Detroit Women of Color International Film Festival
June 11, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Oya Amakisi
313.544.8493
http://dwcfilmfest.tripod.com
amakisi @ gmail.com
Second Annual Detroit Women of Color International Film Festival
After an exceptionally successful debut film festival in 2007, Amakisi Unlimited, LLC, will present the Detroit Women of Color International Film Festival for its sophomore run at the Charles Wright Museum of African American History (315 East Warren Ave., Detroit Michigan, 48201).
The festival will be held on Friday, July 11, 2008 from 6:00pm until 10:00pm and on Saturday, July 12, 2008 from 12:00pm until 10:00pm. Tickets are $15 for one day and $25 for both days.
The Detroit Women of Color International film festival showcases the culturally diverse voices of women through film. DWC celebrates women from African American, Continental African, Caribbean, Latino, Native American, Arab, and Asian communities. The featured films are exciting, innovative works by and about women of color.
DWC presents exceptional films and videos ranging from racial identity, sexuality, science fiction, relationships, politics and history to empowerment, healing, Hip Hop, cultural traditions, spirituality and love.
Here’s a sneak preview into some of DWC08’s featured films:
Malik Booth’s The Best Kept Secret is a powerful short film that focuses on a topic that touches a secret that many women dread.
The film Water by Deepah Mehta was so controversial that the sets were burned and the filmmaker was forced to go to another country to complete the film. Water is a profoundly moving and a compelling, vibrant story of India’s “widow houses”, where women of all ages are taken to live separate from society following the deaths of their husbands.
The DWC goes global with the powerful documentary The Shape of Water. Informative stories of powerful, visionary women with new cultures and a passion for change, confront the destructive development of the Third World.
Canadian filmmaker Claudia Molina films Dancing Waters in Venezuela. Dancing Waters is beautiful story of a daughter watching her mother transcend death into the goddess Yemoja.
The Souls of Black Girls is a provocative documentary by Daphne Valerius with social commentary by Chuck D, Regina King, Jada Pinkett Smith, Gwen Ifill and Michaela Angela Davis. These powerful individuals confront the burning topic of women of color self-image disorder as a result of media images.
Six African-Native Americans from various regions of the U.S. reflect on the personal and complex issues of Native and African heritage, ethnic identity and racism within communities of color in the film American Red and Black by Alicia Woods.
Gloria Rolando’s Eyes of the Rainbow deals with the life of Assata Shakur, the Black Panther and Black Liberation Army leader who escaped from prison and was given political asylum in Cuba, where she has lived for close to 15 years.
Gabrielle by Stephanie Jones is a brilliant, simple short film that explores the premise of a soul brought to life. Gabrielle is faced with the choice of incarnation or death after seeing a brief retrospect of her life.
Sweet without Sugar written and directed by Detroit native Dara Frazier. Yolanda Wells (Michelle Joan Papillion) isn’t exactly where she wants to be in life. Her job at one of the top casting agencies in New York City is only a means to pays the bills. Her college sweetheart, Mark has become distant. The highlight of her life is baking desserts with her grandmother (Johnnie Mae, “Law & Order: SVU”) on the weekends.
Everything changes when Yolanda finds out that she has diabetes, the same disease that caused her father’s early death. She must learn to let go of bad habits and relationships to embrace a new life.
This film was directed by Erik Kilpatrick (White Shadow, New Jack City, Cornbread Earl & Me.) It was written and produced by Dara Frazier, winner of the Best African American Filmmaker Award at the Brooklyn Film Festival for her short film “la Revolution.” This film is supported by the American Diabetes Association.
The delicious film Caramel is a romantic comedy centered on the lives of five Lebanese women.
Growing List of DWC08 Sponsors:
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
CVS
WDET 101.9FM
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (Tau Alpha Kappa),
Cinema Café’
The Michigan Citizen
Destiny Bound Services
Affluent Mag
For more information about this exciting film festival, please visit http://dwcfilmfest.tripod.com Or, you may contact Oya at 313.544.8493 or amakisi @ gmail.com
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Technorati Tags: , African women filmmakers, African-American women filmmakers, Amakisi Unlimited, Arab women filmmakers, Caribbean women filmmakers, Detroit Women of Color International Film Festival, Indian women filmmakers, Latina filmmakers, Native American women filmmakers, Oya Amakisi
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