![]() ![]() Yet Micheaux has yet to be recognized in any way by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, aka the most famous and prestigious organization in the film world. ![]() Considering the racial tenor of the times, it’s certainly apropos to wonder how a Black man of very humble roots, with a limited education, and virtually no technical or artistic training, became a filmmaker of note and created a film production company with a reputation that endured - until it didn’t. He financed those movies any way he could - including, incredibly, selling stock in his company to white farmers in South Dakota. Like Hitchcock, he often cameoed in his own work. The child of a former slave, and America’s preeminent Black filmmaker for almost three decades, Micheaux started the Micheaux Film Corporation and made about 44 films, often as writer, director, and producer. His “nothing is impossible” self-sufficiency, and the DIY nature of his films (arguably anointing him the first independent filmmaker) paved the way for indies that would follow. Micheaux produced and directed films at a time when Black people were still considered (by a virulently racist white establishment) undeserving of their humanity, let alone the freedom to tell their own stories. Wes Anderson's Best Shots: 30 Perfect Images That Define His Career Mario Van Peebles on His Father's Greatest Legacy: 'He Put Black Power on the Screen for the First Time' 'Something Good - Negro Kiss': Solving Its Historical Mystery and How to Account for 'Lost' Black Films ![]() As the HFPA faces a major reckoning over its diversity issues, and the awards infrastructure faces major questions about representation, Micheaux’s underappreciated legacy is worth another visit. And still, Micheaux’s impact hasn’t been fully measured and recognized by Hollywood. It’s been 90 years since he became the first Black filmmaker to produce a sound feature film with “The Exile ” it’s been 70 years since his death. The most prolific and tireless voice during this period was Oscar Micheaux, who blazed trails in Black American cinema beginning with his 1919 feature debut, “The Homesteader,” the first feature film written and directed by an African American. From the “uplift” films of the 1910s, produced via initiatives at the Tuskegee and Hampton Institutes, to the naturalistic shorts made by William Foster in Chicago, and the work of the Lincoln Motion Picture Company - the first Black-owned film production enterprise in the United States - there was no shortage of examples. As Hollywood took shape in the early half of the 20th century, Black directors were already looking for ways to push back on prevailing stereotypes. Black filmmakers have struggled for representation as long as the movies have existed. ![]()
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