Afrocentricity

This collection of short films from a cadre of rising African American directors arrives at a pivotal moment, as the cutting-edge output of the early '90s New Black Cinema seems to have faded, yielding embarrassingly stereotypical, scatological fare such as Booty Call and Next Friday. The feature-packed compilation, including production notes, interviews with all of the filmmakers, and audio commentary by four participants, aims to prove that African American cinema is moving beyond lowbrow humor, with six of the seven shorts steering clear of any comedy.