Neema Barnette

Biography

Neema Barnette (born December 14, 1949) is an American film director. She was the first African-American woman to direct a primetime sitcom and also the first African-American woman to get a three-picture deal with Sony. Barnette has won several awards, including a Peabody Award, an Emmy Award, a Sundance Film Festival Award, the Sojourner Truth Award at Cannes, and two NAACP Image Awards. She has directed over fifty hours of network television, ten made-for-TV movies, and four feature films. Barnette also serves as executive producer for Black History Mini Docs, a series of videos that are ninety seconds or less featuring the stories of notable African-Americans throughout history. Her work primarily focuses on challenging the stereotypes of Black people that are depicted in entertainment. In 1990, she founded Harlem Girl Productions. She is an active American Film Institute alumni and was selected as one of ten artists to judge its 2002 Best Film Awards. Additionally, she is part of the Directors Guild of America's African American Steering Committee, a member of the Black Filmmakers Foundation, and serves as an annual judge for the Pan African Film Festival. She occasionally te…

Directed

1. Blindspot (2015) — Director
2. Marvel's Luke Cage (2016) — Director
3. Gilmore Girls (2000) — Director
4. Black Lightning (2018) — Director
5. Jane the Virgin (2014) — Director
6. Bosch (2015) — Director
7. The Cosby Show (1984) — Director
8. Raising Dion (2019) — Director
9. The Equalizer (2021) — Director
10. Midnight, Texas (2017) — Director
11. 7th Heaven (1996) — Director
12. All Rise (2019) — Director
13. Queen Sugar (2016) — Director
14. Diagnosis: Murder (1993) — Director
15. Naomi (2022) — Director
16. Harlem (2021) — Director
17. The Good Cop (2018) — Director
18. The PJs (1999) — Director
19. Civil Brand (2002) — Director
20. All You've Got (2006) — Director
21. Grand Crew (2021) — Director
22. Super Sweet 16: The Movie (2007) — Director
23. Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day (2012) — Director
24. Scattered Dreams (1993) — Director
25. American Playhouse (1982) — Director
26. Paradise Lost (2020) — Director
27. Spirit Lost (1997) — Director
28. Better Off Dead. (1993) — Director
29. Miracle's Boys (2005) — Director
30. Deadly Games (1995) — Director
31. Love Is___ (2018) — Director
32. Sin and Redemption (1994) — Director
33. Different Worlds: An Interracial Love Story (1992) — Director
34. Sky Captain (1985) — Director
35. Run for the Dream: The Gail Devers Story (1996) — Director
36. Close to Danger (1997) — Director
37. Zora is My Name! (1990) — Director
38. Heaven Ain't Hard to Find (2010) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Sisters in Cinema (2003) — Self