Kickstarter to Restore Pioneering African-American Cinema

Looks stellar. From Kino Lorber:

Among the most fascinating chapters of film history is that of the so-called “race films” that flourished in the 1920s – ‘40s. Unlike the “black cast” films produced within the Hollywood studio (such as Stormy Weather or Green Pastures), these films not only starred African Americans but were funded, written, produced, directed, distributed, and often exhibited by people of color. Entrepreneurial filmmakers such as Oscar Micheaux,  Spencer Williams, and Richard D. Maurice not only built an industry apart from the Hollywood establishment, they also cultivated visual and narrative styles that were uniquely their own.  Defying convention and operating outside the studio system, these filmmakers were the forefathers (and -mothers) of the French New Wave, the L.A. Rebellion, and the entirety of American indie cinema. Anything but imitative, these Pioneers of African-American Cinema were purely innovative.

Renowned for its deluxe editions of masterpieces of world cinema, Kino Lorber will now pay tribute to the Pioneers of African-American Cinema with an ambitious four-disc collection. If the campaign achieves its primary goal, the series will include eight feature films and a variety of short films and fragments, a color booklet of photos and essays, and will be offered on Bluray and DVD. All films will be newly mastered in high definition from film elements preserved by the country’s leading film archives, including The Library of Congress, the National Archives, and the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Silent films will be accompanied by a variety of original music scores. Some soundtracks will have a more contemporary sound, encouraging the viewer to watch these films with a fresh perspective. For the sake of historical accuracy, each silent film will also include a traditional score intended to replicate the 1920s moviegoing experience.

more–and it includes this!:

COMMANDMENT KEEPER CHURCH: Later known for her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston used a 16mm movie camera to document the social conventions and working conditions of African Americans in the deep South. Commandment Keeper Church, Beaufort, South Carolina, May 1940 is a 42-minute film that observes worship services among the Gullah people of Beaufort, South Carolina, in May, 1940. Selected for the National Film Registry in 2005, the footage will be synchronized with previously unreleased field recordings made by Hurston during her travels.