Hollywood museum celebrates Black cinema

In the US, the Academy for film has a new exhibition. It shows the work of Black people in cinema from 1890 to 1971.

Ava DuVernay is a film director. She was there at the start of the exhibition. She talked about the importance of Black people in cinema.

Ava DuVernay: "They illustrate in this exhibit a long hidden fact. Are you ready for the secret? That we, Black folks, have always been present in American film, right from the start. Present not as caricatures and stereotypes, but as creators and producers and innovators and eager audiences."

The name of the exhibition is Regeneration. The exhibition team found old films with Black actors. The actors played important parts. Exhibition visitors can now see these films for the first time.

Raúl Guzmán: "Many of the conversations that we have about representation, really were happening at the beginning of cinema. I think many audiences saw the potential of cinema to really change how people and their communities were perceived."

Visitors can watch actor Hattie McDaniel. She received an Oscar award. She played an important part in the film "Gone with the Wind". But at the event, McDaniel was at a different table. She couldn't sit with white actors. She couldn't watch the first showing of the film. The cinema was only for white people.

The Academy wants people to think about Black people in cinema, then and now.

Ava DuVernay: "For the first time, we can now see the grand sweep of Black American filmmaking in cinematic artistry, in all its richness and daring, in all its defiance and exuberance. We should have seen it long before now, but this is the day it begins."

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