Beginning tomorrow March 29th through March 31st is the first annual Brooklyn Girl Film Festival. Their mission: To showcase the work of women filmmakers from around the globe. Whether their work is a serious documentary or a lighthearted comedy, Brooklyn Girl Film Festival seeks to empower women and their unique and relevant interpretation of the world around them and strengthen the community of women filmmakers.
Founded by April Mosqus, who also serves as Festival Director, it began after she ran the festival circuit in 2010-11 with her film “Before We Get to Seattle” and found herself bothered by the lack of woman filmmakers during her festival journey as well as the shortage of woman-centric film festivals, especially in the New York City area. With that, Mosqus decided to “create a place to support the community of woman filmmakers, and encourage them to strive to bring their unique stories to life.”
Hosted by the fantastic Frances Lozada -actress, film producer, the founder of the Cinema Night Film Series in Brooklyn – all the films take place at Launchpad (721 Franklin Ave, Brooklyn, NY) in the Prospect Heights section of Brooklyn. The festival also presents film-marketing and social network guru, Amy Greenlaw, who will show how to execute a DIY Marketing campaign and filmmaker Leah Meyerhoff (remember her from IFC's 'Film School' which co-starred Alrick Brown?) who will lead a discussion about her journey from short filmmaker of the award-winning “Twitch” to feature film director on her DIY labor of love film, “Unicorns.”
The full lineup and event schedule can be found at: www.brooklyngirlfilmfest.com
All that said, at first glance there doesn’t seem to be much in the way from female filmmakers of the African diaspora, though there’s no dearth of talented ones in New York, and definitely not in Brooklyn (seven ladies come immediately to mind).
Among tomorrow’s 6:30pm block of short films is the interesting looking short narrative Color of Beauty, written anddirected by Shamara Cox, about a young woman who despises her dark complexion and tries any and everything to dispose of it. The trailer can be seen HERE.
In the prior 5pm block Passengers of 7D, a science fiction short about a divorced man who encounters a formidable woman when dimensional levels fluctuate inside his apartment, is by Brooklyn filmmaker Sharifa Williams. Although I don’t want to assume who’s-who by name, I’m going to assume she’s a Black female (if not please feel free to correct me). Either way the trailer looks cool and the film co-stars Karen Page as Phee, the ‘formidable woman’.
The only other short that stands out with a Black lead is UnRapped, about a woman who struggles to find a balance between her ordinary life as a timid, young schoolteacher and her alter ego as a confident, intimidating rap diva; it’s directed by longtime filmmaker Dena Greenbaum, who was also an Associate Producer on Rashaad Ernesto Green’s Gun Hill Road. Starring funny lady Stephanie Parrot, who has written and starred in her own webseries ‘On The Stoop’ (about a woman who always wanted a house with a stoop like the ladies on ‘227’) and appeared in 'Decoy Squad: The Badge', both currently on FunnyorDie.com, as well as her 'Random Stuff With Steph' videos on YouTube, among other films. UnRapped shows on Saturday March 31st at 3:30pm along with the feature The Power of Three and animated short Being Bradford Dillman.
If there are any other films in the lineup by filmmakers of the African diaspora, or starring actors of such, please let me know and I'll try to feature them.
