#neema barnette

[raybizzle]

"Spirit Lost" (1996) was an erotic horror directed by Neema Barnette. BET Films and United Image Entertainment (Tim Reid's production company) produced the movie, a straight-to-home video release by Artisan Entertainment (formerly Live Entertainment). The movie stars Leon, Regina Taylor, Cynda Williams, Tamara Tunie, and Juanita Jennings.

Reid filmed the movie in Virginia, one of many movies he made under his production company. Other films include "Out-of-Sync," "Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored," and "Race to Freedom: The Underground Railroad." Reid and Neema Barnette worked together in previous films and television shows as far as 1987 when she directed a couple of episodes of "Frank's Place," which starred Reid.

The "Spirit Lost" storyline was unique for black cinema but straightforward—a married couple movies into their new seaside home, where a ghost resides. However, this ghost (Cynda Williams) is seductive and jealous and intends to run off the pregnant wife (Regina Taylor) so that she can have John (Leon) to herself. This film has an artistic nature, even with its B-movie atmosphere.

In hindsight, Reid had something going for black cinema. He wasn't just producing movies. He was employing black actors and filmmakers while simultaneously working with T.V. networks. His films had substance, were thoughtful, and diverse in genre. "Spirit Lost" is an adult movie with a sexual nature, but there isn't any blood, gore, or obscene language.

Director: Neema Barnette Writers: Joyce Renee Lewis, Nancy Thayer, Shirley Pierce

Starring Leon, Regina Taylor, Cynda Williams, Tamara Tunie, Juanita Jennings, Frank Hoyt Taylor, James Avery, Reed R. McCants, Yvonne Erickson, Chris Northup

Storyline An artist, John (Leon), and his wife, Willy (Regina Taylor), move to a seaside home that is haunted by a jealous and seductive ghost (Cyndia Williams). As the couple starts to settle in, John begins this supernatural affair that strains the couple's marriage. However, only John can see the ghost, and his behavior grows concerning for his pregnant wife, who hires a nurse (Juanita Jennings) to help around the house as her husband is now unreliable. With John becoming increasingly unhinged, how will the couple survive this terrifying ordeal?

[ausetkmt]

Black History Mini Docs - James Baldwin

If you have 90 seconds then you have enough time to watch Black History Mini Docs. Legendary Producer and Filmmaker Neema Barnette (Civil Brand, Women thou Art Loosed: On The 7th Day) presents Black History Mini Docs. These are a fast and entertaining way to educate young and old about the varying contributions of Blacks in American history. Think of it as the “Cliff Notes” for the digital age.

See also James Baldwin’s author page.  [LINK]

[fuckyeahwomenfilmdirectors]

Zora is My Name! dir. Neema Barnette (1990)

The great Ruby Dee scripted and stars in this tribute to visionary writer and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston. Produced for PBS’ American Playhouse, it brings together episodes from Hurston’s life alongside depictions of the Southern folktales and traditions that she worked tirelessly to preserve. The result is a vivid portrait of a fiery spirit and formidable intellect.

[tribeca]

Today marks the end of our two-month tribute to essential, underrated, and flat-out extraordinary films helmed by Black women directors. Here are the final seven selections:

🌟 The Watermelon Woman (Cheryl Dunye, 1996): Zesty, uncompromising proof that there's no one right way to revisit the past on film. Dunye’s meta-comedy evinces the multitudinous humanity that her character seeks in her cathectic search for the black queer women who came before her.

🌟 The Weekend (Stella Meghie, 2018): Sasheer Zamata excels as a stunted comic entangled in a romantic roundelay with her ex, his girlfriend, and an alluring stranger during a rustic getaway. Meghie catches some of the languid, layered color of Kathleen Collins in this jazzy comedy.

🌟 Whose Streets? (Sabaah Folayan, 2017): An essential chronicle of the activists who have made bravery their life’s work in the fight against police brutality. Folayan’s film is as true as the hearts that beat inside these fighters and as tireless as the feet that march for change.

🌟 Women with Eyes Open (Anne-Laure Folly, 1994): The observant images and didactic interviews of Folly’s West African expedition all attest to the societal ills and traditions working to keep women inferior but also the lionhearted iconoclasts who are combatting such subordination.

🌟 Your Children Come Back to You (Alile Sharon Larkin, 1979): A girl comes face to face with the oppressive realities of poverty in one of the most haunting and heartrending films of the L.A. Rebellion movement. Larkin blends hard-hitting social critique with pure cinematic poetry.

🌟 Zora is My Name! (Neema Barnette, 1990): Co-writer Ruby Dee and Lynn Whitfield lead a sterling ensemble in a dazzling tapestry of speech, song, movement, and folklore that proudly celebrates the life and ingenuity of Zora Neale Hurston, whose voice was a vessel for the voiceless.

🌟 Zora Neale Hurston Fieldwork Footage (Zora Neale Hurston, 1928): A survey of Southern workers and the communities that safeguard them. Hurston sings their songs and records their routines with eager inquisitiveness, her feet planted in the same earth in which they labor and live.

Check out the entire list in a more accessible online form with links and information about where to watch these films.

We hope you enjoyed this extended look at these stunning films as much as we enjoyed saluting them. Seek them out and continue to support Black artistry, past and present. We encourage you to keep digging into a prodigious history of which this guide has only scraped the surface.

Written by Matthew Eng

(Source: TribecaFilm.com)

[tv-moments]

Luke Cage

Season 2, “If It Ain't Rough, It Ain't Right“

Director: Neema Barnette

DoP: Petr Hlinomaz

[nicolebehariewce]

Nicole Beharie | Woman Thou Art Loosed on The 7th Day Dir: Neema Barnette

[darkmattersproj]

‘Luke Cage’ Adds More Female Directors for Season 2 List of women directors includes Kasi Lemmons and Lucy Liu

[queensugardaily]

Director, Neema Barnette BTS via Instagram (Thy Will Be Done 1.03 I In No Uncertain Terms 1.07 (part one)

neemafilms Wonderful memories from Season 1 of Queen Sugar ep 107 directed by me! Queen Ava Diamond Finder🙏🏾

neemafilms Memories! Queen Sugar love💜

neemafilms In the beginning! Queen Ava creating Queen Sugar! Black Women Magic👌🏾 GANSTA😎@queensugarown @ava

[directedbywomen]

Queen Sugar S1 E3 Thy Will Be Done directed by Neema Barnette.

Catching up on Season 1... on disc from the library.

Day 112 of my #90minDirectedbyWomen yearlong film viewing practice.

Have you explored Neema Barnette’s work?

[everyfilmisaw]

Sin & Redemption by Neema Barnette, 1994

[diversemovies]

“There are many stories to be told and many battles to begin.”

This determined cry from the heart — this battle cry — arrives at the end of Julie Dash’s 1982 short film, “Illusions,” about a black woman working in the old Hollywood. It also helps sum up the importance of the BAMcinématek series “One Way or Another: Black Women’s Cinema 1970-1991.”

The program includes:

Daughters of the Dust (dir. Julie Dash)

Steeped in the language, culture, and customs of the Gullah people, Daughters of the Dust is a dreamy, at times mystic, celebration of folk traditions and black womanhood. Its sumptuous images (which were a widely cited key influence on Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade) shimmer anew in this ravishing restoration.

Losing Ground (dir. Kathleen Collins)

A married couple experience a reawakening on a summer idyll in upstate New York. This revelatory comedic drama is one of the first films to explore sexuality from the perspective of a black female director.

I Be Done Was Is (Debra Robinson)

Director Debra Robinson profiles four black female comedians—Alice Arthur, Rhonda Hansome, Jane Galvin Lewis, and Marsha Warfield—who use humor to illuminate the experiences of African-American women.

Julie Dash’s shorts including:

“Standing At The Scratch Line” - A look at the history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

“Four Women” - A dance film set to the music of Nina Simone.

“Illusions” - Which explores African-American representation in 1940s Hollywood via the story of a black studio executive passing as white.

“Praise House” - A performance piece made with Urban Bush Women founder Jawole Willa Jo Zollar.

Zora Is My Name! (dir. Neema Barnette)

The great Ruby Dee scripted and stars in this tribute to visionary writer and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston.

Visions of the Spirit: A Portrait of Alice Walker (dir. Elena Featherstone)

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Alice Walker reflects on her life, career, and worldview. Filmed over the course of three years at the writer’s home and on the set of the film adaptation of her novel The Color Purple, it offers essential insight into the experiences that shaped her perspective as an outspoken black feminist.

Othello (dir. Liz White)

Created by an entirely black cast and crew, Liz White’s (who founded her own company in Martha’s Vineyard in 1946) rarely screened adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy offers incisive commentary on the play’s racial dimensions.

Sky Captain (dir. Neema Barnette)

Neema Barnette’s hip-hop-infused South Bronx fantasy that tackles the issue of teen suicide with a surplus of cinematic imagination.

A Dream Is What You Wake Up From (dir. Larry Bullard, Carolyn Johnson)

The everyday lives of three Black families with different approaches to their struggle for survival in the United States are represented through a mix of fiction and documentary scenes, a docudrama style inspired by the work of Cuban filmmaker Sara Gómez.

One Way Or Another (De Cierta Manera) (dir. Sara Gomez)

Afro-Cuban filmmaker Sara Gómez’s radical narrative-documentary hybrid (the first feature directed by a Cuban woman) delivers a complex critique of regressive machismo in Castro’s Cuba.

Namibia: Independence Now! (dir. Pearl Bowser, Christine Choy)

This documentary is an essential record of the role that women played in the struggle for South-West African liberation. Directors Pearl Bowser and Christine Choy record life inside refugee camps in Zambia and Angola, where Namibian exiles—in particular women—work to free their country from South African rule.

And more!

[hauntinglyghost]

10 things I hate about you / dir. Gil Junger Pressure to Party / Julia Jacklin Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse / dir. Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman Expectations / Belle and Sebastian Gilmore Girls s04 ep05 / dir. Neema Barnette Shrek / dir. Vicky Jenson, Andrew Adamson

[fuckyeahwomenfilmdirectors]

Luke Cage season 2 announces directors

After facing criticism over the entirety of its first season being directed by men. the second season of Luke Cage will have a directorial lineup that is 6/13 women.

5 out of 6 of the directors are women of colour, who still make up a small minority of television directors over all. 

One director, Steph Green, is an Oscar nominee for her short film New Boy. 

The directors and some of their directorial credits:

Lucy Liu (Elementary)

Salli Richardson-Whitfield (Queen Sugar, Scandal)

Kasi Lemmons (Eve's Bayou, Shots Fired)

Neema Barnette (Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day, Queen Sugar)

Millicent Shelton (30 Rock, Blackish, Jessica Jones)

Steph Green (Scandal, The Americans, New Boy)

[tenaflyviper]

Black Filmmakers in Horror

Given the negative stereotypes and overall treatment of black people in horror films, the genre carries the unfortunate misconception of being seen as unwelcoming to black audiences and filmmakers. It's time to put this notion to rest. The horror community is open to everyone that loves a good fright, and more and more black filmmakers have begun dabbling in scares. During this current time, I want to promote these filmmakers and their work, and welcome others to share their own works as well.

I couldn’t have compiled such a great list without the help of “Blacula” at BlackHorrorMovies.com. His site is absolutely invaluable for those with any interest in black horror cinema, and I highly recommend paying a visit! I will be including Blacula’s “Racial Representation” rating for each film, when available (ratings are out of five stars).

Whenever possible, I have provided links to watch these films online, but only from sites/channels with the right to stream them, so as to avoid any of these creators losing revenue. Tubi TV requires signing up (on PC, anyway), but it is still 100% free (and it’s also available as an app on Android, IOS, Xbox Live, and Playstation).

Black Devil Doll from Hell (1984) – Written, produced, and directed by Chester Novell Turner ★ ★ ½

Witchdoctor of the Living Dead (1985) - Written and directed by Charles Abi Enonchong

Tales from the Quadead Zone (1987) – Written, produced, and directed by Chester Novell Turner ★ ★ ½

Def By Temptation (1990) – Written, produced, and directed by James Bond III ★ ★ ★ ★

Ax ‘Em (1993) – Written, produced, and directed by Michael Mfume ★ ★ ½

Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995) – Directed by Ernest R. Dickerson ★ ★ ★ ★

Tales from the Hood (1995) – Written and directed by Rusty Cundieff ★ ★ ★ ★

Spirit Lost (1996) – Directed by Neema Barnette, written by Shirley Pierce, and produced by The Black Entertainment Network (BET) ★ ★ ★ ½

Bugged! (1997) – Written, produced, and directed by Ronald K. Armstrong ★ ★ ★ ★

Three Sickxty (1998) – Written, produced, and directed by Natural Drye ★ ★ ★

End of the Wicked (1999) - Written, directed, and produced by Teco Benson

Cursed Part 3 (2000) – Written, produced, and directed by Rae Dawn Chong ★ ★ ½

Now Eat (2000) – Written and directed by Kerry Alan Williams ★

Scary Movie (2000) Written and produced by Marlon and Shawn Wayans, and directed by Keenan Ivory Wayans

The Black Witch Project (2001) - Written, directed, and produced by Velli ★ ★

Bones (2001) – Directed by Ernest R. Dickerson ★ ★ ½

Creepin’ (2001) – Written, produced, and directed by Tim Greene ★ ★ ½

Tara (aka Hood Rat) (2001) – Produced and directed by Leslie Small ★ ½

Scary Movie 2 (2001) - Written and produced by Marlon and Shawn Wayans, and produced and directed by Keenan Ivory Wayans

Crazy as Hell (2002) – Produced and directed by Eriq La Salle ★ ★ ★ ★

Chop Shop (2003) – Written and directed by Simuel Denell Rankins ★ ★ ½

Cutthroat Alley (2003) - Written, directed, and produced by Timothy Wayne Folsome ★ ★

Holla If I Kill You (2003) – Written and produced by Jeff Carroll ★ ★ ★

Scary Movie 3 (2003) - Written by Marlon and Shawn Wayans

Street Tales of Terror (2004) – Written and directed by J.D. Hawkins ★ ½

The Evil One (2005) – Written and directed by Parris Reaves ★ ★ ★

Damon (2006) – Written, produced, and directed by Eric Richardson-Hagans ★ ★ ½

Gold Digger Killer (2006) – Written and produced by Jeff Carroll ★ ★

Holla (2006) – Written and directed by H.M. Coakley ★ ★ ★ ½

Holla If You Hear Me (2006) – Written, produced, and directed by Mark Harris ★ ★

Office Outbreak (2006) – Written, produced, and directed by Shawn Woodard ★ ★ ★

Scary Movie 4 (2006) - Written by Marlon and Shawn Wayans

Voodoo Curse: The Giddeh (2006) - Written and directed by Glenn Plummer; produced by Glenn Plummer, Kristin Bernard, and Kira Madallo Sesay ★ ★

April Fools (2007) – Written, produced, and directed by Nancy Norman ★ ★ ½

Bleeding Rose (2007) – Written, produced, and directed by Kareem Bland ★ ★

Dead Tone (2007) - Written and directed by Brian Hooks and Deon Taylor

Insane in the Brain (2007) – Written, produced, and directed by Chad Hendricks

Somebody Help Me (2007) – Written, produced, and directed by Chris Stokes ★ ★ ★ ½

Soulful (2007) – Written and directed by Sarah Poindexter ★ ½

Hospitality (2008) – Written and directed by Tony Ducret ★ ★ ★

Nite Tales: The Movie (2008) - Written, directed, and produced by Deon Taylor ★ ★

The Figurine (2009) – Directed by Kunle Afolayan

The Inheritance (2011) – Written and directed by Robert O'Hara ★ ★ �� ½

Bigfoot: The Lost Coast Tapes (2012) – Produced and directed by Cory Grant ★ ★ ★

Guardian of Eden (aka The Good Wifey) (2012) - Written by Huriyyah Muhammad and Ali Lillard, directed by T. A. Williams, and produced by Huriyyah Muhammad, Kande Tshibanda, Tangi Miller, and Godwin Bernard ★ ★

A Haunted House (2013) – Written and produced by Marlon Wayans ★ ½

Holla II (2013) – Written and directed by H. M. Coakley ★ ★

Ghetto Goblin (aka Blood Tikoleshe) (2013) - Written and directed by Jordan Harland

Scary Movie 5 (2013) – Written by Marlon and Shawn Wayans, and directed by Malcolm D. Lee

A Haunted House 2 (2014) - Written and produced by Marlon Wayans ★

The Night Seekers (2014) – Written, produced, and directed by Menetie T. Ejeye ★ ★

Not Another Zombie Movie (2014) – Written by Jay Davis, and directed by Jack Johnson and Don Williams

Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2015) – Written, produced, and directed by Spike Lee (A remake of Ganja & Hess)

Ojuju (2015) – Written, produced, and directed by C.J. “Fiery” Obasi ★ ★ ★ ½

Prom Ride (2015) – Written, produced, and directed by Kazeem Molake ★ ★ ★

But Deliver Us From Evil (2017) - Written, directed, and produced by Joshua Coates ★ ★ ★ ½

Fixation (2017) - Written by Bobby Peoples and Kenya Hendricks; directed by Renee S. Warren Peoples ★ ★ ★

Get Out (2017) – Written, produced, and directed by Jordan Peele (Academy Award winner for Best Original Screenplay) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Paranormal Evil (2017) – Written and produced by ShaRhonda ‘Roni’ Brown, and directed by Akil Pugh

Fatima's Revenge (2018) - Produced, written, and directed by Gerald Barclay

The First Purge (2018) - Directed by Gerard McMurray ★ ★ ★ ★

Moma’s Spirit (2018) – Written, produced, and directed by Robert L. Parker III

Out of Gas (2018) – Written, produced, and directed by Michael Lemelle, and co-directed by April Marcell

Tales From the Hood 2 (2018) – Written, produced, and directed by Rusty Cundieff and Darin Scott ★ ★ ★ ½

Traffik (2018) – Written, produced, and directed by Deon Taylor ★ ★ ½

Fixation 2: Uprising (2019) - written by Bobby Peoples; directed by Bobby Peoples and Renee S. Warren Peoples

Frequent Visitors (2019) - Written by Andrea Tyler and directed by Moe McCoy

The Intruder (2019) - Directed by Deon Taylor ★ ★ ★ ★

Living in Bondage: Breaking Free (2019) – Directed by Ramsey Nouah

Saving You, Saving Me (2019) – Written, directed, and produced by Tina Jetter

Sweetheart (2019) – Written and directed by J. D. Dillard

Thriller (2019) – Written and directed by Dallas Jackson ★ ★ ★

The Tokoloshe (2019) - Written and directed by Jerome Pikwane ★ ★ ★ ★

Us (2019) – Written, directed, and produced by Jordan Peele ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Antebellum (2020) - Co-written and co-directed by Gerard Bush ★ ★

Bad Hair (2020) - Produced, written, and directed by Justin Simien ★ ★ ★

Black Box (2020) - Written and directed by Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour ★ ★ ★ ★ ½

Body Cam (2020) - Directed by Malik Vitthal ★ ★ ★

Candyman (2020) – Written and produced by Jordan Peele; directed by Nia DaCosta

Don’t Look Back (2020) - Produced, written, and directed by Jeffrey Reddick ★ ★ ★

His House (2020) - Written and directed by Remi Weekes ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Tales from the Hood 3 (2020) - Written and directed by Rusty Cundieff and Darin Scott ★ ★ ★

I hope anyone reading enjoyed this list as much as I enjoyed putting it together. And, again--I highly recommend paying a visit to BlackHorrorMovies.com, as there are also numerous essays to read, and lengthy lists detailing black actors and actresses that have worked in the horror genre.

Lastly, I highly recommend checking out the Shudder documentary,

Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (2019), directed by Xavier Burgin

or the book it was based on,

Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present, by Robin R. Means Coleman.

[tribeca]

We're spotlighting and celebrating black women directors every single day of Women's History Month. Throughout the month of March, you'll continue to see tributes to films by everyone from Neema Barnette and Anne-Laure Folly to Alile Sharon Larkin and today's groundbreaking filmmaker, Kathleen Collins.

Today we pay tribute to Collins's 1982 landmark, Losing Ground. Collins’s bravura filmmaking style was as sensuous as it was erudite. In this, her lone feature and a milestone production, Collins externalizes the interior transformation of a philosophy professor redetermining what she desires from life.

[mazqueen]

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS – When Lina (guest star Diane Guerrero) comes to town, Jane (Gina Rodriguez) is excited to see her until Lina asks her for a favor.  Rafael (Justin Baldoni) begins to work with Petra (Yael Grobglas) again but old tensions create new problems between them.  Rogelio (Jaime Camil) creates a plan to pressure the network to pick-up his pilot. Meanwhile, Jane and Rafael have been looking for a solution to one of their problems and think Alba (Ivonne Coll) just might be the answer.  Andrea Navedo also stars. Neema Barnette directed the episode written by Liz Sczudlo & Madeline Hendricks (#514). Original airdate 6/26/2019.