It’s that time of year again! People celebrating Christmas are decorating the halls, looking for the perfect gift, and hoping to reunite with loved ones to share in the Christmas celebrations. Once the Halloween skeletons are put away and the sugar excitement subsides, many of us binge-watch holiday movies while wrapping gifts or baking sweet treats. Once November rolls around, you’d be hard-pressed to turn on the TV and not find a movie that tells you how important it is to keep the Christmas spirit in your heart.
Alas, most of these movies show white faces and families. When you search “Christmas movies” on Google, the first page of suggestions is filled with faces and stories and lacks diversity. For Black families, finding a film that reflects our own experiences and traditions can be difficult. But movies with black actors and black directors do exist, and there are a lot of them. They don’t seem to get the attention they deserve.
So, to get you started, here are five Christmas movies that celebrate Black joy that you can watch this month. What I emphasize is joy Part of the reason is that when it comes to telling Black stories, even the Christmas story, Hollywood seems to lean more toward trauma and pain — let’s try to lighten things up, okay?
missionary wife (1996)
A remake of Cary Grant’s 1947 classic bishop’s wife It can be called a classic in itself. Denzo Washington, Whitney Houston and Courtney B. Vance all bring grace and charm to the film. Washington stars as Dudley, an angel sent to Earth to help Reverend Biggs (Vance) rekindle his romance with his wife, Julia (Huston). But things get a little complicated when Dudley starts developing feelings for the vicar’s wife. This Christmas story gives us a light and comedic version of Washington that we rarely see. We heard the soulful voice of the late Houston, who sang gospel songs that dated back to her vocal origins and brought many of us back to Christmas church services. Once the credits roll, you get a warm feeling that everything is going to be okay.
this christmas (2007)
The Whitfield family is together for the first time in four years. Overall vibe? Six siblings are all trying to hide something from their mother, Mama (Loretta Devine). Hollywood veterans Devine and Delroy Lindo star alongside an equally talented cast that includes Idris Elba, Regina King, Mekhi Phifer and Lauren London. The film is a flawlessly authentic recreation of a black family gathering, best expressed as Soul Train, which inevitably ends up in the living room once the food is digested. The title of the film is taken from the 1970 R&B classic Christmas song, this christmasDonny Hathaway. Like the song, the film evokes an extreme sense of Christmas magic and possibility.
holiday calendar (2018)
Young photographer Abby (Kat Graham) inherits an Advent calendar from her grandmother. It’s simple… except that this calendar seems to predict the future. Each day on Abby’s open calendar contains a clue that foreshadows an upcoming life-changing event. How could a Christmas movie be complete without some surprising love? Graham and Quincy Brown are so adorable, like long-time best friends reuniting for the holidays, viewers will find themselves cheering for them to kiss! The late Ron Cephas Jones was perhaps best known for this is usplays Abby’s loving grandpa, ready to share his wisdom. If you like romantic comedies of hijinks and missed connections, grab your cocoa and settle in because this movie has you covered.
Jingle Bells: A Christmas Journey (2020)
Jeronicus (Forest Whitaker) is an eccentric toymaker who invents an extraordinary toy that is far beyond imagination. But his assistant Gustafson (Keegan-Michael Key) steals the toy and takes all the fame and glory for himself. This left Jeronicus isolated. He even became estranged from his family. Where is the happiness, you ask? Jeronicus gets a visit from his STEM-loving granddaughter Joni (Madalon Mills), who works a dose of black girl magic on him. You’ll want to revisit writer-director David E. Talbert’s uplifting musical and stunning, joyful world of color every holiday season.
Christmas Hotel (2019)
Take all the Lifetime holiday movie tropes you know and love, throw them in a mixer, place the dough on a baking sheet, and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 28 minutes. Look! Now you have a delicious batch of friends-to-foes-to-lovers Christmas cookies. Erin (Tatyana Ali) is a big-city hotel manager who returns to her small hometown of Garland Grove with plans to open a new branch of the hotel chain where she works. Garland Grove is a small town like Christmas but Hate Big business. To get the town to accept the new hotel, Erin turns it into a year-round Christmas-themed hotel. After all this, Erin has no time to enjoy the boring holiday atmosphere, but with the help of family, friends and childhood friend Connor (Sean Patrick Thomas), she learns the benefits of bringing back the joy of Christmas. her life. The real concern, however, is: Can the hotel turn a profit?
Camila Adams Friedson Known as a “pop culture expert” with special expertise in the 80s, 90s and horror movies. After producing and hosting multiple podcasts dedicated to film and telling the stories of women and artists across all mediums, she consistently brings joy and discovery to the art of interviewing — just ask Gloria Rueben ) will know. Camilla’s career in design has allowed her to create in multiple areas of media. Her thoughts on life, film, and literature can be found in numerous podcasts such as Pittsburgh City Paper, Pittsburgh Magazine, Looper, and BUST Magazine, among others.
If you’re a fan of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” you can listen to her “Sunnydale Revisited” podcast, where she and her co-host revisit the cult classic in a more mature light.
