Arts & Entertainment

Brooklyn Readies for the 14th Annual Reel Sisters Film Festival

From Cleopatra Jones, to First Lady Michelle Obama: Exploring Feminism in Film & Media.

Brooklyn 1996. Creativity is crackling in the air, and the spoken word poetry scene in the predominantly African-American neighborhood of Fort Greene is on fire! The headquarters: The Brooklyn Moon, a café on Fulton Street.

Brooklyn resident Carolyn Butts was there, in the center of it all. Already, she had founded the successful publication African Voices, a magazine dedicated to publishing art and literature by writers and visual artists from the African Diaspora.

Back at the Brooklyn Moon, where the newest wave of Black Bohemian literati convened almost daily, Butts was recording it all on her VHS camera. Reg E. Gaines (the Tony-nominated writer of “Bring In ‘Da Noise, Bring In ‘Da Funk") with Butts decided to co-produce a documentary short titled, “Underground Voices,” where the two focused on the talent of some of Brooklyn's emerging poets.

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“It was an exciting time, and I wanted to capture it on film. But when I tried to get funding, I hit a brick wall,” said Butts. “I started looking around and I found out that less than one percent of films funded are films by African-American women. I was just so astonished at the fact that so few of us get a chance behind the camera.”

So, Butts formed a partnership with Rodney Hurley, director of the Kumble Theatre of Performing Arts and in 1997 started the Reel Sisters Film Festival. The festival was co-founded with LIU's Brooklyn campus, with Rodney Hurley as the organizing partner.

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“I thought it would be a great networking opportunity for filmmakers to share what they knew, support and learn from each other, so we wouldn’t have to depend on Hollywood,” said Butts. “We’re just really devoted to helping women get their films on-screen and getting an audience.”

Fast-forward to 2011, a decade and a half later, Reel Sisters’ legs have grown well into her pants: Over the last 14 years, the company has helped more than 400 black women filmmakers, directors, writers and producers from around the world get their work noticed. And its partnership with LIU is still intact (LIU donated space to the festival for the first 10 years).

Beginning Saturday, October 15, through Sunday, October 16, the Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival and Lecture Series returns for its 14th season at the Kumble Theatre of Performing Arts.

This year’s festival will screen more than 25 films – a diverse selection of narratives, documentaries and shorts – directed, produced or written by women of color from across the globe. The theme of the this year’s festival is, “From Cleopatra Jones, to First Lady Michelle Obama: Exploring Feminism in Film & Media.”

“We’re dealing with feminism -- actually, the whole notion of feminism; how African-American women and women of color are dealt with in the media and how we can retain our power,” said Butts.

Tickets are $7. Festival passes are $15. And there are discounts for groups, seniors and students. For tickets and information, call 718-488-1624 or 347-534-3304, or visit www.reelsisters.org or www.kumbletheater.org.

Also, on Saturday, October 15, at 9:00pm at the Kumble Theatre, the community is invited to a free screening of the much-anticipated film, In Our Heads about Our Hair, a humorous and historical look at how black people view their hair. To RSVP for the free screening, go here

“There’s a joke about that, because almost every year there’s a hair film,” said Butts chuckling. “But there’s a lot of buzz around this one, so people need to RSVP early if they want to get in.”

The festival concludes with a panel discussion, as well as an awards ceremony hosted by WBAI radio personality Esther Armah, honoring Moikgantsi Kgama, the founder of ImageNation Cinema Foundation, and Pearl Bowser, a pioneering filmmaker, scholar and author.

“We’re just so proud of the two honorees, because they’re very grassroots, and have helped women in the same way that we’ve tried to do with the festival,” said Butts.

Kgama, in 2013, will be the first African-American woman to open an independent-owned cinema in Harlem, across from the Apollo. And Bowser, is a legendary filmmaker, a scholar, and she also restores film.

"So we just wanted to honor them both for being historical gatekeepers of film. Their work is invaluable,” said Butts.

“The film festival is Brooklyn-based and has been this way throughout its history. For years, we’ve brought in people from out of the state and country to Brooklyn. So to us, it’s also fulfilling an economic mission.”

 

Films in this year’s Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival (explore all 25 online):

Film Title: Harriet Returns

Length: 9 min.       Category: Narrative

Director:  Marquis Smalls    Writer: Tamu Favorite

Producers: Tamu Favorite, Marquis Smalls

Synopsis: Harriet Returns is a short film in which Harriet Tubman urgently returns to modern times to emancipate two young wannabe rappers who use the “N” word as a term of endearment. She believes they have enslaved themselves.

 

Film Title: The Future Wags of Great Britain

Length: 23 min.       Category: Narrative

Director:  Destiny Ekaragha     Producer: Elinor Day

Synopsis: Missy and Kim are two very different sisters. Missy is a regular clubber while Kim is a studious high-achiever. But when times get tough, they unite in a plan to gamble their way to success. 

 

Film Title: Truth about Beauty and Blogs

Length: 13 min., 1 sec.       Category: Narrative

Director: Rosalyn Coleman Williams 

Producer: Craig T. Williams, Toni Robison-May, Kelechi Ezie

Synopsis: A social media diva is thrown off her game when her boyfriend’s web activities start to interfere with her picture-perfect image.

 

Film Title: Urban Lullaby

Length: 8 min.     Category: Narrative

Director/Producer:  Sonia Gonzalez-Martinez     

Synopsis: A stressed-out artist is at the breaking point in her noisy Bronx neighborhood.

 

Film Title: Production

Length: 18 min., 7 sec.       Category: Narrative

Director:  Lenny Payan       Writer: Carmen Scott

Producers: Carmen Scott, Lenny Payan

Synopsis: Danielle feels like the littlest person in the room. Her job as the script coordinator for a wildly popular television drama sounds exciting, but with a job description of “copy, collate, repeat,” she doesn't quite agree. When producers introduce plans to shoot an ill-conceived “urban” episode of the show, Danielle finally feels compelled to use her voice. But will it be big enough?

 

Film Title: Severed Souls

Length: 25 min., 7 sec.      Category: Documentary

Director/Producer:  Tina Morton     

Synopsis: In 1946 amid conflicting evidence, Corrine Sykes, a petite, mentally challenged 20 year-old “Colored” maid was tried, sentenced, and executed for murder. Severed Souls is a documentary, which chronicles the community memory and the filmmaker’s haunted connection to the case.

 

Film Title: The Naked Option

Length: 64 min.      Category: Documentary

Director/Producer: Candace Schermerhorn     

Synopsis: The Naked Option reveals the inspiring story of an organized group of Nigerian women who use the threat of stripping naked in public, a serious cultural taboo, to make their voices heard. The courageous Emem J. Okon leads them in their perilous struggle to hold multinational oil companies accountable to the communities in which they operate. These women are taking over where men have failed, transforming their “naked power” into 21st century political action.

 

Links to video trailers:

The Truth About Beauty And the Blogs http://vimeo.com/19423669
Urban Lullaby http://youtu.be/IwOgBQj91qk


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