All Posts Tagged With: "urban film series"

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.

Since I finally got PodPress up and running, I decided to share this February 11, 2007, recording from the Urban Film Series in Washington, DC. The theme of the series, We Remember, “speaks to how urban communities have been tremendously challenged. Our most critical need is to figure out how to grab hold of the direction of children and families. Perhaps a look back at the trials and tribulations of our time can help us re-focus.”

One particular panel included Actress Yvette Freeman from ER, a former member of the Black Panther Party (I did not get his name), several filmmakers and others.

The Black Panther spoke of the struggle during and after the civil rights movement and how he hopes that today’s young people will do it better than they did by focusing on all aspects of making life better for Black people.

 

  Black Panther Recording 2/11/2007 [7:11m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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.