Gabourey Sidibe, best known for her role on Empire and break out, Academy Award nominated performance in the 2009 film Precious is taking a step behind the camera in her new venture with Refinery29.
She will be among 12 women directors as the company makes an effort to produce content that’s specific to women through their new ShatterBox Anthology debuting this summer.
Sidibe’s short film, A Tale of Four women will be a part of the collection, including efforts from other actresses turned directors like America Ferrara, Kristen Stewart, and Chloe Sevigny. The other woman directors chosen for the Chatterbox Anthology are Jessica Sanders, Meera Menon, Tiffany Shlain, Courtney Hoffman, Jessica Dimmock, Robin Cloud, Roja Gashtili, Julia Lerman, and Anu Valia.
As well as her foray into directing, Gabourey is working on her memoir, which is set to be published next year in 2017. When speaking about her experience directing and the partnership with Refinery29 she said, “Everything I do, my image and who I am and what I feel represents me is in the hands of a man, usually a white man. I realized very recently that I want to be the one that decides what image I show the public.”
Chloe Sevigny’s film Kitty will be the first of the collection of films to be shown publicly at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
What do you think about Gabourey Sidibe’s partnership with Refinery29? Let us know in the comments.
