Tag / African American

by JENDEAN

Bite-sized blog post: Julie Dash

Julie Dash behind the camera

The first film directed by an African-American woman to be released theatrically didn’t happen until 1991 with Daughters of the Dust directed by JULIE DASH.

Dash was first exposed to cinematography in an after-school program at the Studio Museum in Harlem where she and a friend believed they were enrolling in a class on still photography, not knowing what cinematography was. She went on to study at AFI with cinema legends such as Ingmar Bergman and UCLA at the tail end of the movement that became known as the LA Rebellion. Keep an eye out for Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl coming soon!

More to add to this “bite-sized blog” – please send us a comment!

Where to watch her films:

AMAZON (DVDs/BluRays for PURCHASE)

WOMEN MAKE MOVIES FILM CATALOG

VIMEO

Read more about her:

ONLINE
Find her on Twitter
Find her on Facebook
Watch her interview for the 2nd Sex
Flavorwire Interview
Julie Dash and the ongoing struggle of black women filmmakers 
UCLA – Julie Dash & the LA Rebellion
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

 2002The Rosa Parks Story (TV Movie)
 2000Love Song (TV Movie)
 1999Incognito (TV Movie)
 1997SUBWAYStories: Tales from the Underground (TV Movie) (segment “Sax Cantor Riff”)

 1997Women: Stories of Passion (TV Series) (1 episode)

– Grip Till It Hurts (1997)
 1982Illusions (Short)
 1975Four Women (Short)
by JENDEAN

Bite-sized blog post: Ava DuVernay

Ava DuVernay

After being told, “African Americans don’t go to indie films so we can’t fund your indie film with an African American cast,” AVA DUVERNAY made Middle of Nowhere (2012) without industry support and it screened at Sundance where she became the first African American woman to win Best Director at the festival. Using her experience as a publicist she formed a distribution company AFFRM to distribute her own films and those of other African American filmmakers.

Her next feature  film Selma (2013) was nominated for an Academy Award and she re-branded her distribution company AFFRM to ARRAY to encompass female filmmakers as well as people of color.

 More to add to this “bite-sized blog” – please send us a comment!

Where to watch her films:

NETFLIX

AMAZON (PRIME-STREAMING)

AMAZON (DVDs/BluRays for PURCHASE)

VIMEO

Read more about her:

ONLINE
Find her on Facebook
Find her on Twitter
Ava DuVernay’s Website
ARRAY Website
Ava DuVernay’s AFFRM Rebrands as ARRAY, Acquires 2 Films
Barbie Made An Ava DuVernay Doll
Selma Director Ava DuVernay Says the Oscars Are “Just a Room in L.A.”
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

2015Queen Sugar (TV Series) (pre-production)
 2015For Justice (TV Movie)
 2014Selma
 2013Scandal (TV Series) (1 episode)
– Vermont Is for Lovers, Too (2013)
2013Nine for IX (TV Series documentary) (1 episode)
– Venus vs. (2013)
 2013/VIIIThe Door (Short)
 2009Compton in C Minor (Short)
 2008This Is the Life (Documentary)
 2006Saturday Night Life (Short)