Spike Lee's 1986 release of She's Gotta Have It, filmed in only 12 days for $175,000 and returning a $7 million dollar profit, ushered in a new era in black film-making.

The movie industry was made to realize that black film audiences were anxious for movies and images they could relate to. Determined to tell their stories in their own way, these young directors have revitalized American cinema This black "new wave" included tremendous diversity.

Charles Lane's story of a homeless street artist in Sidewalk Stories won the Prix du Publique award at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. Other films of note:

• Euzhan Palcy won critical acclaim for her examination of apartheid in A Dry White Season.
  
• In 1990, Charles Burnett released the family drama To Sleep With Anger.
  
• Wendall Harris's Chameleon Street was based on the real life of a man who successfully posed as a surgeon and a lawyer.
  
• 1991 saw the release of Bill Duke's A Rage in Harlem.
  
• Nineteen year-old Matty Rich released Straight Out of Brooklyn.
  
• Mario Van Peebles directed New Jack City.
  
• Independent filmmaker Julie Dash directed the critically acclaimed Daughters of the Dust.