The Urgent Need for Black Female Driven Films

When Torri R. Oats conceived “No Lies Told Then”, there was no question who was on her mind and in her heart - black women. She didn’t have to look far, as a black woman she personally understood the frustration of not seeing many faces and stories like her own on her screen. Not only were black protagonists lacking in film and television, black female storytellers weren’t getting the opportunities to serve the people with stories that showcase diversity and the fullness of the experience of people of colour.

One can’t help noticing the severe shortage of black stories and black female driven projects, and also how necessary they are. We need them because they will give a clearer picture of who we are and just how powerful this underserved market is. Black female driven projects can shatter biases and perhaps  answer the pressing questions we have about how we’re portrayed.

How come in America, where African-American women isthe most educated group, we still have so few educated black women depicted on our screens? When an educated black womanis depicted – she becomes almost magical and not like she’s one in a wider group of girls just like her. There’s no doubt that we can blame television and film for its part in perpetuating this.

In a rousing speech at Glamour’s Women of the Year awards, Reese Witherspoon voiced the need for female driven projects. Her hope, shared by other women in the room is that female driven projects become the norm and something that those at the top of the Hollywood food chain seek, and not something they have to be convinced to do.

If there are few opportunities for female driven projects imagine how much harder we have to work for the chance for more BLACK female driven projects. Not only do we have to overcome the bias against female protagonists, writers, directors, actresses and stories - the added load on our backs is the bias Hollywood has against our race. This is not to say that the cause is an impossible one, because strides have been made in the last 3 years - the point here is we need to keep reminding ourselves and others of “black female driven” as much as we think about “female driven”. In a way, the two need each other in the same way feminism works best when it crosses racial lines.

Finding Your Own Truth in Society's Lies

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“Mirrors are perpetually deceitful. They lie and steal your true self. They reveal only what your mind believes it sees”

                                                 ― Dee Remy, There Once Was A Boy

When you look in the mirror what do you allow yourself to see? Do you let your reflection speak clearly to you or do you let your mind color your view with self-doubt, judgment, guilt and inadequacy? Before you even look at yourself do you start hearing the voices of people who’ve made you feel like you’re not good enough? Do you go through the things society says you have to fix about yourself to be considered perfect?

This goes beyond what you see in the mirror; maybe it’s the attitude you carry into every relationship because something in your past gave you the idea that you don’t deserve love and happiness. It could even be about your work – you talk yourself out of opportunities that were rightfully yours or you lead with doubt and not with confidence in your talents and abilities. You have to ask yourself what the language of your own mind is because changing how we speak to ourselves is the most powerful step we can take to finding our own truth.  

One thing human beings do without fail is question themselves instead of questioning a society that tells hurtful, blatant lies. It’s a vicious and exhausting cycle that carries on until you can’t separate your own truthful voice from all the lies you were told. The risk is that you’ll lose so much of yourself and no person in society is worth losing that for. The good news is you can get yourself off the hamster wheel of misery by finding and embracing a truth that is your own. Because it’s ultimately your own standard, you will never find yourself feeling like you’re falling short ever again.

In “No Lies Told Then”, Sandra is caught up in the lies and they are affecting her happiness, and even her ability to do the thing she loves most. The truth finally hits her when she sees everything that tells her she isn’t good enough for what it really is: a narrative of lies that doesn’t benefit her in any way.

The truth is, we’ve been lied to, taught to doubt and be unkind to ourselves. Black women have been told that their features are ugly, but the truth of their beauty is revealed when the very same things they were taught to loathe about themselves are now being appropriated by other races. Women were taught that venting their frustrations and anger made them difficult but other groups can do this and get applauded for their honesty. As a woman in the world you quickly realize how fickle and judgmental society can be, and while keeping up is an option, all it will do is tire you out and leave very little time for yourself. Finding your truth is an act of bravery and you can be your own heroine. It starts with you and the fruits it produces are way more precious than anyone’s approval.

How to Start Finding your Truth

1.  Communities - Growing up, I always felt different.  I was raised in a small town and people I met were basically the same.  When I discovered internet communities, I realized there's a whole world full of weird people from different backgrounds.  I think sharing passions, ideas, engaging in conversation with different types of people has helped me discover who I am, accept myself and build my confidence.

2.  Reading - I no longer rely solely on American news sources (i.e. CNN).  By opening up, I realized there's an entire world out there of people who need help, who are suffering, who are marginalized and voiceless, and I think reading different perspectives has helped me broaden how I see things.  It's no longer through the American lens, it's through the human lens.  Through that, I now see where I can contribute to society in a positive way.

3.  Narrowing my inner circle - I'm a loner by nature.  I'm friendly with everyone and I'm sure many people would consider themselves a friend of mine.  However, not everyone you meet has good intentions or wants the best from and for you.  I've created concentric circles in my life which represents the degrees to which people know me and the amount of time and effort I will invest in cultivating our relationship.  My squad is my innermost circle.  It's about four or five people in whom I can confide and vice versa, we always support each other, uplift each other; there's no competition, only love.  They will tell me the truth and I will always tell the same.  

4.  Blocking out the noise - There are people who aren't going to like me no matter what.  They are constantly negative.  There are also people who will try to tell you what you can or cannot do, but I block them out.  If a person's only contribution to the world is negativity, I want no part of them.  They become noise that I just ignore.

5.  Accept myself - Acceptance grows into love.  I'm imperfect and I accept that.  We grow up with society's expectations foisted upon us, especially girls.  As we get older, hopefully we learn to accept the things we cannot change and those perceived flaws are embraced. 

                                                                                               - Torri .R. Oats

Join in our #LadiesWhoFilm Twitter Chat

Hollywood wasn’t built by women and to a certain extent it wasn’t built to serve us in the same way it serves men. It’s a system that favors white males at the expense of women and minorities. This has always been a fact of the politics that govern the film industry, but 2015 has proven to be pivotal for the movement that questions Hollywood. This year it was forced to look inward at its own culture and lack of diversity both in front of and behind the camera.   In short, the status quo became untenable as voices were raised universally demanding representation and change.   

2015 lifted the curtain of the Hollywood machine, exposing just how deeply white, male privilege runs in the industry and the perceptions perpetuated by it. From Colin Trevorrow’s comments about women not wanting to direct blockbusters to #Damonsplaining, the need for more conversation to shift the culture has revealed itself and women across the world have boldly risen to the challenge of leading these conversations.

When we created social media profiles for our film, we knew we wanted to be involved in this important conversation. Part of the core story of No Lies Told Then is “giving a voice to the voiceless” and women and minorities are nearly voiceless in the film industry. We also took notice of the talented film industry women who were engaging with us, and the idea to bring these voices together in a chat was born.

#Ladieswhofilm is a corner where women who work in film, or aspire to work in film can freely chat, vent, discuss issues, share inspiration and network with other women. We’re all connected by our love of film and desire for women to get the space, credit and respect we deserve. There is so much knowledge to share and talent to be excited about, and this conversation will provide a platform for #Ladieswhofilm to unite! this We’re looking forward to talking with all the wonderful women who’re participating in #Ladieswhofilm and you’re invited too! Join the conversation on Wednesday November 4 at 7pm EST. If you have a question you want us to ask, fill in this questionnaire buff.ly/1OhY3J7.

 

Meet the Characters: Johnathan

Johnathan is a friend.  A confidante.  A caretaker.  He represents a figure most of us need in our life; the one person we can always count on.  He’s the brother we never had or the sister we’ve always wanted; he’s the auntie who keeps all of our secrets or the uncle who slips us alcohol when our parents aren’t looking.  

From the very first draft of No Lies Told Then, I had a good sense of who Johnathan is.  Of all the characters, his journey changed the least from the first to the “final” draft.  His introduction to the audience never changed.  His pivotal role in each character’s life remained the same.  In some ways, he’s remained calm, steady force I always imagined in a world that is unsettled.

Although he is calm, he doesn’t lack a personality.  It was important to create a rich life for this character so he isn’t another cardboard cutout in whom other characters confide, or the wise older man who has all the answers.  He couldn’t be the character who is used by others to convey information; he had to be a living, breathing person of his own.

Johnathan is a British expat and when we first meet him he’s in his 50s.  We see him through the eyes of a child:  older, dignified, slightly eccentric with his gold earrings, colorful clothing and propensity to smoke things that aren’t yet legal.  To a child who has only known people in and from her community, he’s an intriguing change-of-pace.

He is also a man who chooses to put his life on hold to help someone in desperate need of being saved.  To more than one character he dispenses sound advice, and from a distance, he watches without judgement.  That’s part of the beauty of Johnathan; his ability to be there without interfering or sucking all the oxygen out of the room.  He is the glue that holds these lead characters together during the two hours we will spend with them.

What’s beneath the surface though, is a man who has loved and lost, and one of the challenges was to convey a bit of his history without detracting from the main story.  I had to straddle the line; show an imperfect character with his own tumultuous journey, and someone who isn’t broken or bitter about his past.

I sometimes think of him as the conscience of No Lies Told Then.  He’s that voice in the back of our head that will tell us the truth when we don’t want to face it.  He’s the one that will give us tough love or a warm embrace when it’s needed.  Perhaps one of the best things about this character is when these characters fall, he’s the one who’s always ready to catch them.

Black Actresses and the Flawless Embodiment of Sisterhood

Regina and Taraji

If there’s a trope reality TV and its viewers like to feast on, it’s fighting, feuding, backstabbing, scheming, gossiping women who seem out to get each other for the most mundane reasons. You don’t have to look far to find it, throw a stone at the TV guide and you’ll come across women flinging drinks and hating on each other. A special flavor of this feast, one that has proven to be tried, tested, enjoyed and overdone is fighting black women.

From Love and Hip Hop to Real Housewives of Atlanta, and even on shows like America’s Next Top Model, women of color are constantly pitted against one another and the result is high ratings, blog mentions and sadly the perpetuation of an unfortunate stereotype – the one that portrays black women as bitter, jealous, angry and aggressive. Every time a woman takes off earrings and attempts to snatch a wig – we all point and laugh and some of us even shake our heads and say “black women…”

It’s a hard stereotype to shake and we could easily say we see different forms of it – whether it’s watered down when people judge Serena Williams for not smiling or highly concentrated when a black woman speaking up for her rights is dismissed as aggressive. No, it isn’t fair but it is definitely what is considered the norm.

Isn’t reality TV supposed to be – well, real? I’m not impressed by the way we are portrayed time and again and that’s why I draw so much inspiration from the sisterhood of black actresses who don’t fight over the spotlight or start pointless social media wars. They do more than that – they support each other, root for each other and walk together as sisters in a struggle that’s greater than any ego, role or the celebrity culture that bows down to the individual.

In 2012 during her ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood acceptance speech, Kerry Washington said, “There’s room for all of us.”  It was a stirring acknowledgement of the difficult journey women of color face in a Hollywood that is deaf to the depth and breadth of our experience.  Her speech was filled with loving words for her colleagues, and the need for artists to continue bring to life, with passion, the many stories that have yet to be told.

My heart was warmed when I saw Gabrielle Union and Kerry Washington on a red carpet, greeting each other with so much love and respect. I’ve noticed, when a new movie/TV show comes out starring black actresses, their peers support them because black sisterhood shouldn’t be about fighting over ratings but fighting to make more space for other women of color, so that more girls can “cross the line” Viola Davis so perfectly mentioned in her acceptance speech.

Viola Davis’ speech and the fact that she was standing on that stage touched me, and when she mentioned other black actresses I felt my eyes well up with inspired tears. What really got me going was when she started listing her peers – sharing the spotlight with Taraji, Kerry, Halle, Nicole, Gabrielle and Meagan. That moment, her being the first black woman to win that Emmy wasn’t just about her – we all felt like we were up there with her and the reactions of Taraji and Kerry show that sisterhood, black sisterhood exists and it is beautiful, unlike the horrors we see on many of our screens nowadays.

During the 2015 Emmy Awards the love and respect this exclusive club feels for each other was palpable.  The victories, from Regina King to Uzo Aduba to Viola Davis were not celebrated in a vacuum.  Indeed, they were celebrated by the legions of black actresses before them, those who will come after and all of us at home who waited years for this moment.

This isn’t just a sisterhood of hugs and air kisses – it’s a sisterhood built on mutual love and belonging because the struggle is won by collective effort, support and excellent work. I want this to rub off on all women who think it’s impossible for girls to get along, the ones who say they can never ever be friends with other girls. Black sisterhood is possible and it is real – sometimes we have to look away from manufactured reality to the real heroines who embody #blackgirlmagic.