An Introduction: Pioneers of African-American Cinema

An Introduction: Pioneers of African-American Cinema (2016)

*** (out of 4)

This seven-minute featurette has interviews with film historians Jacqueline Najuma Stewart and Charles Musser who introduce the Kino boxset Pioneers of African-American Cinema. The two historians discuss the importance of this set and gives us some background history on race cinema in the silent era. We get some nice talk about the research that was put into the product as well as a better understand of these films, why they were produced and why so many of them are now considered lost. If you bought this boxset then you'll certainly want to start off with this introduction, which actually does a very good job at setting the set up for your entertainment and I'd argue it will make you even more interested to get into the actual films. Both Stewart and Musser come across as a couple very knowledgeable people on the subject and they're certainly fun to listen to.