Black Hollywood: 'They've Gotta Have Us'

The Oscar-winning Moonlight became a symbol for black cinema, a revolutionary moment when black film-makers could identify when diversity and inclusion really started to take over the industry. To try and understand how we got to this moment, the film takes us back on a journey of discovery with three of the most revered and celebrated professionals to have graced the silver screen - Harry Belafonte, Earl Cameron and Diahann Carroll.

Inspired by Spike Lee's 1989 hit Do the Right Thing, a new generation of black film-makers bursts onto the scene with an exciting new genre - the hood movie. Boyz in the Hood creates stars, yet this exciting moment turns into a passing fad, leading to an era when only white directors like Steven Spielberg are telling prominent black stories. This era sees the emergence of the bankable black Hollywood stars: Eddie Murphy, Will Smith and Denzel Washington. In this episode, we show how black film-makers start to take back control of their own stories, culminating in the Hollywood blockbuster Black Panther.

This episode picks up the story in the post Black Panther era, where black movies are no longer seen as a genre and black filmmakers are no longer seen as non-bankable. In an era where Moonlight won Best Picture and the director of Get Out won Best Original Screenplay, the number of award winners and nominees are steadily growing. But amongst these winners there is a generation of British stars following in the footsteps of Steve McQueen and 12 Years of Slave who have left Britain. Theirs is a generation led by the likes of David Oyelowo and John Boyega growing in influence and leading the invasion of bankable black British stars to Hollywood.