Film is a uniquely transcendent artistic medium, because it allows storytellers to intimately portray a lived experience for a wide audience of people across time, identity, and place. The greatest films have the ability to expand our perception and empathy, to teach and inform, and—ultimately, hopefully—to inspire us to real action. The following works by Black filmmakers all hold this power. Though they are just a piece of the expansive repertoire of films that portray Black life and the many arms of systemic racism in America, the following titles are some of the most important films to add to your continual viewing list.