I've seen countless shows, both recent and old, and these are all of the ones I've rated an 8/10 or higher, so the ones I enjoyed the most and consider the cream of the crop.

.....so far, at least. 

It's no secret that I love Asian cinema. 

I remember when I was a kid I used to rent all kinds of Asian action movies, usually starring Jackie Chan, and since then I've seen all kinds of Asian films, ranging from thrillers to animated features to comedies to dramas to horror, and the list goes on. Whether it's Japanese films, Chinese films, Korean films, etc, I have rarely ever hated an Asian film I've seen. I have my least favorites like everybody else, of course, but compared to, say, American cinema, there are very few Asian films I truly despise. I usually find something to take away from even the more mindless ones. 

Anyway, here are my favorites so far. Like all my other lists, I plan to update this one as frequently as I watch.......well, Asian films. The list isn't ranked, as it would take me forever to put them in order of preference.

Check out my anime list as well: http://www.imdb.com/list/vwJ-rgJEp5E/

Yûko Genkaku, Hikari Mitsushima, Takahiro Nishijima, Sakura Andô, and Sô Hirosawa in Love Exposure (2008)

Megumi Hayashibara, Unshô Ishizuka, Aoi Tada, and Kôichi Yamadera in Cowboy Bebop (1998)

Ever wonder why you rarely hear about "iconic" or "classic" black films? Ever wonder why black cinema is so marginalized and rarely talked about? Ever wonder why most black films are so hard to find or lost forever? Well, I'll tell you why.....

Because very few people care about black films, unfortunately. Likely not you, not your mother, not your father, and most likely not your friends either. The majority of non-black films, on the other hand, have pretty much been preserved forever, and people usually go to extra lengths to ensure that many of the lost non-black films don't stay lost for long. Far too many black films, specifically classic black films, have been ignored altogether because the people of that time likely figured that future generations wouldn't care to see such films, and thus, most classic black films are lost for all eternity. You can read about them, but you can't touch them, feel them, see them, or even get close to them. Instead, the people who truly want to see everything black cinema has to offer have to search ten times as hard compared to if they were trying to find any other type of film. This can become incredibly frustrating for cinephiles who make it their goal to see nearly everything from everybody all around the world. But, it's most frustrating to black movie fans who want to get closer to their own culture through the films their own people have made. Even such filmmakers as Ousmane Sembene and Charles Burnett, who have a couple of films widely available to the public, also have a bunch of films they've made that aren't available anywhere to see unless you do some serious digging. 

It's definitely the fault of society as a whole, and history's blatant marginalization of black film........well, let's be honest, anything black. A lot of people, whether in power or not in power, simply don't value black films much. It's not just black films made by black filmmakers either, it's black films, period. You can't even see 40 percent of them if you tried, really. Many of these films likely lacked support from their own people as well when they were released in theaters, so those same folks aren't safe from some of the blame either. 

One question that often lingers in my mind is, "Why does Criterion only have less than a handful of black titles in their collection?" Why 'Touki Bouki" but no "Hyenas" or "Badou Boy" in their collection, arguably superior films made by the same director? Why 'Do the Right Thing" but not "Malcolm X" or the very influential "She's Gotta Have It"?  See, even Criterion is biased towards black film, which further proves my point, yet they've flooded their catalog with non-black films of all categories. We're being neglected important pieces of film history.

With that said, I present to those of you who do care my personal list of black cinema gems; many of these are relatively well known but the majority are unknown and overlooked films the general public isn't familiar with. My main intention was making a list of pretty much all the ones I consider at least solid, so that includes favorites and non-favorites. I haven't seen everything, so this is just a reflection of what I have seen, which is more than the average person but still a lot less than I want to see.

The main criteria was, the film had to be at least decent and deal with some sort of black theme or have a black sensibility and have either a single or multiple black main characters. But, here's the catch; Any film made by a black filmmaker that I felt was above average automatically went on the list even if the cast was white because black filmmakers deserve just as much credit for the films they make that aren't closely tied to their culture, which is arguably a lot tougher to do. The ones made by non-black filmmakers obviously had to fall in line with the first rule of my criteria. 

Like I said above, most black films, specifically early black films, are impossible to find and not available anywhere to the public, and even many of the newer black independent films become incredibly difficult to see unless you go to black film festivals, which I highly recommend doing since they usually contain some real gems. The Pan African Film Festival in particular is wonderful. Every black person or person in general interested in black film should make it their duty to go to that festival whenever it's nearby. I was lucky enough to go recently since it was in my hometown of Los Angeles, and it was very refreshing and exciting seeing all the unique and diverse films from all kinds of new black talent and participating in the Q&A sessions afterwards. Back to my first point: that's why there are only a few pre-60's entries on the list. I don't count on that changing anytime soon, but hey, miracles happen, don't they? 

My favorite Black films not listed on IMDb:

"The Drive-by" by The Hughes Brothers

"You Know Leadbelly" by Wendell B. Harris Jr.

"First World Festival of Negro Arts" by William Greaves

This is the big one; the greatest movies of all time.

This is definitely NOT a ranked list, though. I very much dislike the whole idea of "ranked" lists because all they do is give you unneeded stress and force you to change your rankings around a million times until you think you got them right - which is obviously never. Some may find that fun, but I think it's a big waste of time and energy. And time is something I severely lack these days. 

African cinema has always fascinated me. The culture, the general atmosphere, the stories, and everything else that surrounds them is just so unique and refreshing compared to all the other types of movies out there. Plus, being able to see my own people portray complex, multi-layered characters that Hollywood would never offer them certainly doesn't hurt its appeal either. 

The understated way that most Africans tell their stories on film appeals to me a lot, and a lot of the films themselves are very original and have a distinct mysticism that compells you to dig deeper, but not at the sacrifice of great character development and heartfelt emotion. If there's any form of cinema that feels almost completely devoid of pretentiousness, it's this one. 

This is a list of my favorites, which includes films that weren't necessarily African productions or were made in Africa, but take place in Africa story-wise or happen to involve the continent. Most of them are purely African films from head to toe, though. I will continually update it like all my other lists.

I hate the idea of ranked lists, so this one is pretty loose in that regard.

Not on IMDb:

"Kichwateli" by Muchiri Njenga

"Swirl In Bamako" by Dominique Philippe

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