Filmmaker Arielle Loren is working an interesting mini-doc that addresses straight women dating bisexual men. These are not DL brothers but men who clearly state that they date both men and women. After an experience with just such a man, Loren decided to explore the subject with other straight women and the “The Bi-deology Project” was born.
The DC Black Pride 2010 Film Festival is a celebration of LGBTQ filmmakers and their unique cinematic perspective. We are seeking short films, no longer than 15 minutes, that will be screened at the festival on Saturday, May 29, 2010. We welcome documentaries, animation, and experimental work.
Submission Guidelines
*Include two copies of your short on DVD, labeled with the following information: (1) title, (2) running time and (3) contact information (including name, email address and phone number). DVDs must be submitted in 5 1/4" by 7 1/2" plastic safe cases – the industry standard push-button hub, dark plastic cases (like commercial DVDs, not CDs). Please do not send submissions in fiber-filled envelopes, as the dust damages DVDs and DVD players.
*A synopsis along with writer, director and producer credits
*Do not send the master tape. We are not responsible for any lost or damaged master tape.
*Please note that the DVD copies you submit will not be returned.
*To receive acknowledgment of receipt of your entry, enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope or postcard with your Submissions.
Send to: DC Black Pride 2010 P.O. Box 77071 Washington, DC 20013
For more information contact Michelle at dcfilmmaker@gmail.com
Black Lesbian and Gay Pride Day, Inc. (BLGPD),a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization, strives to increase awareness of and pride in the diversity of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender in the African American community as well as support organizations that focus on health disparities, education, youth and families.
I’m a huge fan of the director Michael Moore. His work is provocative (in a good way), loud (so you can’t ignore it) and thoughtful (although his critics accuse him of being slapdash).
From Roger and Me to Sicko, I have always experienced his documentaries as a call to arms. But after watching his latest offering, Capitalism: A Love Story, I feel hopeless. Stumped. Defeated. Not because he didn’t provide a compelling narrative, Moore says he’s been trying to bring “the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans” to our attention for the last twenty-years, but because he basically proved that the 99% of the American population has no chance up against the 1%.
The level of corporate greed on display in the film is mind blowing. It starts out with a “leaked” memo from Citigroup to its stakeholders (and no I’m not talking about us the consumer) lamenting the current state of our democracy.
You see, for all our imperfections, these United States still affords every adult one vote. That one vote, when counted, can equal up to a tremendous sea change (i.e. President Barack Hussein Obama) and that is what the one-percenters are concerned about. What if the 99% wise up and start voting in a way that could really mess up their good thing? And they have a good thing.
One percent of the population in the U.S. holds more assets, monies and power than the rest of the population - combined. The folks over at Citigroup were concerned that we are no longer happy to believe the tired trope that if you work really hard (or if you want to do it easy and get a bunch of credit cards) you too can have access to the “good life.” But after the financial free fall of 2008, Wall Street feared that we had caught on to their tricks and was about to derail their mission of economic world domination.
In his films I’m used to Moore presenting a glaring pile of bullshit behavior by some wrongdoer, and then close behind, a way to dismantle the machine is presented. But Capitalism is not structured that way. It is like a never-ending pile-up on a really long stretch of California freeway. One after another he pulls out examples of how Wall Street is screwing us, and they’ve long given up the courtesy of asking or using KY.
I think the most atrocious example is the story of a wife, who upon the death of her husband, a longtime employee of Walmart, finds out that they have taken out a secret life insurance policy on him. A paperwork snafu, on the part of the insurance company, is what inadvertently alerts her of the 1.5 million dollar payout that his employer will receive, of which; she will not see one thin dime.
And to prove that this is not just the case of a corporation covering their losses on a high end manager; Moore shows us a grieving husband who lost his wife, a cake decorator in the Walmart bakery, to an asthma attack and discovered that the company collected approximately $81,000.00 as a result of the life insurance policy they carried on her. Another spouse who had no idea about the policy or why Walmart didn’t need their permission to get one. And it seems like Moore couldn’t find anyone who could provide a satisfactory answer either. Of course, Walmart was mum on their practice (which is also carried out by at least 10 other corporations) and the consumer rights lawyer, who has been investigating this trend for the last few years, brought in to talk to Moore, couldn’t figure it out either and had only been able to dig up two very disturbing elements of the practice.
Two: Collecting on these policies is built into the corporation’s projected profit sheets, with the expectation that at least 16% of the workforce will kick the bucket every year.
All this money is tax-free and amounts to billions of dollars each year.
As I watched the distressed husband and his children talk about their loss and the hospital bills and funeral cost that they were left with, I wondered what could we really do to bring down all these greedy monsters? Americans are always game for a David and Goliath showdown, but this heartless behavior seems like it’s in a world all to itself.
It seems that every part of the machine is greased with plenty of money, not even our elected officials seem immune from contamination, and those one-percenters have no intention of letting go of a single penny. And it’s not like they are off somewhere printing this money, they are squeezing it out of everyday folks with sky-high credit card fees (trust that they will find a way to get around the most recent reforms) and crippling the financial system with the fraudulent practice of credit default swaps (basically betting against itself with your money).
During a recent interview on NPR, Moore said, “We are in a place in history that we make money off of money. No longer are the best and the brightest bringing their innovations to the marketplace in a way that will better society” (and make money). And no, he is not talking about the guy who brought us the Snuggie. Please stop making him a millionaire!
FASCINATING FACT: Dr. Jonas Salk, who discovered the polio vaccine, gave it away for no financial compensation and never patented his discovery. A discovery that everyone agrees changed the history of public of health in 1955 and could have been easily monetized. When asked why he didn’t go for the duckets (clearly my wording), Salk said he couldn’t imagine putting a price on something so important, that so many people needed.
It seems there are very few 21st century Salks (just think about all the money being made on HIV medication) and everyone is out to make a dollar on the backs of whomever. The powers that be are only interested in keeping the masses numb, inactive or at least addicted to the idea of excess. Yes, you do need three flat screen televisions in your two-bedroom apartment. Your kids do need $200.00 sneakers on their feet when you can barely keep the lights on. Your cupboards should be stocked with more processed food than you could eat in a lifetime. More! More! More!
As the credits rolled over Moore stringing crime scene tape around the gleaming and formidable-looking New York Stock Exchange, declaring he was executing a citizen’s arrest, I wondered if Americans, even with unemployment at an all-time high, were aware enough to want to get off the corporate teat? Were they willing to give up the flimsy notion of prosperity? Anything that the bank can come and repossess is not truly yours.
Over the last year, I had already started downsizing my own life. No more duplicates of unnecessary shit. No more buying because it was put in front of me. No more stockpiling just so I can say I have. But how many people would have to do that to really get corporate America’s attention? Was it realistic to have an expectation of change within something that was so flushed with cash and gross with power?
Or did Mike Judge’s movie Idiocracy (that I wish had been better because it had so many truths running through it) have it right? Keep us pumped up on violent reality shows, Carl’s Jr. and Mountain Dew and we won’t even notice the clusterfuck that is happening right under our noses.
Michelle Sewell is a screenwriter and she is contemplating giving up everything, moving out into the desert of New Mexico and making a living as a “magical Negro.”
Deborah (and her set designer Paul Kelm) had transformed the small auxiliary stage into the Maine all-girls summer camp that is the setting for the unsettling play. For over 90 minutes, an intriguing and diverse cast of no less than thirteen women actors (some as young as eight-years-old), held the audience in rapt attention. As they expertly wove the delicate tale of discovery, pain and betrayal, in the world of tenuous summertime sisterhood, you knew you were seeing something unusual. Not just Gage’s well-written script, but all those women on one stage.
Since 1999, the founder and artistic director of Venus Theatre has been on a mission to create as many opportunities for audiences to see complex and provocative stories told by and performed by women. Deborah’s first indication of the power of theater in women’s lives was during her membership in an interactive improv female troupe, Venus Envy, which provided programming for women in domestic violence shelters. Through broken teeth and blackened eyes, the women embraced the empowering and healing skits and activities that gave them some of their dignity and voices back.
During this period, Deborah was also seeing a “dumbing down” of the already limited roles for women in theatre and she could no longer abide by the worsening opportunities for an entire generation of female actors. In response she created Venus Theatre. Within a year she had incorporated and was now Washington, DC’s only non-profit feminist theatre. Almost immediately she started requesting work from women playwrights, submissions now number in the hundreds, and the wRighting Women Reading Series was born. The series allowed Deborah to cast talented actors in challenging and important roles and introduce fresh stories to hungry audiences. Deborah has noticed that there are female actors that shy away from auditioning for roles at Venus. When asked why she thinks this is, she is frank in her response. “I think actors who work primarily in mainstream theater, who often contend with paper thin characters and productions, find the material, that Venus is known to produce, intimidating. We want to show life from multiple angles and that means seeing actors on stage who depict stories that are complex, heady and challenging. So, yes, you might see two women kissing.”
Deborah reflects on one of her own earlier challenges when mounting these productions. “For the first seven years of the company, every time we launched a new show or reading, I had to rent a space.” Over the years, Deborah has set up her feminist caravan in every available theater space in Washington, DC (as well NYC , Pennsylvania, and Baltimore). In 2007, she decided it was time to create a permanent home for her mercurial company. Venus Theatre The Play Shack is now located at 21 C Street in Laurel, Maryland. The convenient location makes it accessible to theater lovers coming from DC, Annapolis and Baltimore. “Once we moved into our own black box, I was surprised to discover how much stress I had been feeling having to bounce around D.C., finding venues to do our plays. Now I get to park right in front of my own theatre,” an amused Deborah shared.
Deborah is the first to admit that it takes a great deal of sacrifice to do what she has done. It helps that her partner of 21-years, musician Alan Scott, has been unwavering in his support of her work. He has encouraged her to take more risks and make Venus her chief focus in her artist’s life. She hasn’t had a “day job” in years. She is immensely grateful, that on a daily basis, she has the opportunity to embrace her desire to create a space for women. But running a theatre company doesn’t mean that she gets to churn out her own plays in any regular frequency. After ten years of producing and directing Deborah has had to put her own writing and performing to the side at times. But this year, she will direct the second play of the Venus season, In the Goldfish Bowl, which focuses on four women on Texas death row. She will also debut and perform in her own one-act play, Tuesday, at the Capital Fringe Festival, later this summer. The play centers on a hotline volunteer that is faced with the truth of her own crumbling life as she tries to support the women who call the hotline. Lee Mikeska Gardner, who Deborah is eternally grateful for her talent and her demand that she stretch herself in this new work, directs Tuesday.
When asked what is her advice for women who want to follow their dreams, Deborah sighs. “Don’t try to do this alone. You don’t have to isolate yourself. As women we are not always in a team environment when we are younger. We are pitted against each other to be the prettiest, smartest, or the center of attention, so we don’t always recognize each other as valuable supports.” Deborah admits she has been guilty of trying to go it alone for a long time. Now as she reflects on this decade milestone, she is happy that she is embracing the idea of collaboration and learning what kind of support is out there for her. “Reach out and ask for help. It is much easier than we think. I think the Internet has become for women artists what the golf course is for men. It cuts down the isolation and opens up a community we might not have access to in any other way.”
What’s next for Venus Theatre? More plays that set flight to the voices of women. “I was born to do this. This is where I feel like I’m in my vein of gold,” Deborah says, as she prepares to get back to work.
On March 11, 2010, Venus Theatre will kick off its 10th season with the world premiere of Zelda at the Oasis, written by P.H. Lin and directed by Lynn Sharp Spears. The play takes a fictional look at the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, wife of the noted American novelist, F. Scott Fitzgerald, who wants nothing better than to be recognized as an artist in her own right. Two things stand in her way: an inherited mental instability, and an overbearing husband. The play runs until April 4, 2010. For more information on tickets click here.
Michelle Sewell is a screenwriter who was horribly miscast as the “wicked witch” in her sixth grade Halloween play, when she really wanted to be the “cute alien,” and has been plotting her revenge ever since.
You know how you feel when you find a ten-dollar bill in a winter coat that you forgot about? Well, the eight women of The Saartjie Project (pronounced Sar-key) elicited that same warm smile of remembering in me as they wove a touching, powerful telling of the story of Saartjie (Sara) Baartman, the woman dubbed the “Hottentot Venus.”
Baartman, who left South Africa in 1810 when she was 20-years-old, found herself at the center of a heartbreaking freak show, that would make her all the rage in London and the icon of black female sexuality well into the 20th century.
Through beautiful and sassy monologues, dance and poetry Deconstructing the Myth of the Booty attempts to restore Baartman’s dignity and humanity by insisting that we are her “reincarnated” and as a result can change how people see and treat black women. That by taking up space, telling our truth and disengaging from the machine that only sees us as body parts, we get to redirect the harsh glare and the seldom flattering fascination with the black female form.
The eclectic cast of women, representing various body types and skin tones, moves effortlessly from one vignette to another, with Margaux Deloitte-Bennett’s rich voice providing the sensual soundtrack throughout. From the "Busted Baby Pageant" to the childhood taunts of "if you're black stay back," the audience is taken on a journey that is both provocative and searing in how close it cuts to the bone of truth for the modern day woman, regardless of race.
The brainchild of Jessica T. Solomon, playwright and cultural creative, The Saartjie Project has been on tour for two years. “It was supposed to be a one night performance, but then we started to receive invitations to perform it all over the country,” an amused Jessica shared with the audience during the talk-back portion after the performance.
This was the final performance of Deconstructing the Myth of the Booty and as the cast took their final bow on The Corner Store stage, you wish it weren’t.
The collective’s next project will be based on Nina Simone’s “Four Women.” The new show, schedule to debut fall 2010, will look at the four archetypes of womanhood.
I had the good fortune of running into out Black filmmaker Debra Wilson while hanging out in the lobby of the Director’s Guild of America (DGA) and she was gracious enough to give a spontaneous interview.
A California native, currently in the Oakland area, Debra has been very deliberate about how she uses her gift as filmmaker. She feels it is her mission to tell the stories of the various communities she belongs to and communities that are consistently ignored. Debra is quite aware of the power of film and how it often educates audiences who might never come in contact with provocative topics in any other way.
Debra’s own curiosity also helps determine what stories she will develop. After being asked to leave a break out session for “butch-identified lesbians” (because she was not one) while attending the 2001 Zuna Institute National Black Lesbian Conference, she became determined to shine a light into this mysterious world. Over two years, paying for the project out of her pocket, she developed the documentary film Butch Mystique and went on to win the Showtime Black Filmmaker Showcase, where the film first aired.
The documentary follows six butch-identified African-American lesbians in the San Francisco area. Through interviews, issues of power, lifestyle, masculine/feminine energies, outward appearance, and identity are examined.
The Showtime win afforded Debra a $30,000 budget and the opportunity to develop another project that would also air on the premium cable channel. In 2006, Jumpin’ the Broom: The New Covenant made its debut. The documentary focuses on committed same-sex relationships among Black lesbian and gay couples, who build families and lives in the face of opposition to “gay marriage” in the Black community. The term “jumpin’ the broom” is a custom from the days of slavery. During this period, black couples weren’t allowed to legally marry and jumping over a broom was a symbolic gesture to celebrate their love and commitment to each other. Debra’s film suggests that modern day same-sex couples are placed in the same situation of creating their own rituals and ceremonies to legitimize their loving relationships.
At the time the film was released only one state in the U.S., Massachusetts, recognized same-sex marriages. Two years later, the LGBT community in California was in a bitter battle against supporters of Proposition 8, which would overturn the courts decision to mandate marriage for all couples, regardless of sexual orientation. On November 4, 2008, Prop 8 was passed and the right to marry was taken from same-sex couples (who were not married before November 4th). Debra voiced her disappointment that her film was not used to educate the Black community during that campaign. She says she made the film to be accessible to the straight community and hopes to still get it out to its intended audience.
Debra’s most recent project, where she serves as a producer, is Mississippi Damned, a feature film written and directed by Tina Mabry. The true story focuses on a young girl growing up in Mississippi and battling family demons to carve out her own life.
With 15 years of experience in the film industry, Debra looks forward to developing more documentaries as well as webisodes and television projects. She loves what she does and recommends that up-and-coming filmmakers tell stories that they are passionate about and can’t wait to tell. “That passion will buffer you from those who tell you your story is not worth telling,” she counsels. And as far as Debra is concerned, she will never stop telling our stories.
Michelle Sewell is a freelance writer who makes it a habit of hanging out in lobbies.
If you have to travel three-thousand-miles for real poetry, then DC is the place to get your fill. The west coast needs to take some notes. Yes, I knows them some fightin' words...lol. Keeping my good parking karma going in snowy DC, I headed over to Chief Ike's Mambo Room to check out the collaborative project Black on My Back: The Poetic Intersection of the Black Experience. The three poets headlining the show were Gayle Danley, Sonya Renee Taylor, and Twain Dooley.
The show, which the threesome (insert 9th grade giggle here) has been performing for a wide ranging audience in prisons, coffee houses and schools, is a mash up of their original work and the work of celebrated poets such as Quincy Troupe, Amiri Baraka, Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni and Langston Hughes.
The performers did the impressive work of blending the various pieces together seamlessly. The 60 minute show was eclectic, funny and at times sentimental. Sonya Renee, who is an HBO Def Poet and National SLAM Champion, shared that they decided to collaborate on the showcase to educate audiences on how effortlessly page and stage poetry can share the same space and be entertaining. The supportive audience seemed happy to prove their theory correct. Check out the video below for the highlights.
Michelle Sewell is a screenwriter that travels for good poetry and has extra parking Karma for sale.
