Black Girl Film Club

We finally gave in to you, the listeners, and answered a request. In this episode, we review Freeway (1996), a loose adaptation on Red Riding Hooding directed by Matthew Bright and starring Reese Witherspoon and Kiefer Sutherland and Freeway II: Confessions of a Trick Baby (1999), its Hansel and Gretel-esque sequel directed again by Matthew Bright and starring Natasha Lyonne and Vincent Gallo. Thi...

We dap up the spirits and give our first impressions on Talk to Me (2023), directed by Danny and Michael Philippou and starring Sophie Wilde, Alexandra Jansen, Joe Bird, and Miranda Otto. This week's recommendations: Sissy (2022), Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975, 2018) Support your girls with a ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub

In this brand new Rough Cut, we *finally* give first impressions on the cutest rom-com of the year, Rye Lane (2023) directed by Raine Allen-MIller and starring David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah. In this episode, we discuss British rom-coms, breakups, and being Iconic™. This week's recommendations: Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Lost City (2022), The Perfect Find (2023), Nick and Norah's Infinite Playl...

Hi Barbie! Join us on the Barbieland Disco Dancefloor for the movie event of the year, Barbie (2023) directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, and America Ferrera. In this episode, we talk existential crises, the homoeroticism of the patriarchy, and growing up with Barbie. This week's recommendation: The Brady Bunch Movie(1995) and Singin' in the Rain (1952) Check out Gret...

We're going back under the sea and giving our first impressions of The Little Mermaid (2023), directed by Rob Marshall and starring Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, Javier Bardem, and Melissa McCarthy. In this episode, we wonder........just what the hell Disney is doing? This week's recommendation: Ponyo (2008) Support your girls with a ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our s...

We're back with a bonus episode for Pride Month! For this edition of In the Studio With, we're joined by writer Mimi Stringfield to talk about The Doom Generation (1995), directed by Gregg Araki and starring Rose McGowan, James Duval, and Johnathon Schaech. In this episode, we talk about Araki's polarizing output and his Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy, love and self discovery on road trip through Hell...

It's a party!!! This week, we're celebrating our 100th episode with The Incredibly Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995) directed by Maria Maggenti and starring Nicole Ari Parker and Laurel Holloman. In this episode we talk about the film's difficult production shoot, first loves, self-discovery in the mid-90s, and the troubles facing queer youth today. Check out Ashley's Queer Cinema list on Lett...

Happy Pride! This week, we review groundbreaking piece of modern indie filmmaking, The Watermelon Woman (1996) directed by Cheryl Dunye and starring Cheryl Dunye, Guinevere Turner, Valarie Walker, and Lisa Marie Bronson. The Watermelon Woman follows Cheryl, a video store clerk and filmmaker, on her search for the identity of a 1930s actress known only as The Watermelon Woman. This movie is conside...

On this special episode, we're joined by poet Maya Williams to discuss depression, Black girlhood, and creating our own eden in The Secret Life of Bees (2008) directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and starring Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Sophie Okenedo, and Alicia Keys. Our recommendations: In the Pockets of Small Gods by Anis Mojgani, The Woman King (2022) Judas & Suicide, Maya's...

It's the second half of Mermay and we're back with a different spin on the human and fish as lovers trope with The Shape of Water (2017) directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Sally Hawkins, Doug Jones, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Octavia Spencer. In this episode, we discuss del Toro's love of Universal Monsters and his religious inspiration, and finding love and...

Happy Mermay, friends! For absolutely NO reason at all we've decided to find love under the sea with Splash (1984) directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, Eugene Levy, and John Candy. In this episode, we look at Disney's dark ages (aka the 1980s) and the Born Sexy Yesterday trope, marvel at Splash's practical effects, and Britney reveals her love and knowledge of mermaid cultu...

Secure the perimeter! We're back with part 2 of our Starring Divas theme with 1992's iconic film, The Bodyguard, directed by Mick Jackson and starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston as Rachel, a pop star who falls in love with the bodyguard that's been hired to protect her from a seemingly deranged fan. In this episode, we talk about the chemistry between Whitney and Kevin, the perils of pop st...

In this episode, we welcome film critic Marya E. Gates to the studio to talk about Mississippi Masala (1991), directed by MIra Nair and starring Sarita Choudhury, Denzel Washington, Roshan Seth, and Sharmila Tagore. Mississippi Masala tells the story of Mina, and Ugandan-Indian woman whose family has settled in Greenwood, Mississippi after being displaced by General Idi Amin, and her budding roman...

We're back with part 1 of our r&b/pop diva double feature with Mahogany (1975), directed by Berry Gordy and starring THE BOSS, Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams, and Anthony Perkins. In this episode, we dive into this groundbreaking movie and Diana's career as a Supreme, 1970s racism and masculinity, and, of course, fashion. This week's recommendations: The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Lady Sings the Bl...

We're back with part 2 of our 2023 Oscars coverage! In this episode, we look at the efforts taken to diversify the Oscars in the present day and pick our Big Five before Sunday's award ceremony, before diving into our movie: Ruben Ostlund's Triangle of Sadness (2022), a Best Picture nominee that attempts to make a statement on class, beauty, and equality. Triangle of Sadness stars Harris Dickinson...

It's Oscar season here at Black Girl Film Club and we're celebrating the most chaotic night in movies with a look at pre-code Oscar winner It Happened One Night (1934) directed by Frank Capra and starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. In this episode, we discover the origins of the Academy Awards and the Hays Code and their impact on the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood and how we view movie...

On this new edition of the Rough Cut, we're doing something a little different: a book review! In this episode, we analyze The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar (Gallery Books, Saga Press) written by Horror Noire's Dr. Robin Means Coleman and Mark H. Harris. The Black Guy Dies First traces Black horror history from its modern breakthrough with 1968's Spider Baby and Ni...

We're back with another Black Classic! Today's episode is all about Boomerang (1992) directed by Reginald Hudlin and starring Eddie Murphy, Halle Berry, Robin Givens, Martin Lawrence, David Allen Grier, Grace Jones, Eartha Kitt. Boomerang isn't often counted in the rom-com canon but we're here to give it its due. In this ep, we talk Eddie Murphy's turn as a romantic lead, the perils of relationshi...

Five years ago, we here at Black Girl Film Club dropped our first episode on a Black Classic, House Party (1990) and wondered when we'd get another great high school party film. This February, we've come full circle with House Party (2023), directed by Calmatic and starring Tosin Cole, Jacob Latimore, Karen Obilom, Scott Mescudi, and Lebron James. Does this latest installment (and possibly a cover...

We did it, guys. We made it to the end of this heinous year. In this episode, we look back on what is probably the longest year ever recorded and discuss our favorite and least favorite movies of 2022 (featuring some great answers from you, the listeners!). Support us with a Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Follow us on Twitter twitter.com/blkgirlfilmclub. Check us out on Instagram www.instagram...

Ho ho ho! This week on Black Girl Film Club, step under the mistletoe with us as we finally dip our toes into the Holiday TV Movie Industrial Complex with Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas (2019) starring Aisha Dee, Kendrick Sampson, Kimiko Glenn, Jazz Raycole, and Missi Pyle. In this episode, we investigate the growing popularity of holiday TV movies and their diverse casts (or lack thereof), and...

Hotcha! Whoopee! This week on Black Girl Film Club, we're diving into the world of jazz, murder, liquor, and infamy in Chicago (2002), directed by Rob Marshall and starring Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta Jones, Queen Latifah, Richard Gere, and John C. Reilly. In this episode, we take another look at the legendary work of Bob Fosse—this time directed and choreographed by Rob Marshall—and explore f...

Five, six, seven, eight…On this week’s episode of Black Girl Film Club, Ashley and Britney are talking the life and legacy of Bob Fosse—we mean Joe Gideon in Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz (1979), directed by Bob Fosse and starring Roy Scheider, Jessica Lange, Leland Palmer, and Ann Reinking. Your favorite podcast hosts discuss musicals, the legendary Bob Fosse and his impact on dance and the film indu...

Warning: This film contains some descriptions of sexual assault. We talk about them briefly and give warning during the episode, but feel free to skip those sections (56:00- 1:03:00 in this episode)if necessary! We're back with some more found footage from deep in the forest! In this episode we discuss Creep (2014) directed by Patrick Brice and starring Brice and Mark Duplass. We take a day trip u...

Hey, come see this! We just happened to find a couple of video tapes in the woods! On this week’s episode, we discuss Blair Witch (2016) directed by Adam Wingard and starring James Allen McCune, Callie Hernandez, Brandon Scott, Corbin Reid, Valerie Curry, and Wes Robinson. Your favorite twig figures bound in twine—I mean, podcast hosts—discuss the lore of the Blair Witch, the found footage genre,...