Race film

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The race film is a separate film genre that mainly experienced its heyday in the USA between 1915 and 1950 . The race film was only produced and published by African Americans . The genre was not supported by the Hollywood film studios . Because of this, most of the films in the genre are very unknown and receive less attention from film historians.

Numerous independent films from all film genres were created with the race film.

development

The race film was born out of necessity, most of the Afro-American actors only got supporting roles. Furthermore, with the blackface actors a simple way of replacing the actors was formed. Well-known films with blackface actors are Uncle Tom's Cabin from 1904 and The Masher from 1907. The portrayal in these films was stereotypical and had nothing to do with reality.

Then the own new genre of the race film developed, far removed from the big Hollywood system. From this a positive light developed almost imperceptibly that fell on the Afro-American population. However, the race film was rarely, if not at all, shown in South America.

In Hollywood, too, there was a slight reaction to this genre and the negative image was subconsciously and imperceptibly broken down. In 1940, actress Hattie McDaniel was awarded an Oscar for best supporting actress for her performance in the film Gone With the Wind . She was the first African American actress to be awarded an Oscar.

After the famous Hollywood antitrust case from 1948, the race film disappeared imperceptibly and Hollywood gave African-American actors more important roles.

Production and Financing

The production of race films was mostly realized with little money. Sometimes even white-hand companies produced the race films, a well-known producer was Alfred N. Sack . However, they only took care of the financing and mostly stayed out of production.

Even so, there were many film companies such as the Lincoln Motion Picture Company and the Chicago-based Micheaux Film Corporation which was in African American hands.

Cinema screenings

The race films were especially popular with the Afro-American population because they took up topics that interested them. African-American actors also played the leading roles here. Race films were shown in around 1,100 cinemas in the United States. A balcony was often kept free for the Afro-American audience. The films were usually shown at midnight.

Topics of the race film

The themes of the race film all played in the middle class of the Afro-American population. The directors of the race film make use of all sorts of imaginable film genres such as drama , comedy , religious film, westerns or monster films .

Well-known faces of the race film

The race film produced numerous stars who were later also used by Hollywood because they also viewed the race film as a cheap source of new talent. The best-known directors and producers of the genre are Oscar Micheaux and Spencer Williams , who made numerous films of the genre on a small budget. Jazz singer Herb Jeffries was also discovered in the race film while working with Spencer Williams. Even Evelyn Preer , Paul Robeson and Hattie McDaniel have their roots in the Race movie.

Well-known films of the genre

literature

Web links