In Spike Lee’s scathing showbiz satire Bamboozled, frustrated TV producer Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans) pitches the worst idea he can think of in an attempt to get fired: a contemporary minstrel show. However, the show is a smash hit with network executives and audiences alike, exposing the brazen naivete in any notion of the 21st century bringing forth a “post-racial” America. The film, which feels at times like a cross between Network and The Producers, is a thorny, confrontational masterpiece which has only grown more hauntingly prescient in the decades since its initial release.

Celebrating Black History Month at the JBFC.