Another month, another Criterion Channel lineup. In accordance with Black History Month their selections are especially refreshing: seven by Melvin Van Peebles, five from Kevin Jerome Everson, and Criterion editions of The Harder They Come and The Learning Tree.

Regarding individual features I’m quite happy to see Abderrahmane Sissako’s fantastic Bamako, last year’s big Sundance winner (and Kosovo’s Oscar entry) Hive, and the remarkably beautiful Portuguese feature The Metamorphosis of Birds. Add a three-film Laura Dern collection (including the recently canonized Smooth Talk) and Pasolini’s rarely shown documentary Love Meetings to make this a fine smorgasboard.

See the full list of February titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.

Alan & Naomi, Sterling Van Wagenen, 1992

All That Heaven Allows, Douglas Sirk, 1955

The Angel Levine, Ján Kadár, 1970

Babylon, Franco Rosso, 1980

Babymother, Julian Henriques, 1998

Bamako, Abderrahmane Sissako, 2006

Beat Street, Stan Lathan, 1984

Blacks Britannica, David Koff, 1978

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Stanley Nelson, 2015

The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords, Stanley Nelson, 1999

Bright Road, Gerald Mayer, 1953

Cake Walk, Ulysses Jenkins, 1983

Chez Jolie Coiffure, Rosine Mbakam, 2018

Citizen Ruth, Alexander Payne, 1996**

Company Line, Kevin Jerome Everson, 2009 

Death on the Nile, John Guillermin, 1978

Delphine’s Prayers, Rosine Mbakam, 2021

A Different Image, Alile Sharon Larkin, 1982

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Luis Buñuel, 1972

Don’t Play Us Cheap, Melvin Van Peebles, 1972

Dream City, Ulysses Jenkins, 1983

Ears, Nose and Throat, Kevin Jerome Everson, 2016

Erie, Kevin Jerome Everson, 2010

Far from Heaven, Todd Haynes, 2002

Feathers, A. V. Rockwell, 2018

Floyd Norman: An Animated Life, Michael Fiore and Erik Sharkey, 2016

Freedom Summer, Stanley Nelson, 2014

Glenville, Kevin Jerome Everson and Kahlil Pedizisai, 2020

The Harder They Come, Perry Henzell, 1972

The Heartland, Marquise Mays, 2021

Hive, Blerta Basholli, 2021

How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It), Joe Angio, 2005

IFO, Kevin Jerome Everson, 2017

Imitation of Life, Douglas Sirk, 1959

Inconsequential Doggereal, Ulysses Jenkins, 1981

Kansas City, Robert Altman, 1996**

The Learning Tree, Gordon Parks, 1969

Les cinq cent balles, Melvin Van Peebles, 1963

Lost Horizon, Frank Capra, 1937

Love Meetings, Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1964

Magnificent Obsession, Douglas Sirk, 1954

Mass of Images, Ulysses Jenkins, 1978

The Metamorphosis of Birds, Catarina Vasconcelos, 2020

Mississippi Mermaid, François Truffaut, 1969

The Movement of Things, Manuela Serra, 1985

Mutual Native Duplex, Ulysses Jenkins, 1990

Native Son, Pierre Chenal, 1951

The Nomadics, Ulysses Jenkins, 1991

No Place Like Home, Perry Henzell, 2006

Notions of Freedom, Ulysses Jenkins, 2007

Odds Against Tomorrow, Robert Wise, 1959

Omega Rising Women of Rastafari, D. Elmina Davis, 1988

Personal Best, Robert Towne, 1982

Pier Kids, Elegance Bratton, 2019

A Place of Our Own, Stanley Nelson, 2004

Planet X, Ulysses Jenkins, 2006

Rambling Rose, Martha Coolidge, 1991

A Reggae Session, Stephanie Bennett and Thomas Adelman, 1988

Remnants of the Watts Festival, Ulysses Jenkins, 1980

Rockers, Theodoros Bafaloukos, 1978

Running on Empty, Sidney Lumet, 1988

Self Divination, Ulysses Jenkins, 1989

Shaft, Gordon Parks, 1971

Sound That, Kevin Jerome Everson, 2014

The Square, Ruben Östlund, 2017**

The Story of a Three Day Pass, Melvin Van Peebles, 1967

Sun Children, Majid Majidi, 2020

Sunlight, Melvin Van Peebles, 1957 

Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, Melvin Van Peebles, 1971 

Tell Them We Are Rising, Stanley Nelson and Marco Williams, 2017

Three Pickup Men for Herrick, Melvin van Peebles, 1957

The Two Faces of a Bamiléké Woman, Rosine Mbakam, 2018

Two-Zone Transfer, Ulysses Jenkins, 1979

The Upsetter: The Life and Music of Lee Scratch Perry, Ethan Higbee and Adam Bhala Lough, 2008

Uptown Saturday Night, Sidney Poitier, 1974

Watermelon Man, Melvin Van Peebles, 1970

We the Ragamuffin, Julian Henriques, 1992

Without Your Interpretation, Ulysses Jenkins, 1983

The World, the Flesh and the Devil, Ranald MacDougall, 1959

Written on the Wind, Douglas Sirk, 1956

Zebrahead, Anthony Drazan, 1992

*Available in the U.S. only

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