Page 6
The
Portland Observer Black
History Month
February 4, 2015
Black History at the Hollywood
Black film series
puts focus on
women directors
O LIVIA O LIVIA
T HE P ORTLAND O BSERVER
The Hollywood Theatre opens
a three week series of black films
for Black History Monty, concen-
trating this year on the important
cinematic contributions of black
women directors.
Organized by Ariella Tai and
BY
David Walker, the third annual Port-
land Black Film Festival aims to offer
diverse perspectives and stories in
an art form all too often dominated
by white men. The festival features
six outstanding programs, includ-
ing documentaries and narrative
films, covering a variety of topics
from politics, music, problems faced
by urban youth, and more.
the festival brings
A newly restored 35mm screen-
ing of Julie Dash’s seminal film
“Daughters of the Dust,” selected
for preservation in the National
‘Black Girl in Suburbia’ by Portland filmmaker Melissa Lowery will show alongside other black-made
films at the Portland Black Film Festival at the Hollywood Theatre.
With the 1991 film
‘Daughters of the Dust,
‘Julie Dash became the
first female African-
American director with a
film in general release.
The film is part of the
selection of movies in
the third annual Black
Film Festival.
Film Registry by the Library of Con-
gress as being “culturally, histori-
cally, or aesthetically significant,”
screens on Thursday, Feb. 5 at 7:30
p.m. This emotionally charged epic
drama explores the unique culture of
the Gullah people, descendants of
slaves who live in relative isolation
on the Sea Islands off the Georgia
coast.
“Eve’s Bayou” shows on Satur-
day, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. The 1997 film
by Kasi Lemmons is a critically ac-
claimed Southern gothic drama star-
ring Samuel L. Jackson as a town
doctor and loving father but also a
philandering husband. His wife Roz
(Lynn Whitfield) is forced to admit
her family is falling apart when her
younger daughter Eve witnesses one
of her father's infidelities.
“Free Angela and All Political Pris-
continued
on page 20