• Celebrity
    • Of The Essence
    • Celebrity News
    • If Not For My Girls
    • The State Of R&B
    • Time Of Essence
  • Fashion
    • 2023 Best In Black Fashion Awards
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • Red Carpet
    • Fashion News
    • Accessories
  • Beauty
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
    • 2023 Best In Black Beauty
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Hair
  • Lifestyle
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
    • Bridal Bliss
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
  • Entrepreneurship
    • Money & Career
    • SOKO MRKT
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Shopping
    • Essence Holiday Gift Guide 2023
  • Video
  • Events
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
  • Studios
  • Girls United

WHERE BLACK CULTURE, COMMUNITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS MEET

Sign up for ESSENCE Newsletters the keep the Black women at the forefront of conversation.

Your email is required.
Your email is in invalid format.
Confirm email is required.
Email did not match.
Select the newsletters you'd like to receive:
Please select at least one option.
By clicking Subscribe Now, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • Of The Essence
    • Celebrity News
    • If Not For My Girls
    • The State Of R&B
    • Time Of Essence
  • Fashion
    • 2023 Best In Black Fashion Awards
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • Red Carpet
    • Fashion News
    • Accessories
  • Beauty
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
    • 2023 Best In Black Beauty
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Hair
      • Hair News
      • Natural
      • Relaxed
      • Transitioning
      • Weave
      • 4C
  • Lifestyle
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
    • Bridal Bliss
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
  • Entrepreneurship
    • Money & Career
    • SOKO MRKT
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Shopping
    • Essence Holiday Gift Guide 2023
  • Video
  • Events
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Home • Film Festivals

17 Must-See Films With Black Star Power at This Year's Sundance Film Festival

This year's Sundance Film Festival premieres include biopics on Nat Turner and Miles Davis, documenatries on Maya Angelou Michael Jackson, and a retelling of President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama's first date. Here are our picks of films to check out at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
By Lapacazo Sandoval · Updated October 27, 2020
01
Birth of A Nation

Written and directed by actor Nate Parker, Birth of A Nation is set in the antebellum South where literate slave and preacher Nat Turner (Nate Parker) devises a plan to lead his people to freedom. Co-starring Aja Naomi King, Gabrielle Union, Armie Hammer, Jackie Earle Haley, and Mark Boone Jr.

17 Must-See Films With Black Star Power at This Year’s Sundance Film Festival
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
02
Miles Ahead

Director and co-written by Don Cheadle, Miles Ahead is inspired by events in the late legendary jazz trumpeter/composer Miles Davis’s life, this is a wildly entertaining no holds barred portrait of one of music’s creative geniuses.

17 Must-See Films With Black Star Power at This Year’s Sundance Film Festival
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
03
Southside with You

This charming film, written and directed by Richard Tanne, chronicles a single day in the summer of 1989 when Barack Obama, future President of the United States, wooed his future First Lady on an epic first date across Chicago’s South Side. Starring Tika Sumpter, Parker Sawyers, Vanessa Bell Calloway.

17 Must-See Films With Black Star Power at This Year’s Sundance Film Festival
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
04
As You Are

This telling, and retelling, of a relationship between three teenagers traces the course of their friendship through a construction of disparate memories prompted by a police investigation. Starring Amandla Stenberg.

17 Must-See Films With Black Star Power at This Year’s Sundance Film Festival
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
05
Michael Jackson’s Journey from Motown to Off the Wall

Through rare archival footage and interviews director Spike Lee traces Jackson’s trajectory from child star to “King of Pop” which culminated in the release of his 1979 solo album, “Off The Wall.”

17 Must-See Films With Black Star Power at This Year’s Sundance Film Festival
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
06
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise

For Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, directors Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack tell the remarkable story of Maya Angelou—iconic writer, poet, actress, and activist—whose life has intersected some of the most profound moments in recent American history.

17 Must-See Films With Black Star Power at This Year’s Sundance Film Festival
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
07
How To Tell You’re A Douchebag

Written and directed by Tahir Jetter, this engaging romantic comedy follows a misogynist who falls head-over-heels in love. Starring Charles Brice, DeWanda Wise, William Jackson Harper, Alexander Mulzac, Jenna Williams, and Tonye Patano.

17 Must-See Films With Black Star Power at This Year’s Sundance Film Festival
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
08
Mr. Pig

Mr. Pig is a road movie about an aged farmer (Danny Glover) who smuggles his last prized hog into Mexico and ends up reunited with his estranged daughter (Maya Rudolph).

17 Must-See Films With Black Star Power at This Year’s Sundance Film Festival
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
09
The Land

Four passionate teenage boys devote their summer to escaping the gritty streets of Cleveland, Ohio, by pursuing a dream life of professional skateboarding. But when they get caught in the dangerous web of the local queenpin, their motley brotherhood is tested, threatening to make this summer their last. Starring Michael K. Williams, Erykah Badu, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Moises Arias, Rafi Gavron, Ezri Walker.

17 Must-See Films With Black Star Power at This Year’s Sundance Film Festival
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
10
Sleight

A young street magician turns to dealing drugs to help his little sister who has been kidnapped. Starring Jacob Latimore, Dulé Hill.

17 Must-See Films With Black Star Power at This Year’s Sundance Film Festival
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
11
Kiki

Director Sara Jordenö follows LGBTQ youth of color who have created a safe space in a complex world through the transformative art of voguing. Through an intimate and visually daring lens, these young people demand happiness and political power.

17 Must-See Films With Black Star Power at This Year’s Sundance Film Festival
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
12
O.J.: Made in America

O.J.: Made in America is a 7-1/2-hour documentary miniseries by ESPN Films that looks at O.J. Simpson’s rise and fall, through the prisms of race and celebrity. The full miniseries will be shown, followed by an extended Q&A.

17 Must-See Films With Black Star Power at This Year’s Sundance Film Festival
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
13
United Shades of America

Political comedian W. Kamau Bell explores the racial subcultures of America for this CNN original series premiering at Sundance. In one episode he uses humor to challenge Klansmen looking to rebrand their message.

17 Must-See Films With Black Star Power at This Year’s Sundance Film Festival
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
14
The Fit

The Fit is a haunting coming-to-age story about a tomboyish preteen boxer trying to be assimilated into a tight knit dance team. Starring Royalty Hightower, Alexis Neblett, Da’Sean Minor, Makyla Burnam, Inayah Rodgers.

17 Must-See Films With Black Star Power at This Year’s Sundance Film Festival
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
15
Morris From America

Thirteen-year-old Morris (Markees Christmas), a hip-hop loving American, moves to Heidelberg, Germany, with his father (Craig Robinson). In this completely foreign land, he falls in love with a local girl, befriends his German tutor-turned-confidant, and attempts to navigate the unique trials and tribulations of adolescence.

17 Must-See Films With Black Star Power at This Year’s Sundance Film Festival
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
16
Hard World for Small Things

This drama transports you to a day in the life of a tight-knit community in South Central Los Angeles. Directed by Janicza Bravo; starring Keith Stanfield, Brandon Scott, Idara Victor, Jodie Smith.

17 Must-See Films With Black Star Power at This Year’s Sundance Film Festival
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
17
Dirt

His Spike Lee-produced documentary Evolution of a Criminal was a sleeper hit on the festival circuit last year and tracked his journey from bank robber to filmmaker. Here, director Darius Clark Monroe shifts back to the narrative arena he explored in previous short films with a project described simply as, “Some things must die to live.” Aided by Daniel Patterson’s cinematography (he shot Lee’s Da Sweet Blood of Jesus as well), this curiosity is worth anticipating for the talent behind the camera alone.

17 Must-See Films With Black Star Power at This Year’s Sundance Film Festival
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now