Winter is a perfect time to highlight and celebrate Black culture, traditions and family dynamics. In the cozy and warm indoors, you and your family can gather and spend quality time exploring Black culture through art and entertainment.
Here is a list of Black Christmas movies to watch this holiday season. Some are holiday classics, while others are modern favorites. Regardless of how long it’s been out, each film delivers a dose of festivity, a heartfelt message and joy.
‘This Christmas’ (2007): Family reunion on the big screen
“This Christmas” is a holiday comedy and romance movie that will warm your heart and bring up a good laugh. The story centers around the Whitfield family, which hasn’t celebrated Christmas together in four years. But when all six siblings come home to celebrate with their mother, affectionately called Ma’Dere (played by Loretta Devine), they bring their own secrets and struggles, from debt to marital squabbles to secret boyfriends.
By the end of the film, everyone’s truths are revealed, and, of course, everyone lives happily ever after. But the comedy, drama and musical numbers — a young Chris Brown plays the youngest sibling, an aspiring singer — make the journey to a perfect ending more fun.
‘The Preacher’s Wife’ (1996): A holiday love story
“The Preacher’s Wife” is sort of like “It’s a Wonderful Life:” a desperate man prays for help, and a kind guardian angel shows up to help. The difference is, in this story, starring Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston, the angel catches feelings for the man’s wife!
This Black holiday classic has everything you could want from a Christmas movie: magic, beautiful singing and an ending that leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy inside.
‘Almost Christmas’ (2016): The chaos of family gatherings
If you love a comedy, “Almost Christmas” belongs on your list of top 10 Christmas movies. The comedy-drama centers around Walter, played by Danny Glover, a man eager to have a happy holiday season with his four children despite the family matriarch’s death a few short months earlier.
Like most families, the Meyerses have their quirks and rivalries. Those come to the surface when they live under one roof for five days. All Walter wants for Christmas is for his family to get along — and, after a journey full of grief and comedic chaos, the film ends with his wish coming true.
‘Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey’ (2020): A musical celebration
The 2020 brought forth lots of hardships. But it also introduced us to the film that would earn the most nominations at the 2021 NAACP Image Awards, including one for Outstanding Motion Picture.
“Jingle Jangle” is a musical that tells the story of Jeronicus Jangle, a toymaker trying to find his confidence and creative spark again. The heartwarming film, available to stream on Netflix, is about redemption, love and the power of belief, making it a perfect choice for anyone on the hunt for holiday movies for the family.
‘Holiday Heart’ (2000): Love across differences
Promoting unity is a key component of spreading holiday cheer, and that’s just what “Holiday Heart,” starring Alfre Woodard, Ving Rhames and Mykelti Williamson, does. Woodard’s performance in the film was so compelling it earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television.
Holiday Heart (Rhames) is a drag queen and devout Christian who befriends and takes in Wanda (Woodard) and her daughter when they fall on hard times. Together, the unconventional family navigates issues like addiction, prostitution and redemption.
‘The Best Man Holiday’ (2013): Friendship and tradition
When “The Best Man Holiday” hit theaters in 2013, it received positive reviews, making it somewhat of an instant classic. The Christmas dramedy features an ensemble cast including Taye Diggs, Morris Chestnut, Terrence Howard, Harold Perrineau and Regina Hall, and it’s the highly anticipated sequel to Malcolm D. Lee’s “The Best Man” (1999).
A group of college friends comes together for Christmas to reminisce on old memories, create new ones and work through old and new tensions. The movie is a powerful, bittersweet tribute to faith and family.
‘Black Nativity’ (2013): A modern take on a classic tale
While the traditional nativity story found in the New Testament gospels was written by the Apostle Paul’s companion Luke, “Black Nativity” was written by noted wordsmith Langston Hughes. He wrote the play in 1961 when the founders of Karamu House commissioned him to retell the story from the Black perspective.
In 2013, screenwriter and director Kasi Lemmons brought an adaptation of Hughes’s story to the big screen. “Black Nativity,” starring Jacob Latimore, Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett, Mary J. Blige and others, is full of spiritual wisdom and themes of reconciliation. Woven together with Lemmons’s dialogue and musical numbers, “Black Nativity” is a Black Christmas movie to queue up on your television and watch with the family.
‘Friday After Next’ (2002): Holiday shenanigans
When you think of antics, mischief and humor during a holiday season, Halloween is usually the first day that comes to mind. However, comedy and tomfoolery have a place come Christmastide, too. Enter “Friday After Next,” the third installment of the “Friday” movie series.
The film is about cousins Craig (played by Ice Cube) and Day-Day (played by Mike Epps) as they navigate a chaotic Christmas Eve. When a robber dressed as Santa Claus steals the duo’s Christmas gifts and rent money, Craig and Day-Day do whatever it takes — their efforts include getting jobs as strip mall rent-a-cops and hosting a rent party — to earn enough money to save themselves from eviction.
All the while, they encounter a quirky crew of characters, including their landlady’s ex-con son Damon Pearly (Terry Crews) and a pimp named Money Mike (Katt Williams), and, of course, crack hilarious one-liners.
‘Christmas in Carolina’ (2020): Southern hospitality meets holiday spirit
It’s just not Christmas until a successful yet jaded businesswoman meets a small-town man who teaches her the meaning of the holidays. That’s what happens in “Christmas in Carolina,” starring Joslyn Moore and “Family Matters” alums Kellie Shanygne Williams and Darius McCrary. There’s a reason this plotline shows up in holiday films so frequently, and it’s that it brings such warm, fuzzy feelings to an already cheerful season.
When Wesley invites Elle, an independent investment banker mourning the loss of her parents, to his family’s South Carolina home, she experiences the love and warmth she’s been missing. The trip is transformative for both parties and by the time the credits roll, the holiday season has healed Wesley and Elle’s hurts.
Recent releases: ‘Meet Me Next Christmas’ (2024) and ‘A Christmas Miracle’ (2024)
This holiday season, viewers get the gifts of two new Black Christmas movies, “Meet Me Next Christmas” and “A Christmas Miracle,” presented by Netflix and BET+, respectively.
Catch Christina Milian in “Meet Me Next Christmas,” where she plays Layla, a woman pining for a fairy tale romance. Her best hope at winning her dream man’s heart is scoring tickets to a sold-out Pentatonix concert. The only way she can get those tickets is to race around New York City in what Milian called “a treasure hunt for love.” Will she get them? Only one way to find out: stream the film, released in early November on Netflix.
Not to be confused with the 2019 film of the same name, “A Christmas Miracle” debuted November 7. When a local community center’s holiday celebration is on the chopping block due to budget cuts, a family joins forces to save it. Roz, played by Noree Victoria, captains the efforts to keep the Christmas cheer alive. Her determination to make the season merry and bright is inspiring.
The importance of representation in holiday cinema
Positive media representation, defined by Action for Children as how TV, film, news and social media portray people and communities, matters for several reasons. Two of them are:
- To empower viewers: The media a person consumes plays a role in how they see themselves. When a person continuously takes in television shows or movies lacking characters that look or act similarly to them, they are unlikely to embrace themselves and their own stories. However, when a media consumer sees characters who represent them positively, they tend to feel better about themselves and their communities.
- To help reduce negative stereotypes: According to Black Illustrations, representation fosters understanding and tolerance. If a person consumes a piece of media about the experiences of someone who looks or lives differently than they do, they get a look at what that person encounters daily. Gaining a new understanding of another helps eliminate misunderstandings and discriminatory behavior. Plus, it promotes empathy.
For reasons like these, being accurately and positively represented in media is important for Black people. That’s why Black Christmas movies — those listed above and not, plus the ones still to come — are necessary. They don’t just usher the Christmas spirit in. They remind viewers that Black voices, culture and traditions matter as much during the winter holiday season as they do the rest of the year.
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