Black Movie Hall of Fame (BMHOF) Reveals 100 Best Black Movies Ever: ‘Malcolm X,’ ‘Claudine,’ ‘Hoop Dreams’ and More
Recently, several major outlets including The New York Times, RollingStone, Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb released lists celebrating the best films of the 21st century. One thing was missing from them all: the perspective of how Black people watch, celebrate, and create cinema.
To address this gap, the Black Movie Hall of Fame (BMHOF) reached out to more than 40 of the world’s top Black film critics and entertainment reporters to rank the most important and influential Black films ever made.
“Inspired by the American Film Institute’s 100 Years…100 Movies list, this is our fresh take on some of the best movies ever made,” said Shawn Edwards, executive director of the Black Movie Hall of Fame and longtime film critic at WDAF (Fox 4 News – Kansas City).“What sets this list apart from others is that every film on the list is about the Black experience and curated entirely by Black film critics and entertainment journalists. It’s a list from a completely different perspective than you usually see.”
The list was curated by a panel led by Edwards and included Gil Robertson (African American Film Critics Association), Aramide Tinubu (Variety), Lee Thomas (WJBK-TV in Detroit), Destiny Jackson (Deadline), Emmanuel Noisette (E-Man’s Reviews), Jasmine Simpkins (KTLA-TV in Los Angeles), Wilson Morales (BlackFilmandTV.com) and Kevin Frazier (Entertainment Tonight), along with dozens of other influential Black film critics and entertainment reporters from around the world.
The 100 Best Black Movies Ever
1. “Malcolm X” (1992)
2. “Black Panther” (2018)
3. “Do The Right Thing” (1989)
4. “The Color Purple” (1985)
5. “Moonlight” (2016)
6. “Claudine” (1974)
7. “12 Years a Slave” (2013)
8. “Get Out” (2017)
9. “Sinners” (2025)
10. “Carmen Jones” (1954)
11. “Coming to America” (1988)
12. “Cooley High” (1975)
13. “Sounder” (1972)
14. “Hoop Dreams” (1995)
15. “Super Fly” (1972)
16. “Ray” (2005)
17. “OJ: Made in America” (2016)
18. “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” TV (1974)
19. “American Fiction” (2023)
20. “Boyz n the Hood” (1991)
21. “Richard Pryor: Live in Concert” (1979)
22. “Shaft” (1971)
23. “Hidden Figures” (2016)
24. “Friday” (1995)
25. “Dreamgirls” (2006)
26. “A Raisin in the Sun” (1961)
27. “The Five Heartbeats” (1991)
28. “I Am Not Your Negro” (2016)
29. “Watermelon Man” (1970)
30. “City of God” (2002)
31. “Glory” (1989)
32. “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (2018)
33. “Menace II Society” (1993)
34. “Tsotsi” (2005)
35. “The Emperor Jones” (1933)
36. “Eve’s Bayou” (1997)
37. “Lilies of the Field” (1963)
38. “Soul Food” (1997)
39. “Black Caesar” (1973)
40. “Selma” (2014)
41. “She’s Gotta Have It” (1986)
42. “Island in the Sun” (1957)
43. “In the Heat of the Night” (1967)
44. “Lady Sings the Blues” (1972)
45. “When We Were Kings” (1996)
46. “Love & Basketball” (2000)
47. “What’s Love Got to Do With It” (1993)
48. “The Mack” (1973)
49. “To Sleep With Anger” (1990)
50. “Within Our Gates” (1920)
51. “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” (1971)
52. “Set It Off” (1997)
53. “Waiting to Exhale” (1995)
54. “Straight Outta Compton” (2015)
55. “Blade” (1998)
56. “Devil in a Blue Dress” (1995)
57. “Sonkofa” (1993)
58. “Love Jones” (1997)
59. “A Rage in Harlem” (1991)
60. “A Soldier’s Story” (1984)
61. “A Dry White Season” (1989)
62. “Hollywood Shuffle” (1987)
63. “Black Orpheus” (1959)
64. “Stormy Weather” (1943)
65. “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” (1988)
66. “Cabin in the Sky” (1943)
67. “The Exile” (1931)
68. “Rosewood” (1997)
69. “To Sir, With Love” (1967)
70. “New Jack City” (1991)
71. “House Party” (1990)
72. “The Green Pastures” (1936)
73. “Hotel Rwanda” (2004)
74. “Home of the Brave” (1949)
75. “Hallelujah!” (1929)
76. “Nothing But a Man” (1964)
77. “Purple Rain” (1984)
78. “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge” (1999)
79. “Krush Groove” (1985)
80. “La haine” (1995)
81. “Sugar Cane Alley” (1983)
82. “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Parts” (2006)
83. “Touki Bouki” (1974)
84. “Juice” (1992)
85. “Uptown Saturday Night” (1974)
86. “Bamboozled” (2000)
87. “Killer of Sheep” (1977)
88. “Cotton Comes to Harlem” (1970)
89. “Paris is Burning” (1991)
90. “Daughters of the Dust” (1991)
91. “The Spook Who Sat by the Door” (1973)
92. “Battle of Algiers” (1966)
93. “Precious” (2009)
94. “Miracle in Harlem” (1948)
95. “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” (1967)
96. “Burning an Illusion” (1981).
97. “The Learning Tree” (1969)
98. “Wild Style” (1982)
99. “Black Girl” (1966)
100. “The Princess and the Frog” (2009)
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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