Milestone Films Will Be Given Away to Maya Cade of the Black Film Archive

Milestone Films is a small but powerful distribution company dedicated to discovering works that have a leg to history, restorating them and reinducing them to anyone who is willing to see. He has run out of the New Jersey house of Amy Heller and Dennis Doros during the last 25 years, but now both are prepared to retire.

“One of the things we have realized is that we are not immortal,” said Heller. As the only workers of the company, “we are. We are both and we want it to continually.”

How to keep it after they renounce is something that the leg has discussed for a decade, and now they have pressed a novel solution. They are giving the company, Maya Gift, the outstanding programmer behind the black films file.

Heller and Doros said that last summer they had discussed with Gift, who volunteered, the idea of ​​simply delivering their company.

“When we with Maya, we think:” Oh, well, we found it, “said Heller.” We find the person in which we really love and trust and can make this movement. “

Heller and Doros began milestones in 1990 in their apartment in a room in New York shortly after getting married. Since then, it has become a recognized international distributor that helps to wear lost or little views of prominence. During the last 18 years, the company has focused on the work of black directors, Native Americans, LGBTQ or women, artists of population segments that are underlined in the fee.

Milestone’s best known titles include Charles Burnett’s masterpiece “Killer of Sheep” (1978), a portrait of a black working class in Los Angeles that was reorganized last month in a restored version; “Losing Ground” by Kathleen Collins (1982), that the Times Critical, Manohla Dargis, praised as a radical romantic comedy; and “Naked Acts” (1996) by Bridgett Davis, a drama about an actress with a dark past that struggles to commit to a naked scene in a film.

“Naked Acts” was taken to Milestone in 2022 by Gift, a former Criterion Collection employee who also works as a film programmer and consultant in black films for distribution. CAD began the digital archive, which adds a contextual language to the history of black cinema, in 2021, following national protests for the George Floyd police murder. His work soon gets Doros’ attention. They met talking weekly, forming a friendship, then a working relationship.

Speaking from his home in Los Angeles last month, Gift, 31 said that this moment of transition was based on a state of peace.

“When you walk in your purpose, things align,” he said. “I feel very happy to feel that I am walking in my purpose and that I am confident with the legacy of the black filmmakers and the people who are committed to the cinema as truth. It is an honor.”

The company’s gift will be profitable almost constantly for the past eight years, said Heller and Doros. But its property transition occurs in the midst of constant changes in the way in which films and discussions about the canons are seen, which should be included and who takes the elections. Milestone Films, under the direction of Gifts, will join a brief list of black distributors, including the movies of Av Duvernoy’s Array and Myduh, initiated by Halie Gerima, Shirikiana Aina and Selome Gerima.

The weight of the moment is not lost in Gift, who sees the change of guard in Milestone as an opportunity to make advances with communities often overlooked and help filmmakers achieve their goals.

“I feel that the archive of black films created awareness about filmmakers and milestones gives me the ability not only to be aware of thesis filmmakers, but also protect, preserve, acquire, ensure that the funds are in the hands of filmmakers,” he said.

The transition will take time. There are ironing details and materials to transfer. Heller and Doros estimate that it will take approximately one year to deliver to the company to Gift, which has bones that reflect on how to take advantage of a community -driven distribution model. Studying the success of Tyler Perry, Hollywood businessman and the study owner whose works once they prospered in the secondary market as smuggling, could be the key, Gift said.

“What means having aunts and people excited about the distribution of homemade videos?” She asked. “In the modern context, the homemade video is the closest you can have to own a film in a specific format. What does it mean to make black people get excited about that? And what are some ways in which the milestone can reach them?”

Around this time in 2026, Gift will execute two companies simultaneously. She knows that there will be challenges but it is optimistic. In his first year in the Milastone helmet, he plans to throw one or two films while finding his balance.

It will lead with what it describes as “care work”, establishing relationships with black filmmakers and reinforcing the connections that made a success.

“Knowing that this is the home of Charles Burnett, Kathleen Collins, that’s not something you can simply rebuild,” he said.

Heller and Doros say that his work in Milestone has been personal and political. “Work with Maya and see her carry this forward, that is aligned with our belief system,” said Heller.

They plan to stay while the gift needs them. “With a little luck, we will stay on the planet and we will be available when you have questions,” said Heller. “We hope to have that deep knowledge when I need it.”