Tag Archives: World History

Call for Entries: Women of African Descent Film Festival

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Call for Entries: The 16th Annual Women of African Descent Film Festival

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Still from SANKOFA. Produced by Mariona Lloreta

The 16th Annual Women of African Descent Film Festival presented by The Brooklyn Chapter of The Links, Inc. now opens its CALL FOR ENTRIES. If you would like to see an example of the lineup from WADFF 2016, click here.

Please contact wadffbklyn@gmail.com with questions regarding the festival.

MISSION & OBJECTIVE To showcase films which are centered around the theme of Linkages: Women, Their Families, Neighborhoods, and the Global Community, and to support the artistic development of Women filmmakers of African Descent by providing a supportive exhibition platform, offering stipends to participants, and seeking industry opportunities that will help to expose the filmmakers’ works and further their careers.

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Still from BLK GRL POET. Produced by Kearah-Armonie

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL The Women of African Descent Film Festival (WADFF) is celebrating its 16th Anniversary in 2017. The media constantly bombards us with negative images of people of African descent. Our positive accomplishments, uplifting experiences, and gifts to humanity get little attention. The Brooklyn Chapter believes it is vitally important that our legacy be maintained, nurtured and preserved and it is our responsibility to shape the public’s perception of who we are as a people. Through the medium of film, filmmakers of African descent document and relay the stories of our past, present, and future. They have become the new historians –“preservers of our legacy.” The Brooklyn Chapter realizes that many societal misconceptions start with how we are portrayed in the media. To counteract the adverse portrayal of African Americans in the movies and media, the Brooklyn Chapter, in 2002, initiated Linkages: Women of African Descent Film Festival. By choosing and screening films that depict the positive linkages that women of African descent have to their families, neighborhoods and communities, the film festival is able to effectively influence people’s’ perceptions through the medium of film.

GENERAL RULES & SUBMISSION GUIDELINES All films must be produced, written or

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Still from STRINGS ATTACHED. Produced by Marc John Jefferies & Nelcie Souffrant

directed by a female filmmaker of African descent, must have been completed on or after June 1, 2012, and must be 1 hour at most in length. Submission deadline is Friday, March 24th. Juror’s Choice Awards and stipends will be presented to the participating filmmakers.

Local, regional, national and international submissions are accepted.

Filmmakers are encouraged to submit a digital and/or online version of their films in a format such as AVI, FLV, WMV, MP4, MOV, QT, WMV, AVCHD, FLV, H.264, or DivX. If these file formats do not exist, please submit a link to your film on a site such as Vimeo, YouTube, Dailymotion, or MetaCafe. If applicable, include all passwords for video access.

DVD and VHS copies will not be accepted.

Please note: there is no submission fee. With your playable submission, please include a synopsis, crew list, press kit and any stills you would like to appear in the program and/or advertisements.

Send all films to: wadffbklyn@gmail.com

THE EVENT WADFF 2017 will take place Saturday, May 6, 2017 at LIU Brooklyn (corner of Flatbush and Dekalb Avenues), Media Arts Department, Spike Lee Reading Room, 10am-6pm.

THE LINKS Formed in 1952, The Brooklyn Chapter of The Links is dedicated to the support of educational, civic and cultural activities in Brooklyn. It is a chapter of The Links, Inc. an international, not-for-profit corporation, whose membership consists of 14,000 professional women of color in 282 chapters located in 41 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The Brooklyn Chapter works under the guidelines of its national organization in providing services to its Brooklyn Community in five mission areas:  The Arts, Services to Youth, National Trends and Services, International Trends, and Health and Wellness. A focus of the Chapter’s arts programming is to empower women and youth by lending support and encouragement to emerging artists – with a particular focus on filmmakers for the past 16 years. The foundation for all of the chapter’s programs and services is rooted in the African American tradition of giving and volunteerism. Members share a deep sense of communal responsibility, and for the past 66 years, have been committed to actively initiating and supporting educational, cultural, and civic programs that positively impact the lives of people of African descent residing in Brooklyn.

You can ‘Like’ and follow the festival Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/WomenofAfricanDescentFilmFestival/

For #WADFF2017 twitter updates, follow @BlackChickMedia.

Want to learn more about WADFF and the Brooklyn Chapter of the LINKS? Check out our Vimeo page here: https://vimeo.com/164791769

Please contact WADFF Co-Chair Yvonne Presha or Elyse Morris, On-site Coordinator at wadffbklyn@gmail.com.

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Still from SANKOFA. Produced by Mariona Lloreta

Daughters of the Dust playing in Philly!

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Press Release

Black Chick Media, LLC & Cohen Media Announce 25th Anniversary Release of Daughters of the Dust

Los Angeles, December 7, 2016: Premiering in 1991, Julie Dash’s magnificent film Daughters of the Dust broke ground as the first movie directed by an African-American woman to receive an extensive theatrical release. Since then, this exquisite story about a Gullah family in the 1900’s has continued to garner praises. It was added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2004, and more recently, acted as a heavy inspiration for Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade. Currently, the film is being re-introduced to mainstream audiences in a colorful new way; Cohen Media Group, distributors of the film, has created a rich 2K restoration that will be released in theaters this fall. Most recently, Daughters of the Dust has won a Special NY Film Critics Circle Award for its 25th anniversary release.

Daughters of the Dust is the story of conflict and struggle between changing values in the early 1900’s as a Low Country family, living on one of the sea islands, prepares to migrate, leaving their land and legacy for the promise of the North. The film focuses on the women of the Peazant Family; the carriers of traditions and beliefs firmly linked to their African heritage.

Daughters of the Dust will play Philadelphia at the Ritz at the Bourse from December 9-December 15, 2016.

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“I Am A Woman Phenomenally…Phenomenal Woman, That’s Me.”

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While I would like nothing more than to write a lengthy, most deserved and heartfelt post dedicated to this magnificent woman, I am afraid I cannot find words powerful enough, exceptional enough, vast enough…To hold or express all that she meant to me, and indeed to the Black (and world) community.

I am reminded of the time I had the pleasure of hearing her speak at my alma mater. It was in her later years, when she no longer commanded the stage by both voice and body (she was resigned to sitting in an armchair the entire time), but that did not stop her from subtly (yet, not so subtly…) demanding attention and changing the lives of every single person in that room.  From reciting Shakespearean Sonnets after a discussion on diversity in life, the arts, and being yourself no matter what, to speaking on the notion of inner & universal peace, the constant struggle for civil rights and liberties, the political state of the world, the power of the individual and the joy of learning and education, that evening, Dr. Maya Angelou taught us all what it meant to be human.

And it was then, hearing her in person for the first time that I truly understood who she was, and who I could be; that I had the power to change my life, be who I needed and wanted to be, and create a better world for and with the people around me.  Despite the fact I had read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings at least five times, can recite Phenomenal Woman at the drop of a hat and am always electrified by the weight of the words in Still I Rise, over the years, Maya Angelou has taught me, and indeed, all of us, what it is to face adversity head-on with a machete in one hand and a rose in the other;  how to overcome my (our) fears and come out the other side a better person.  That no matter what trauma and violence and hatred we have witnessed against ourselves or any other human being, we must never be silent; we must rise.

We are losing our giants, and who will be honorable enough to rise and stand in their place? Today, on this great day of sorrow, we take a moment of silence to honor and salute you Maya Angelou.  Your legacy will inspire generations to come; you changed our lives in ways that simple words cannot express, and we are forever in your debt.

“The true definition of a  Warrior Queen. A very sad loss for all of Humanity.” -Anna Harwich

Yes, Anna, we couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

Love

BCM

 

 

 

Phenomenal Woman

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman

Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
‘Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Maya Angelou

 

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