Black Women & Indie Film Panel at BlackStar

Thursday, July 30, 2015 12:00 pm-1:30 pm

[ International House (3701 Chestnut Street) ]

Click [here] to RSVP

For a long time, black women directors and producers have been running the show behind the screen, influencing what we see, think, and feel. While we take pride in the accomplishments and strides, we celebrate that no two journeys are the same. This panel will explore these filmmakers’ experiences as storytellers and bridge-builders in the industry, how their identity has impacted their work, and why they think it’s important to claim space in film. Panelists include: director/producer Loira Limbal (Estilo Hip Hop), director/producer Denise Greene (I’ll Make Me A World, Malcolm X: Make it Plain), filmmaker Frances Bodomo (Boneshaker, Afronauts), and curator/producer Elissa Blount-Moorhead (Dreams Are Colder Than Death). Free, RSVP required.

Denise Greene
Denise A. Greene, award-winning producer, is currently collaborating with TNEG as a consulting producer on Elissa Blount-Moorhead’s Children of the Revolution: Growing Up on the Fringe. In addition, she is serving as the producer on Byron Hurt’s Hazing: How Badly Do You Want In? Previously, Denise helped to launch Orlando Bagwell’s company with its inaugural projects ¬¬NY Times-Op Doc: When Music Turns Deadly and feature documentary, Gil Scott¬-Heron (wt). Before joining LakeHouse, Denise served as a producer on Shola Lynch’s Free Angela & All Political Prisoners (2012) and produced two shows for WNET’s series, Pioneers of Thirteen (2014) which were both nominated for Emmys. Denise is a recipient of the prestigious Peabody Award for her role as the Producer/Director of the Blackside series, I’ll Make Me A World (1999), ¬ Episodes 5 & 6. In addition, her work in crafting I’ll Make Me A World is highlighted in the book Documentary Storytelling: Making Stronger and More Dramatic Nonfiction Films. She is also a recipient of an Emmy Award for Blackside’s Malcolm X: Make it Plain. Some additional documentary credits include Richard Wright: Black Boy, HBO’s Journey of the African American Athlete, Sam Cooke: You Send Me; Dance in America: Free to Dance, Critical Condition: America’s Healthcare Crisis. Broadening her media experience, Denise joined the NBPC’s to launch the New Media Institute, a program training filmmakers nationwide in the latest digital technologies. Preceding her documentary career, Denise for Sesame Street in Casting and Research. Her most recent recognition in children’s programming includes a 2005 Parents’ Choice Award for her Nick Jr. Black History Month interstitial. Denise continues to work in both documentaries and children’s programming for all media platforms.

Elissa Blount Moorhead
Producer/Director/Writer Elissa Blount Moorhead is a Curator and Lecturer. She is a creative partner (with Arthur Jafa and Malik Sayeed) in the film studio TNEG, designed to create a Black cinema as culturally, socially, and economically central to the 21st century as was black music to the 20th century. She has produced public art events, gallery based exhibitions, films, and education programs for 25 years. She created the Cultural Pluralism course for Pratt Institute’s Graduate School in 1999 and currently teaches at Parsons Graduate School of Design. She co-founded Red Clay Arts in NYC where she curated/produced over 20 groundbreaking exhibitions and multimedia projects in NYC, Europe, the Caribbean, and beyond. She publishes work internationally covering Black visual aesthetics, environmental design/art, and museology. She is a co-curator of the multisite project in partnership NYC’s Creative Time, FunkGodJazzMedicine which launched in Fall 2014. Elissa is co-founder of Tandem, which develops site-specific public art, film, and design projects. She is currently serving a two- year appointment as curatorial advisor for The Contemporary in Baltimore and on the Public Art Commission.

Frances Bodomo
Frances Bodomo is an award-winning Ghanaian filmmaker & one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film. She grew up in Ghana, Norway, California, and Hong Kong before moving to New York to study film at Columbia University (BA) and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts (MFA). Her first short film, Boneshaker (starring Oscar-nominee Quvenzhané Wallis), premiered at Sundance 2013 and played at over 20 film festivals including Telluride & SXSW. Her second short, Afronauts, premiered at the 2014 Sundance, Berlinale, and New Directors/New Films Festivals. It received the Grand Jury Prize at IFFBoston, Dallas International Film Festival, BlackStar Film Festival, and New Orleans Film Festival. She is currently developing the feature version of Afronauts, which is supported by the Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Institute, IFP’s Emerging Storytellers program, the Alfred P Sloan Foundation, and the Spike Lee Fellowship.

Loira Limbal
Loira Limbal is an independent filmmaker who directed and produced Estilo Hip Hop, which premiered nationally on PBS. She has produced projects at Firelight Films and has worked as a freelance producer/director for various companies and non-profits. As DJ Laylo, she is a pleasant surprise in any music scene. Her unrelenting commitment to good music and rocking the crowd have earned her a reputation for creating a house party vibe in the fanciest of venues. Born in Puerto Rico to Dominican parents, her musical selection reflects her upbringing in New York City. She has held residencies at many premier nightclubs and ignited dancefloors from Berlin to Brazil. Highlights include performances at the Sundance Film Festival, New York’s Central Park Summerstage, and Brooklyn Museum’s First Saturdays. For the past fifteen years, Limbal has dedicated herself to fusing arts and activism. She has worked at community-based organizations in New York City including The Point CDC, The Dominican Women’s Development Center, and Sista II Sista. In 2006, she founded The Reel X Project, a social justice and creative filmmaking space for young women of color in the Bronx. Limbal received a B.A. in History from Brown University and is a graduate of the Third World Newsreel’s Film and Video Production Training Program. She currently serves as the Vice President and Producers’ Lab Director at Firelight Media. The Producers’ Lab provides mentorship, funding, and professional development opportunities to emerging filmmakers of color. Firelight Media recently garnered the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions in recognition of the success of the Producers’ Lab.

Moderator: TBA

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