Still from Black Is… Black Ain’t — Black Is… Black Ain’t (1994) — Marlon RiggsPhotographed by Robert Shepard

Marlon Riggs

Black Is… Black Ain’t

Name: Black Is… Black Ain’t
Genre: Documentary
Released: 1994
Duration: 87 min

English / 1994 / 1h 27m

Not streamingNot currently on the Criterion Channel.

Documentary

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Synopsis

African-American documentary filmmaker Marlon Riggs was working on this final film as he died from AIDS-related complications in 1994; he addresses the camera from his hospital bed in several scenes. The film directly addresses sexism and homophobia within the black community, with snippets of misogynistic and anti-gay slurs from popular hip-hop songs juxtaposed with interviews with African-American intellectuals and political theorists, including Cornel West, bell hooks and Angela Davis.