For too long, Canadian cinema has been defined by a narrow lens; one that often excluded the voices shaping some of its most compelling narratives. But a transformation is underway, powered by black filmmakers who are not only telling stories that matter but earning international recognition that’s impossible to ignore.
From the Berlinale Forum to Tribeca, from TIFF Short Cuts to streaming platforms reaching millions, these creators are proving that Canadian film is far richer and more diverse than the industry has historically acknowledged.
Miryam Charles
Some stories don’t live in the present; they haunt it. Miryam Charles, a Caribbean-Québécoise filmmaker of Haitian origin, understands this intimately. Her cinema exists in the tender, unsettling space between memory and loss, between what happened and what could have been.
Her debut feature Cette maison (This House, 2022) emerged from profound personal tragedy: the 2008 death of her 14-year-old cousin. Charles resurrected this trauma through cinema, creating a film that moves freely through time to contemplate migration, imagine futures that never came to pass, and reckon with violence that can shatter the sanctuary of home.
In a country still grappling with its colonial past and its treatment of Black communities, Charles’ films offer something radical: space for reflection, mourning, and ultimately, transformation.
Alison Duke
With nearly two decades in Canada’s film scene, Duke has become one of the country’s most respected documentary filmmakers, earning the unofficial title “Queen of Music Docs” for her ability to spotlight musicians and music scenes with both dynamic visual style and emotional resonance.
Through her company, Oya Media Group, which she co-founded with Ngardy Conteh George, Duke has built platforms for Black women in film and television while documenting the Black Canadian and global diasporic experience.
Her latest achievement, Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story, premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival and has been touring internationally (from Amsterdam to Australia, LA to Kenya), with audiences embracing its unapologetic Caribbean feminist lens and electrifying energy.
The 98-minute documentary tells the story of Jamaican dancehall icon Sister Nancy and her 1982 hit “Bam Bam,” arguably the most sampled dancehall song in music history.
Will Niava
Montreal-based filmmaker Will Niava is proof that the next generation is already here—and they’re not waiting for permission. Of Ivorian-Ghanaian descent, Niava represents a new wave of Canadian cinema: bold, experimental, and unapologetically Black.
Niava’s 2019 debut short Zoo made waves immediately. The film follows an evening in the life of Amos, a young Black man in suburban Montreal, where a misunderstanding in a parking lot escalates into violence. Drawing from Niava’s own experiences with racism and police violence in both Canada and Ghana, Zoo earned selection at over 50 international festivals (15 of them Oscar-qualifying), won 10 awards, and was added to the Criterion Collection—an extraordinary achievement for a first film.
His third short, released this year, has brought Niava the most attention. Selected for TIFF’s prestigious Short Cuts program, Jazz Infernal is a semi-autobiographical exploration of grief, migration, and the search for identity through music. The film tells the story of Koffi, a young Ivorian trumpeter who arrives in Montreal with nothing but his father’s legacy to guide him.
Jamila Pomeroy
Toronto-born, Kenyan-Canadian filmmaker Jamila Pomeroy understands that home is rarely singular. Her work explores the tension and beauty of dual identity, crafting narratives that travel across continents while remaining grounded in shared human experience.
Her documentary Union Street (2023) offered an intimate look at Vancouver’s historic Black community, specifically the Hogan’s Alley neighborhood, a once-thriving hub that was destroyed in the early 1970s in the name of urban renewal. The recognition was immediate and substantial.
Union Street was named #1 in Vancouver Magazine’s top-10 must-see films at the 2023 Vancouver International Film Festival, where it premiered. Pomeroy won Outstanding Feature Film Director at the Toronto Reelworld Film Festival and Best Documentary at the Milan Independent Film Festival. The film subsequently received a week-long theatrical run at the VIFF Centre before being released on Telus’s streaming platform as part of Black History Month 2024.
Andre Anderson
As an African Nova Scotian filmmaker, writer, entrepreneur, and cultural advocate, Anderson is expanding the landscape of Canadian cinema beyond its usual hubs, ensuring that Atlantic Canadian voices are heard and celebrated.
His debut documentary, Standing Tall (2024), features Canadian Senator Dr. Wanda Thomas Bernard and former deputy minister Kesa Munroe-Anderson (his aunt), exploring culture, politics, and resilience through the lens of two prominent Black Nova Scotian women. The 22-minute film was nominated for Best Documentary Short at the Beyond the Curve International Film Festival and is now free to watch on YouTube.
Anderson’s next project, Through Our Eyes, is a recipient of the Michaëlle Jean Power of Youth Grant and will address the need for students to learn more about African Nova Scotian history in the education system.
The question now is not whether Black Canadian filmmakers can achieve international recognition. They already have. The world is watching what’s happening in Canadian cinema right now. Increasingly, what they’re watching is the bold, necessary work of Black Canadian filmmakers who are finally getting the recognition they’ve always deserved and using that platform to transform not just Canadian cinema, but cinema itself.
