All Posts Tagged With: "independent film"

Last night I attended a screening of Katrina’s Children as part of the Environmental Film Festival at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The documentary tells the story of Hurricane Katrina landing in New Orleans as well as the aftermath from the perspective of the children who where affected. Interviews as well as the artwork of the children are used to weave an intricate tale.

I have never seen a documentary told from the perspective of children and I found it very effective in this case. The children tell the entire story. You rarely hear the voice of the interviewer but the children’s voices are always present. I find the voices of the children refreshing – as kids tend to be very honest and they can sometimes make a difficult situation lighthearted. While the kids don’t all have the same story, they all have been traumatized in some way by the storm and its aftermath. Many have seen things that no adult should have to see let alone a child. I also think that these children explore topics that many adults would shy away from or wouldn’t even consider. I find that the use of the kids’ artwork (as well as the animation) gives an idea of how devastating that hurricane was in their lives. There is one particular drawing that stands out where the boy depicts a hurricane that had teeth biting off roofs of houses and claws that were ripping the tops off of skyscrapers and picking up cars and buses. One girl drew a very intricate panel style drawing where a man could no longer take the situation of being trapped in New Orleans near and committed suicide by jumping from a bridge near the Superdome.

According to filmmaker Laura Belsey, who was in attendance, the children were selected mostly randomly but the creators made sure to include children representative of the socioeconomic demographics of New Orleans before Katrina hit. You do see a lot of differences in the level of impact to each family as well as how well the families were (or were not) able to rebound from the situation. What is clear though is that while we are hearing reports of New Orleans being rebuilt, many of these children (and their families) were isolated – either as the only or one of a few families that are in their neighborhoods or living in another state isolated from everything they know.

I hope this film can help shed light on what still needs to be done as well as the fact that children really need to talk about what has happened to them.  I would think in this situation that many adults as well as children would need some type of trauma counseling.

The creators intend to distribute the film via the internet. Check out katrinaschildren.com to view the trailer and to find a screening near you.

I had the opportunity to attend a screening of The Souls of Black Girls as a part of the Urban Film Series last night. The film produced by Daphne Valerius questions whether women of color suffer from a self image disorder as a result of media images. It features discussions with teenage girls as well as the familiar faces of actresses Juanita Jennings, Regina King, Amelia Marshall and Jada Pinkett Smith; PBS’s Washington Week moderator, Gwen Ifill; and rapper/activist Chuck D.

The film’s premise is that Black girls and girls of color in general are given two images to aspire to by the media: 1) the European standard of beauty and 2) the video vixen which essentially equates to a Black prostitute. The girls see that they don’t fit the standard of European beauty so they manipulate themselves in an effort to fit that image or gravitate to what looks most like them – the video vixen. In heartfelt interviews, the teenage girls intimate that because what is considered beautiful on TV, in movies, in magazines and the like, looks nothing like them, they feel that they must be ugly. The famous guests give a Hollywood perspective as to which images of Black women are shown. Images that challenge the status quo which are often more realistic are not chosen because executives making the decisions believe they don’t sell.

Valerius’ piece leaves us with the message that in order to counter these images we must hold ourselves accountable for being complicit in promoting them and also for putting positive and realistic images out there. The documentary is a must see not only for girls and women but also for boys and men.

Valerius started this film as a research project at St. Johns University as a Ronald McNair Scholar . Her motivation for studying this subject was that she too as a girl felt that she wasn’t pretty because the images of women in the media looked nothing like her. At that time she had no idea that she would eventually make a documentary based on that research. She went on to make the film as her final project in the broadcast journalism masters program at Emerson College.

Visit the site for listings of screenings in your area. Screenings can also be requested through the site.

I had the opportunity to see Finally Sayin’ What I Really Mean a film by Monique Woods at the Urban Film Series in DC. Not only was the cinematography engaging but the theme of the piece echoed the way I feel about music. I absolutely LOVE music. I can’t see how I could live my life without it. Many people, however, would consider me a music snob but I don’t think of myself that way. I like the art of music; I love the music, the lyrics, the feelings evoked and the memories associated with a song. My music tastes are very diverse and people don’t understand that opting to try to put me in a box instead. If you love music and don’t fit into any of the corporate music machine’s neat boxes then this film is for you. If you are completely oblivious of the independent artists out there trying to make it, even more so, this film is for you. If you can find this film in your area, check it out.

I went to an advance screening of Hustle and Flow at Landmark’s E Street Cinema starring Terrence Howard, Anthony Anderson and others. I got into the screening free because I entered a contest and I probably wouldn’t have seen it on my own. I didn’t know what to expect … all I had heard about the movie was that it was about a pimp that wanted to be a rapper. With that who knows what the movie could be about? To my surprise the movie was great. It didn’t glorify anything like many of today’s movies seem to. It showed a gritty type of realism. One also sees that no matter a person’s station in life, people have dreams. The movie won the Audience and Cinematography Awards for Drama at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Check it out.

(On a side note, I guess the bootleg “industry” is really taking off. They checked everyone entering the theater for cameras. Even if you only had a camera phone you had to check it.)