Upcoming Black Films to Watch

SEMBENE

In 1952, Ousmane Sembéne, a dockworker and fifth-grade dropout from Senegal, began dreaming an impossible dream: to become the storyteller for a new Africa. SEMBENE!, a feature-length documentary, tells the unbelievable true story of the “father of African cinema,” the self-taught novelist and filmmaker who fought, against enormous odds, a monumental, 50-year-long battle to give African stories to Africans. SEMBENE! is told through the experiences of the man who knew him best, colleague and biographer Samba Gadjigo, using rare archival footage and more than 100 hours of exclusive materials. A true-life epic, SEMBENE! follows an ordinary man who transforms himself into a fearless spokesperson for the marginalized, becoming a hero to millions. After a startling fall from grace, can Sembéne reinvent himself once more?

SEMBENE trailer from jason silverman on Vimeo.

BEASTS OF NO NATION

Beasts of No Nation is an upcoming American war drama film directed and written by Cary Fukunaga, based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Uzodinma Iweala. The film stars Idris Elba, Ama K. Abebrese, Grace Nortey, David Dontoh and Opeyemi Fagbohungbe. Participant Media and Red Crown Productions are producing, while Netflix will be providing worldwide distribution. The film is scheduled to be released on Netflix globally on October 16, 2015 and the same day, the film will be released in a limited release by Bleecker Street. Beasts of No Nation is a drama based on the experiences of Agu, a child soldier fighting in the civil war of an unnamed African country. It is scheduled to be released on theatres and on Netflix October 16.