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Creator
Black Filmmaker Foundation
Call number
Sc MIRS Black 2018
Physical description
1 audio_recording. 715 video_recordings
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Black Filmmaker Foundation collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library
Sponsor
An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection, and a grant from the Mellon Foundation supported the digitization.
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
Access to materials
Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.

The Black Filmmaker Foundation (BFF) is a nonprofit membership organization co-founded and led by filmmaker Warrington Hudlin. The Black Filmmaker Foundation collection consists of 715 moving image recordings and one sound recording created from 1971 to 2004, with the bulk of the collection created in the 1980s and 1990s. The collection includes films, demo reels, music videos, and other media produced by Black Filmmaker Foundation members and collaborators, as well as recordings of the organization's public programs.

Biographical/historical information

The Black Filmmaker Foundation (BFF) is a nonprofit membership organization founded in 1978 by filmmaker Warrington Hudlin (July 16, 1952 -) and his fellow Yale alumni Alric Nembhard and George Cunningham. Helmed by Hudlin since its founding, the organization has sought to distribute Black-made films outside of theatrical release, and foster relationships and dialogue between Black filmmakers and audiences. BFF has worked with, promoted, and collected the work of generations of filmmakers, including Neema Barnette, Steven Torriano Berry, and Spike Lee. As described in a 2002 Variety article, "[f]or more than two decades, BFF has played a pivotal role in the emergence of the contemporary Black film movement." The organization continues to operate a professional network for performers and production professionals of color.

Scope and arrangement

The collection consists of 715 moving image recordings and one sound recording created from 1971 to 2004, with the bulk of the collection created in the 1980s and 1990s. The collection includes films, demo reels, music videos, and other media produced by Black Filmmaker Foundation members and collaborators, as well as recordings of the organization's public programs. In addition to Black arts, style, and culture, recurring subjects in the collection include responses to gang and gun violence, the 1992 Los Angeles uprising, the AIDS crisis, and relationships between Black men and women.

The collection is arranged in four series. When available, directors and other production credits, derived from sources including title cards, IMDB, and Worldcat, are included in each item's content note.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Black Filmmaker Foundation, 2018.

Processing information

Collection inventoried by Traci Mark. Collection processed and described by Anika Paris, archivist; and Shola Lynch, curator. Finding aid published in 2023.

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Third Floor

Access to materials

Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.