I’m so excited to finally share a project I worked on earlier this year with Apple TV: a curation of 50+ movies and TV shows to celebrate Juneteenth.
hunter harris on Instagram: “Juneteenth is a celebration of the now — who we are, how we love, how we live, how we relate to one another. To celebrate Juneteenth, I curated a list of 50+ movies and TV shows about the Black experience for @AppleTV. I wanted to choose titles that communicate that sense of immediacy, that vividness. This curation is about contemporary Black life through the lens of location: Black spaces that we’ve made (our cities, our homes, our parties) and the non-Black spaces we’ve had to navigate for ourselves (the workplace). There are so many movies and shows I love here — “Atlanta,” “South Side,” the OG “House Party,” “Blue Collar” — you can find the full curation on @AppleTV now! https://apple.co/JuneteenthWithHunterHarris” June 16, 2023
Cup runneth over a little bit: House Party (1990), Losing Ground (1982), This One’s For The Ladies (2018), Hollywood Shuffle (1987), Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. (2022), Blue Collar (1978), South Side, Atlanta, Real Housewives of Atlanta, a whole lil subsection focused on Denzel, and more. There are short films of me introducing all the sections, short captions about many of the titles, and a special section about my personal favorite movies and shows (Lady Bird, Bad Sisters, Veep, etc).
Here’s the official description:
In Black communities across the nation, Juneteenth bursts to life with many different rhythms, flavors, and rituals—celebrations of freedom, done their own way. Putting her spin on the festivities this year is the writer and critic Hunter Harris, whose curatorial focus, Worlds of Black Abundance, explores the geographic vernacular of Black America. “My favorite movies are the ones with a strong sense of place. The sticky fury of a Brooklyn summer (Crooklyn) or the Bay Area–set story of a Black guy who hacks his way into white privilege (Sorry to Bother You),” she shares with us. “I also wanted to think about contemporary Black life through Black spaces that we’ve made—our cities, our homes, our parties—and the non-Black spaces we’ve had to navigate for ourselves, particularly the workplace.” Her collections range in theme from Celebration and Black at Work to a spotlight on her favorite actor, Denzel Washington. As you explore her work, no matter what sparks your interest, remember that “Juneteenth is a celebration of the now—who we are, how we love, how we live, how we relate to one another.”
