Alamo Drafthouse Partners With Harlem Film House to Highlight Essential Black Movies

Rebecca Rubin
·2 min read

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is collaborating with Harlem Film House, the organizers of the Hip Hop Film Festival, to present a curated series of culturally significant Black films.

Labeled the Vanguard Collection, the crafted slate will include important films about the Black experience and feature perspectives from voices of hip-hop culture. “Get Out,” “Straight Outta Compton,” “Do the Right Thing” and “Bustin’ Loose” are some of the titles that will kick off the partnership. All of the films will be available on Alamo on Demand, the cinema chain’s digital platform.

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Harlem Film House founder CR Capers curated the Vanguard Collection in response to the lack of diversity offered in prominent film collections. The New York Times reported last year that the prestigious Criterion Collection has only four films by African American directors. The video distribution platform houses more than 1,000 movies in total.

Alamo’s partnership with Harlem Film House will extend beyond this initial series in the coming months to expand the collection of movies.

“Our partnership with Alamo Drafthouse means the world to me and is a huge step toward bridging the gap between understanding authentic Black cinema and popular culture,” Capers said. Harlem Film House produces film and music festivals and operates year-round workshops, theater productions and live events. The group also offers business consulting to filmmakers and content creators in underserved communities around the world. “The people at Alamo are showing up and speaking out, offering real support for an important and essential collection of films,” she added.

Ahbra Perry, the head of Alamo on Demand, lauded Capers passion and dedication.

“Our goal is to make Alamo On Demand a portal for film lovers, by film lovers and it is rare to meet a programmer so unafraid to approach things as raw and personally as she does,” Perry said. “Alamo is grateful to be working with her and for the opportunity to partner with the Hip Hop Film Festival.”

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