11th Annual Black Women Film Festival

[JemChi]

The South Dallas Cultural Center & Black Cinema Dallas present

11th Annual Black Women Film Festival

I Find, in Being Black, a Thing of Beauty: A Joy; A Strength: a Secret
Cup of Gladness

Friday, March 16, 2007 at 8:00 PM; Saturday March 17, 2007 at 7:00 PM;
Friday, March 23, 2007 at 8:00 PM and Saturday, March 24, 2007 at 7:00 PM.

All films are screened at the Magnolia Lounge inside Fair Park, Grand
Street
entrance next door to the African American Museum.
Admission is $5.00 each night.
For information the public should call 214-426-1683 or 214-670-0315.

Friday, March 16, 2007 8 PM

The Healing Passage: Voices from the Water 90 min. by S. Pearl Sharp
Featuring Oscar Brown, Jr., John Outterbridge, Ysaye Barnwell, Tom
Feelings,
Babatunde Olatunji, Katrina Browne, Haile Gerima, Riua Akinshegun, Gil
Noble,
Dadisi Sanyika, Chester Higgins Jr. and S. Pearl Sharp

How do we heal from the residual of The Middle Passage? Cultural
artists, along
with historians and healers, look at present day behavior that is
connected to
the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The artists use music, dolls, dance,
altars,
spoken word, visual art and ritual to create paths to healing. With
commentary
by historian Dr. Yosef A. A. ben-Jochannan (Dr. Ben), Maafa Conference
founder
Rev. Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood, and the artistry of actress CCH Pounder
and
numerous other artists.

Saturday, March 17, 2007 7 PM

Film A Girl Like Me. 7 min. by Kiri Davis Film explores the
standards of
beauty imposed on today's Black girls and how such standards affect
self-
esteem and self-image.
Film #2 The Wedding Proposal 50 min. by Anjanette Levert

Tick Tock! Tick Tock! Tick Tock! Turning 35 alerts Anjanette Levert
that her
biological clock is ticking away and she realizes that choosing to be
educated
and pursuing a professional career has left her behind many other
African
American women her age who are married and raising a family. The
Wedding
Proposal one womans humorous, heart-wrenching personal journey to
find
answers to this dilemma.
Film #3 Black Women On The Light, Dark Thang. 45 min. by Celeste
Crenshaw
and Paula Caffey Black is beautiful, right? Black women on the politics
of color
speak candidly about the longstanding caste system that permeates the
African
American community. These women share provocative, heart-wrenching
personal stories about how being too light or too dark has profoundly
influenced their lives and relationships from childhood into their
adult years.
Originating in a culture of slavery, the light, dark thang still
persists.

Friday, March 23, 2007 8 PM

Film #1Turning A Corner: Women in the Sex Trade 60 mins. By
Salome Chasnoff
Julia Roberts in the film Pretty Woman tried to glamorize prostitution,
where
every woman could be saved from poverty, loneliness, or any kind of
unhappiness by having a wealthy John! The glamour of Hollywood
prostitutes is
so far from the reality of hooking that a comparison is
insulting, which is why
the women in this documentary wake up their audience to the realities
of the
cruelty and criminality of prostitution. There are no happy
hookers or kept
women so why do women work in the sex trades on the streets, in the
suites or
at home? Author, mother and former prostitute Kim Robinson will lead
the discussion following the screening.

Film #2 Kenya: Where Women Rule 20 min by Stormland Productions
Domestic violence against women is rife among the Samburu in Kenya. In
Samburu culture the women also do all the work, including building the
homes,
herding, collecting firewood and water and caring for the children. In
the 1980s
and 90s two hundred women from the community were raped by men from
a
nearby British army base. The Samburu men rejected them, whipped them
and
threw them out of their homes. In 1990 a small group of these
stigmatized
women decided to band together and create their own village. Under the
leadership of one woman, Rebecca Lollosoli, their village has
prospered, taking
advantage of the income from tourism. The Samburu men have tried to
sabotage the tourist business and have also mounted raids on the
village.
Finally, the Samburu mens chief tried to effect reconciliation, but
the women
vehemently rejected his proposal. They are clearly enjoying the
advantages of
independence.

Saturday, March 24, 2007 7 PM

Film #1Hands off Assata Shakur Birthday Party
An evening of poetry, music, storytelling and a short film celebrating
the 60th
birthday of Assata Shakur. On May 2 1973, Black Panther activist Assata
Shakur,
was pulled over by the New Jersey State Police, shot twice and then
charged with
murder of a police officer. Assata spent 6 years in prison before
escaping out of
the maximum-security wing in 1979 and moving to Cuba.

Film #2 Been Rich All of My Life 80 min. by Heather Lynn MacDonald
This documentary follows the unlikely troupe of tap dancing divas, the
"Silver
Belles." These five former showgirls now aged 84-96, perform to
standing
ovations, and are as sassy as they ever were. They met during Harlem's
1930's
heyday, dancing in the chorus lines at the Apollo Theater, the Cotton
Club,
Small's Paradise and Connie's Inn, performing with legendary band
leaders like
Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. When the big band era ended, they all
went
into other work -- but in 1985 they put their tap shoes back on, and
have been
dancing together ever since. They may not kick as high, but they are
hip-
swaying and show-biz savvy. (Additional venues for Been Rich All of
My Life
will include the Martin Luther King Senior Center, Park Manor Senior
High Rise,
Eban Village Senior Center. These special screenings are opened to the
regular
participants of the senior programs)

Vicki Meek
http://www.dallasculture.org/southDa...uralCenter.cfm