nytimes September 23, 2021 3:00pm Melvin Van Peebles, Champion of New Black Cinema, Dies at 89 #vanpeeblesmelvin #deathsobituaries #theater #movies #blackpeople #writingandwriters #sweetsweetbacksbaadassssssongmovie #thestoryofathreedaypassmovie #aintsupposedtodieanaturaldeathplay #dontplayuscheapplay #news Melvin Van Peebles, Champion of New Black Cinema, Dies at 89 A fertile creative force, he wrote fiction and musicals but is best known for a breakthrough movie that heralded the genre known as blaxploitation.