied

6.6 1990
Paris Is Burning

Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.

Paris Is Burning

8.0 1991