From restoring RIVERBEND to preserving overlooked classics, Reelblack Renaissance is just getting started.
It’s a great time to be a film fan, especially with boutique disc labels consistently digging up unsung cinematic gems that have been forgotten, overlooked, or simply left sitting on the shelf for far too long. Reelblack Renaissance is one of the latest labels to enter the market, and its mission feels particularly important right now. Founded by film historian, longtime champion of Black cinema, and fellow Philadelphia film critic Michael Dennis, the label is looking specifically at overlooked and forgotten Black films and bringing them to a new audience so they can be rediscovered.
The label’s first release is Sam Firstenberg’s 1989 action drama Riverbend, and it’s a pretty perfect place to start. For years, the film has existed mostly as an analog-era curiosity, but Dennis and Reelblack Renaissance have given it a serious second look. The film has received a new 6K transfer overseen by the film’s director, a full restoration, and a packed collector’s edition that goes well beyond simply putting an old movie on a disc. There are new interviews, essays, archival material, and plenty of extras that make a convincing argument for why Riverbend deserves to be rediscovered. It’s also a film that feels way ahead of its time, forgoing many of the expected blaxploitation trappings to say something deeper while still delivering plenty of action.
I recently sat down with Dennis to talk about the long road to getting Reelblack Renaissance off the ground, the forgotten VHS tape that helped spark the idea for the label, and what he hopes to do with it going forward. And if Riverbend is any indication, this is just the beginning.
Dan Tabor: Starting a boutique label is a huge undertaking, especially in today’s niche physical media market. What inspired you to take the leap?
Michael Dennis: This has honestly been a dream of mine for decades. Even back when I worked in a video store as a teenager, I always imagined having my own label someday.
I’ve always been a huge collector of physical media, and it frustrated me seeing so many Black films receive bare-bones releases—or worse, never receive proper releases at all. Even when these movies made it to DVD or Blu-ray, they rarely included interviews with the filmmakers or actors, and they almost never received the kind of restoration work or historical context they deserved.
When the opportunity to rescue Riverbend came along, it wasn’t just a chance to restore a forgotten film. It was finally the opportunity to build the label I’d wanted to create for years.
Right now, we’ve got three titles lined up, and everything we’re doing revolves around one mission: rescue, restore, and reissue the lost gems of Black cinema. There are so many films that have been stranded on VHS or never made the jump to Blu-ray, and that’s exactly what we’re hoping to change.
Dan Tabor: Why was Riverbend the film you wanted to build the label around?
Michael Dennis:
In a lot of ways, it chose me.
I actually remembered seeing the VHS sitting on the shelves at the Philadelphia video store where I worked back in the ’80s and ’90s, but I’d never watched it. Years later, my podcast partner Charles Woods introduced me to the film and pointed out how unusual it really was.
Along with The Spook Who Sat By The Door, it’s one of the few films where Black characters organize and fight back against oppression without relying on a white savior. That’s incredibly rare.
When I shut down my screening series in 2019, I started uploading titles from my personal collection to my YouTube channel, and Riverbend was one of them.
About a year and a half later, I received an email from director Sam Firstenberg.
Honestly, I thought he was going to tell me to take the movie down.
Instead, he thanked me.
He told me I was doing the film a service by introducing it to new audiences, and that conversation became the beginning of everything that followed.
Dan Tabor: That’s amazing and the exact opposite of what I expected to happen.
Michael Dennis: Absolutely.
Once Sam and I started talking, I became fascinated by how a movie like this ever got made. We eventually recorded a long interview together for my podcast, and literally the next day a 35mm print of Riverbend appeared on eBay.
It turned out to be the first 35mm print I’d ever purchased, and it was located in South Africa. Because it was during the pandemic, it took nearly six months just to arrive.
Then it sat under my desk for another several months before I finally saved enough money to have it scanned.
I assumed I was about to see this beautiful, pristine print. Instead, it was a disaster.
It was heavily scratched, missing thirteen minutes of footage, and looked like it had played countless theatrical screenings.
But even then, I wasn’t ready to give up.
Craig Rogers at Deaf Crocodile generously helped clean up the existing print in his spare time, and we even replaced some missing scenes with VHS footage so we could screen the film in Denton, Texas. That screening changed everything.
Producer Valerie Vance attended with members of the original production team, and through those conversations we were finally able to locate the original film elements. Without that chain of coincidences, there probably wouldn’t be a label today.
Dan Tabor: At what point did you realize this wasn’t just about saving one movie?
Michael Dennis: Once we discovered how close Riverbend had come to disappearing, I realized it wasn’t an isolated case.
There are dozens—maybe hundreds—of orphaned films out there. In particular, there are so many Black films that have simply fallen through the cracks. That’s when this became more than a restoration project.
It became a mission.
Our next releases include Broken Strings and Reform School, and we’re working with organizations like the Library of Congress and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to help preserve and bring these films back into circulation.
The goal isn’t simply to sell Blu-rays. It’s to make sure these films aren’t forgotten again.
Dan Tabor: One of the things that immediately struck me was the presentation. It feels like something you’d expect from Criterion, Vinegar Syndrome, or Arrow. How important was it for this first release to make that kind of statement?
Michael Dennis: It was incredibly important because this was our introduction to collectors.
What I’ve been saying to everybody as far as the label goes, is I wanted Reelblack Renaissance to be like if Criterion and Vinegar Syndrome had a bastard love child.
We actually had almost a full year to put the release together, which gave us the opportunity to obsess over every detail. From the beginning, I knew I didn’t want it to look like a standard Blu-ray release. I wanted people to pick it up and immediately recognize that this was something special.
The first thing we changed was the artwork. I wasn’t a fan of the original home video cover, so we commissioned artist Aaron Kai to create an entirely new painted poster inspired by the classic Cannon Films artwork of the 1980s. Every brushstroke was done by hand—there’s no AI involved. It took him nearly two months to complete the painting.
Sam Firstenberg was involved throughout the entire process. He approved everything we did, from the artwork to the overall presentation. This wasn’t just our vision—it became his as well.
Dan Tabor: You also worked closely with Sam on creating what I understand is essentially a new director’s cut.
Michael Dennis: That’s right.
One of the biggest surprises during the restoration was discovering that Sam had never really had the opportunity to revisit the film. Back when Riverbend was made, these movies were produced incredibly quickly. There weren’t test screenings or audience previews. The filmmakers simply delivered the movie and moved on to the next project.
When we began screening the restoration, Sam finally had the chance to watch the film with an audience and see how people reacted.
There was one scene he felt slowed the momentum too much, particularly a sequence explaining the growing romance between Steve James’ character and Margaret Avery’s. His feeling was that audiences were already emotionally invested, and stopping to explain those feelings actually weakened the pacing.
After seeing the film with crowds, I agreed.
That deleted scene is still included as a special feature, but the version on the disc reflects how Sam wanted the film to play today.
Dan Tabor: Beyond the restoration itself, the special features feel like they’re preserving the film’s legacy as much as celebrating it.
Michael Dennis: That was always the goal.
The release isn’t just about restoring the movie—it’s about documenting its history.
We produced a 36-page booklet featuring essays from writers and historians who could provide the cultural context the film deserves. We wanted people to understand why Riverbend mattered in 1989 and why it still resonates today.
One of the pieces I’m proudest of is the documentary honoring Steve James.
That actually surprised me because I wasn’t heavily involved in putting it together. The filmmakers behind the documentary reached out to so many people who knew Steve, and what they created became an incredible tribute to both the actor and his legacy.
For me, that’s the emotional centerpiece of the release. Steve James only received two starring roles during his career, despite becoming one of the defining action stars of the era. We wanted this release to celebrate him not as a sidekick, but as the leading man he always deserved to be.
Dan Tabor: Looking ahead, what do you hope Reelblack Renaissance becomes?
Michael Dennis: My hope is that people begin to trust the label.
I want collectors to know that if they see our logo on a release, they’re going to get something that has been treated with care.
The reality is that we’re trying to challenge a misconception that’s existed in the home video industry for decades—that Black films don’t have an audience in physical media.
I don’t believe that’s true.
I think people respond to quality.
If you restore these films properly, create meaningful supplements, commission thoughtful essays, and give them premium packaging, collectors will support them the same way they support any other boutique release.
Riverbend is our calling card.
If it succeeds, it opens the door to rescuing dozens of other films that have been forgotten.
That’s really the mission.
Not just preserving history—but making sure people actually get to experience it.
Dan Tabor: Finally, Is there one film that’s at the top of your wish list?
Michael Dennis: There are a lot of them.
One of my biggest dream projects is Parks and Dixie, a 1929 film that’s now in the public domain, but only one known print survives at the Museum of Modern Art.
If I had the resources tomorrow, I’d help fund that restoration.
There are also films from the late ’90s and early 2000s that have essentially disappeared because of music licensing issues. Those are much more complicated, but they’re every bit as deserving of preservation.
The challenge isn’t finding films that need rescuing. It’s having the resources to rescue them.
