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Oprah Joins Hollywood’s Elite In The Fight For More Black Films

By JAKE COYLE 11/06/13 10:29 AM ET EST

NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Oprah Winfrey has heard this story before.

A wave of high-profile films about black people receives accolades. A heart-warming trend of greater on-screen equality is declared. Hollywood basks in its multiculturalism — and then returns to business as usual.

From the slavery odyssey “12 Years a Slave” to the day-in-a-life drama “Fruitvale Station,” this fall has been a banner season for films of racial struggle told without white protagonists and largely by black directors. As one of the stars of the Civil Rights history “Lee Daniels‘ The Butler,” Winfrey is a proud player in a rare moment for African-Americans at the movies. But she and many others have tired of celebrating occasional aberrations of what should be Hollywood’s regular output.

“We’ve been through this before,” says Winfrey. “I don’t want it to be, ‘Oh, gee, we had the 10 films and now it’s another five years before you see another one.'”  2013 is a historical high-point for black-themed films, a culmination of Obama-era cinema. But the filmmakers and actors who made this confluence happen are resolutely against being resigned to a mere trend story, soon to be followed by another lull in diversity.

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