Criterion commits to black filmmakers
Organization also pledges donation to fight for equity
I write today as a critic, a consumer and a citizen, on the subject of the Criterion Channel. It’s one of the bright lights of the streaming universe, with an unerring curatorial eye on where we’ve been and what we need to bring along with us as a film culture.
When I can afford it,
I get my $10.99 monthly membership’s worth, no sweat. Plus, some of my favorite fellow critics’ essays, written for Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-ray releases each month, are collected on the Criterion Channel site.
On Thursday, in response to what’s happening in America and worldwide in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, Criterion president Peter Becker and CEO Jonathan Turell established a $25,000 initial contribution to organizations supporting Black Lives Matter. They’ll contribute $5,000 monthly thereafter. And they’ve lifted the paywall on a broad array of work by black filmmakers, along with white documentarians of black lives.
From Criterion’s statement of intent, posted Thursday: “We’ve met as a company and a community to talk openly about the work we need to do to build a better, more equitable, more diverse Criterion, beginning with education and training for our ownership and our staff. We are also committed to examining the role we play in the idea of canon formation, whose voices get elevated, and who gets to decide what stories get told.”
The statement also included this: “This has been a powerfully emotional time. The disproportionate toll that COVID-19 has taken on communities of color; the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Tony Mcdade; and the casually lethal racism of the Central Park dog walker who called the cops on bird-watcher Christian Cooper have once again thrown into sharp focus the inescapable reality of systemic racism in our society and the many kinds of violence it inflicts on black Americans every day. The anguish and fury unleashed all across the country are rooted in centuries of dehumanization and death. This pattern must stop. We support the protesters who have taken to the streets to demand justice, and we share their hopes.”
I suppose this makes the Criterion Channel a haven for cine-thugs in the current president’s eyes, but that’s a chance the Criterion Channel is willing to take.
On the platform’s “Now Playing” home page, you’ll find some of the newly freebie-ized titles available for streaming. These range from Julie Dash’s seminal “Daughters of the Dust” to Agnes Varda’s “Black Panthers” to Cheryl Dunye’s “The Watermelon Woman.”
Many will be discoveries for you to make, and the work sings in every emotional key. We look to the artists in our midst, and from previous generations, to help make sense of what’s underneath the bloody surface of the year 2020. Criterion has its eyes wide open.