Props to Criterion

Just over the past year alone, Criterion has done an amazing job at including more black cinema in the collection. I remember around 2020 a couple publications were making a big deal about Criterion having a strong bias for predominantly white/European directors with their new releases. There’s still work to be done (I think some early Spike Lee is in desperate need of joining the catalogue) but in the years since it feels like they’ve upped their game BIG TIME.

Obviously today we got the John Singleton Hood Trilogy, which looks like a fabulous release. But even excluding that, we have House Party coming out later this month, a staple of 90s black cinema, as well as releases for independent classics like Killer of Sheep and Compensation. Shit, we even got The Wiz in 4K!

And that’s just from the past year! Since 2020, Criterion has additionally released Deep Cover (an all time favorite of mine), Menace II Society (with the initial batch of 4Ks nonetheless), Cooley High, and huge boxsets for Marlon Riggs and Melvin van Peebles, two absolute legends. That’s just off the top of my head, I’m sure there’s even more I’m forgetting.

Love this effort from Criterion to respond to critics and give these touchstone films the releases they deserve. Really hoping they keep this up in the future, a Dead Presidents 4K would be awesome!