Currently Browsing: Stephanie A. Taylor
Director/writer Nia DaCosta creates a deliciously gory film with not only visual effects but also gut-wrenching sounds. Sometimes, it’s what you don’t see that’s frightening. Candyman takes place in the Chicago Cabrini-Green area, which was once a low-income housing project. An artist named Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and his partner Brianna Cartwright (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), a gallery director, are a couple living in the now gentrified Cabrini-Green.… read more.
Ashley O’Shay’s first feature film, Unapologetic, is a documentary that speaks volumes about the many dimensions of Black women and their vast contributions as activists to the Black Lives Matter movement. O’Shay ‘s narrative arc follows two Chicago activists: Bella Bahhs, and Janaé Bonsu.… read more.
The Black Harvest Film Festival, hosted by the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago, should be starting in August. But, due to COVID-19, the festival will be virtual from November 6 through November 30. The festival, annual since 1994, recognizes independent films of international Black cultures. Director of Programming and cofounder of BHFF Barbara Scharres believes the number of entries has been fewer than previous years, mainly due to COVID-19.… read more.
The 55th annual Chicago International Film Festival runs through October 27 at the AMC River East theater. Of the 132 features, 43 are directed by women. In an article I wrote on last year’s CIFF, there were 38 female directors. The previous article showed that there were 36 films directed by women. Out of 17 films submitted for nomination for the 92nd Oscars, three are directed by women: Maryam Touzani ‘s Adam (Morocco), Mati Diop’s Atlantics (Senegal), and Halina Reijn ‘s Instinct (The Netherlands).… read more.
Columbia College Chicago’s Film Row Cinema and the Chicago Women’s History Center showcased the premiere of Ask For Jane on Saturday, September 28, in honor of International Safe Abortion Day. Writer/director Rachel Carey’s 2018 film, based on a true story, takes place in Chicago in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s when abortion is illegal in most states.… read more.
The 25th annual Black Harvest Film Festival will run from August 3-29 with 60 films, including 27 directed by women (an increase from last year’s festival when there were only 17 female filmmakers).
Two years ago, I interviewed Nancy Buirski, director of The Rape of Recy Taylor. The documentary was about a Black woman who was gang-raped by six white men during the Jim Crow era in the South.… read more.