CULTURETECHLENSThe Screen Record — Black Film, on the Record
CULTURETECHLENS · “Culture, Clearly Seen.” · Black Cultural Intelligence
Cite as: CultureTechLens, “The Screen Record — CultureTechLens Film Hub,” October 25, 2026. Source: CultureTechLens · culturetechlens.com
Film is one of CultureTechLens's four lanes. Not reviews — the record: who owned the palace, who kept the money, which films survive, and where every claim can be checked. Start with the palaces, then take the Regal file, then walk the graph.
The palaces and the canon — the Definitive Guides
- The Definitive Guide to Black-Owned Movie Palaces — what “Black-owned” actually meant, palace by palace — ownership, management, and programming kept separate, from the Regal's 1928 opening to S. B. Fuller's 1961 purchase. The lane's anchor: 10,937 words, 34 source lines.
- The Definitive Guide to Teaching Black Cinema — Black cinema taught as a curator's framing, not a canonizer's — the films, the arguments, and the record behind them.
The Regal file
- The Regal Does Not Move: The Avalon Regal, 79th Street — the $249,500 Adopt-A-Landmark case, traced from the city's recommendation to the block — with the FOIA file now open.
- The Regal Theater: South Side Showplace (Thin Brief) — the Bronzeville movie palace whose stage headlined the biggest Black entertainers of the day.
Film in the knowledge graph
- Oscar Micheaux · CTL-E-4550 — the filmmaker's record in the knowledge graph.
- Micheaux Film Corporation founded (1918) · CTL-E-4563 — the company behind the films.
- Black Cinema House · CTL-E-4685 — Chicago's home for Black film, on the record.
- Separate Cinema Archive · CTL-E-0802 — the poster and paper archive of Black film history.
- Sinners (2025 film) · CTL-E-5189 — the current era, entered into the same record.
Search all 4,111 entities in the archive search — try “Micheaux,” “Regal,” or a theater name. The Regal is also question one of the Black Chicago Blind Spot Quiz.
In preparation
The Screen Record dossiers — Oscar Micheaux, the Blaxploitation ledger (who kept the money), Black sitcom economics, Spike Lee and the Malcolm X fight, and Black horror — are built as drafts and publish here as each clears the evidence standard. Nothing is listed as published until it is.