The World of Black Film

Join us for a conversation with Ashley Clark to celebrate his new book, a comprehensive survey of Black film from around the world. He will be in conversation with Vinson Cunningham, followed by a signing.

PLEASE NOTE: RSVPs are encouraged but not required. Seating is limited and will be first come, first served. Doors open at 5:30 pm.

Can't attend? (please specify that you would like it signed in the comments box at checkout).

My Brother Ashley Clark Has Broke It Down To What Black Film Was, Is Present Day, And What The Future Might Be. BLAK IZ BLAK. YA-DIG? SHO-NUFF. Enjoy This BLAK CINEMATIC SCIENCE. — Spike Lee

The World of Black Film is an entertaining, informed, and thought-provoking survey of important and influential Black films from around the globe. Starting with the unfinished silent comedy Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913) and concluding with Steve McQueen's World War II epic Blitz (2024), this book takes readers on an exciting journey through an eclectic mix of classics and hidden gems spanning more than 100 years and 30 countries. Beautifully designed and bursting with eye-catching film imagery and poster art, this is essential reading for general film fans, enthusiasts of Black cinema, educators, and students alike.

The book includes a foreword by Sir John Akomfrah, CBE RA.

Ashley Clark is a writer, broadcaster, and film programmer. He has organized numerous film seasons at international venues including London's BFI Southbank, New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Toronto's TIFF Lightbox. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, Reverse Shot, Sight & Sound, and Film Comment, and he is the author of Facing Blackness: Media and Minstrelsy in Spike Lee's Bamboozled (2015). Ashley was born in London, lives in Jersey City, and works in New York City, where he has been the curatorial director of the Criterion Collection since 2020.

Photo credit: Arin Sang-Urai

Vinson Cunningham joined The New Yorker as a staff writer in 2016. Since 2018, he has served as a critic for the magazine, writing about theatre, television, and more. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 2024, and was awarded the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism for 2021-2022. And, in 2020, he was a finalist for a National Magazine Award for his Profile of the comedian Tracy Morgan. He teaches at the Yale School of Art and Columbia University’s School of the Arts, and is a co-host of Critics at Large, The New Yorker’s weekly podcast about culture and the arts. His début novel, “Great Expectations,” came out in 2024.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Rizzoli Bookstore