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Coming of Age Films For Black Girls
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items Iconic and growing list of Coming of Age Stories For Black Girls that have impacted ny cinematic journey.
Alma’s Rainbow” didn’t get the distribution it deserved when it first debuted in the early 1990s. Instead, it took another 20 years for the film to be released theatrically. Set in Brooklyn in the ’90s and follows Rainbow Gold (Victoria Gabrielle Pla...
Alma's Rainbow (1994) - IMDb
"Eve’s Bayou" was one of the first films confront the implications of adultification on Black girls. Set in Louisiana in the 1960s, the lush film follows 10-year-old Eve Baptiste (Jurnee Smollett) as she recounts the summer her father (Samuel L. Jack...
Eve's Bayou
Brandy Norwood in the titular role and the legendary Whitney Houston on board as the Fairy Godmother, the film showcased Black girls and women in magical settings.
Cinderella (1997 film)
Pariah widens the scope for coming-age stories centering on Black girls. The film follows 17-year-old Alike (Adepero Oduye), who hides her burgeoning sexuality from her parents. Dee Rees’ film forced the Black community to address rampant homophobia ...
Pariah (2011) - IMDb
Female friendship is one of the things that shape young women. For 16-year-old Marieme (Karidja Touré), the bond she begins to form with an all-girl gang hanging out in the impoverished areas of Paris makes her feel seen for the first time. With a ma...
Girlhood (2014) - IMDb
While many films have examined the emergence of hip-hop into the pop cultural landscape, Chanté Adams’ breakout role as hip-hop legend Roxanne Shanté is a rare examination of a young Black woman making her way in the industry. “Roxanne Roxanne” addre...
Roxanne Roxanne
When it comes to Black girlhood, girls’ relationships with their fathers are rarely examined. Writer/director Olivia Newman’s “First Match” follows Monique (Elvire Emanuelle), a teen who joins the boys’ wrestling team at her high school with hopes of...
First Match (2018) - IMDb
In George Tillman Jr.’s adaptation of Angie Thomas’ novel “The Hate U Give,” Amandla Stenberg portrays teen Starr, a sneakerhead and tomboy who has mastered code-switching between her working-class Black community and the white upper-class prep schoo...
The Hate U Give (2018) - IMDb
The film follows Selah (Lovie Simone), who runs the Spades with her best friend Maxxi (Jharrel Jerome) at their elite boarding school, Haldwell. The Spades are tasked with getting their hands on coveted illegal substances and distributing them among ...
Selah and the Spades (2019) - IMDb
French Senegalese filmmaker Maïmouna Doucouré’s “Cuties” spotlights Black girls while helping them to reclaim their girlhood. In the film, 11-year-old Amy (Fathia Youssouf) has recently moved from Senegal to Paris. Desperate to fit into her new envir...
Cuties
And of course my film that I wrote & produced. Haitian-American Director Gabriyèl Barlatier brings to life this generational drama, as a devout daughter-pleaser breaks out of family expectations and forges her own path. A coming-of-age story for ...
Makeup & Medicine (Short) | Short, Drama
In Black girlhood, friendships between teenage girls are rarely explored with the nuance they deserve. Writer/director Jim McKay’s *Our Song* follows Lanisha (Kerry Washington), Maria (Melissa Martinez), and Joycelyn (Anna Simpson), three inseparable...
Our Song (film)
The complicated dynamics between mothers and daughters are rarely given the spotlight. Writer/director Channing Godfrey Peoples’ Miss Juneteenth follows Turquoise Jones (Nicole Beharie), a former beauty queen turned hardworking single mother, as she ...
Miss Juneteenth
The foremost film on Black girlhood, Leslie Harris’ “Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.” follows 17-year-old Chantal (Ariyan A. Johnson), a Brooklynite living in a housing project determined to make her college and medical school dreams a reality. The t...
Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.
The complexities of identity and faith are portrayed with authenticity lead by Writer/director Nijla Mu’min’s, Jinn follows Summer (Zoe Renee), a carefree, curious teen whose life is upended when her mother, Jade (Simone Missick), converts to Islam. As Summer navigates her mother’s newfound d...
Jinn (2018) - IMDb