Melvin Van Peebles, trailblazing filmmaker who championed Black cinema, dead at 89
10:27am PDT - September 23rd, 2021 melvin van peebles - CBC NewsMelvin Van Peebles, the groundbreaking filmmaker, playwright and musician whose work ushered in the "blaxploitation" wave of the 1970s and influenced filmmakers long after, has died. He was 89.