To start, I attended the "Black Women, Body Image, and Hollywood" panel. Drexel University's Dr. Yaba Blay of the Africana Studies Department moderated. Panelists included Michelle Trotter (Actress and Model), Ellen Domingos (Actress and Advocate), Stacey Sargeant (Actress, Producer, and Director), and Lisa Cortes (Director and Producer). Before the conversation began, the audience viewed Sargeant's short film Though I'm Not Perfect and Cortes' Imagine A Future, previously shown on BET.
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| From Left to Right: Dr. Yaba Blay, Michelle Trotter, Ellen Domingos, Stacey Sargeant, Lisa Cortes |
Imagine A Future takes a look at black beauty and one student's journey to discover herself and what makes her beautiful.
During the panel discussion, all sorts of topics came up - some included casting in Hollywood, eating disorders, and being a plus size model. One thing in particular that I took from this panel was that if the media does not affirm who I am, if they don't portray who I am or what my culture truly is, then I have to do it myself. I need to affirm that I am beautiful. I need to show others in my community that they are worthy. And through film, I plan to let my race know that they matter. If the media doesn't show who we really are as a people then it's my responsibility to my race as an aspiring filmmaker to do so. That's also the job of anyone else who wants to see accurate representations of African Americans on film. If you want to see it, make it happen. Whether you write, direct, edit, or act in a production that accurately portrays us or if you want to produce it - just help make it happen so that the little black boy or little black girl next to you doesn't have to say, "How come Bob [or Jane or Mariana] doesn't look like me or even talk like me?" I love my black folk and it's time we see more true, mirror reflections of who we are as a people.
That's not to say that we are all saints and that there aren't any African Americans who live sinful lives, but that comes with every race of people. However, we tend to see a more negatively highlighted portrayal of African Americans on screen than we do from our non-African-American counterparts.
Later in the evening, Nairobi Half Live was screened. In this film, directed by David Tosh Gitonga, an aspiring actor from Kenya, Mwas, ventures off to the city of Nairobi to hone his craft and pursue his career. He soon falls into the arms of a local gang. His new life in Nairobi forms into 2 - one living as a carjacking thief & the other preparing to act in an upcoming theater production. The 2 worlds eventually collide, and at an unfortunate cost.
With the current portrayals of African Americans in the media and entertainment itself and who our youth try to emulate, accurate representations are at an all time high.
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