Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
Empowerment, representation and visibility are among the core fundamentals of the Dayton Black Women’s Film Festival, which returns for a second year May 15-18 at The Neon in downtown Dayton.
Conceived and curated by Wright State University motion pictures student and Neon team member Angelina Mitchell, the festival is designed to celebrate emerging and established Black female filmmakers. The exciting lineup includes documentaries, short films and a special 25th anniversary screening of “Love & Basketball.”
“We are here to provide a platform for Black women and make sure Black women are spotlighted in these spaces because Black women can do anything,” said Mitchell, who will be graduating this fall. “Providing spaces like this creates the emphasis that it’s important for Black girls to know they can be filmmakers. When spaces are made for us anything is possible.”
On a larger scale Mitchell says the lack of representation within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences continues to be cause for concern.
“At this year’s Oscars there were no Black women nominated for Best Director and Black women producers are rarely nominated as well,” she said. “The acting categories is where you (mostly) see Black women and it’s usually just one or two of us. That’s why it’s very important to emphasize Black women are storytellers and we are here to tell our stories. And if you don’t want to make spaces for us, we will make spaces ourselves.”
