Best Black movies of 2022

Orion Pictures Black cinema had an impressive year. From the days of Black filmmakers creating movies for segregated Black audiences in the early 1900s, Black movies have come a long way down a rocky road. The Lincoln Motion Picture Company, established by George P. Johnson in 1916, was the first Black-owned company to produce Black stories for Black audiences. Over 100 years later, the number of Black actors and production companies–including Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions, Tyler Perry Studios, and Spike Lee’s 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, which currently has a deal with Netflix–has increased exponentially. Still, the reality remains that there are significant barriers for most Black creatives in the filmmaking industry. Fewer Black stories are told on screen. And when they are, they’re chronically underfunded and undermarketed. Likewise, Black actors overall are presented with fewer opportunities in their careers. As these statistics slowly change, an integral part of that shift is highlighting and celebrating the Black creatives and films making a mark on the industry and entertaining audiences. To underscore the year’s best projects in Black cinema, Stacker looked at Metacritic data of all movies released in 2022 and ranked the top 25 films, which had to have at least seven reviews to qualify and either be helmed by Black directors, filmmakers, or actors. You may also like: 15 controversial Oscar wins–and how they’ve aged #25. Emancipation Swan Films – Directors: Anisia Uzeyman, Saul Williams – Metascore: 83 – Runtime: 105 minutes Originally conceived as both a graphic novel and later a stage musical, “Neptune Frost” is a hybrid science fiction musical film with queer and anticapitalist themes. Falling into the genre of Afrofuturism, which illustrates conceptions of the future through a Black lens, this film follows a miner and an intersex hacker who find themselves in another dimension where they join a rebellion. “Neptune Frost” was created by the musician Saul Williams, who co-directs with his wife, Anisia Uzeyman. Together, the duo successfully creates a dreamlike yet energetic film with beautiful cinematography. You may also like: 100 best fantasy movies of all time #5. Is That Black Enough for You?!? Impact Partners – Directors: Paula Eiselt, Tonya Lewis Lee – Metascore: 87 – Runtime: 86 minutes “Aftershock” is a documentary about two Black families ripped apart by the grief that follows the mothers’ deaths post-childbirth, leaving the now single fathers to raise their children and discover a new way forward. Fathers Omari Maynard and Bruce McIntyre quickly form a lifelong bond through their shared trauma, deciding to become mental health activists and bring awareness to the maternal mortality crisis. Black director-producer Tonya Lewis Lee co-created the film; she is the wife of Spike Lee. #1. Descendant