Why aren’t there more African-American filmmakers in the Criterion Collection, the prestigious Blu-ray/DVD archive of cinema from around the world? That was the question the New York Times reporters Kyle Buchanan and Reggie Ugwu set out to answer this month in a report that examined the archive, prized by cinephiles and film schools alike. Of more than 1,000 titles, only six are by African-Americans. The answer came down to the president of the collection, Peter Becker, who ultimately makes the decisions about which features and artists are included. He said he had personal “blind spots,” and added, “The fact that things are missing, and specifically that Black voices are missing, is harmful, and that’s clear.

Source: New York Times August 28, 2020 20:15 UTC