“I found films to be the perfect
cultural text.” - Bell Hooks in Making Movie Magic
The Queer Women of Color Media Arts
Project is an organization that promotes new films and videos
addressing social justice issues for queer women of color. San
Franciscan filmmaker Madeleine Lim conducted free workshops serving
queer women of color who were emerging media artists. They began in
2000 and provide training, screening opportunities and resources free
of charge to aid less fortunate immigrants. One of the films that
was completed in the workshops called “City of Borders” by Yun
Suh was awarded the Special Teddy Award at the Berlin International
Film Festival.
The QWOCMAP organization is necessary
as an alternative media source because there are no television
channels geared toward women of color or queer women of color on
television. This is a demographic that is ignored and neglected when
it comes to the mainstream media. Straight men get SPIKE tv and gay
men get LOGO and even “HereTV” in Canada.
What do queer women of
color get? A couple of magazine or pamphlets at the local bars? The
difference in content is shocking.
Maggie Humm wrote that “gynocriticism”
is a way of assessing works of art in relation to women. Psychic and
social differences can be represented through female films. Marleen
Gorris chose to use black and white women who were educated or
working class. These aspects construct the social realities which we
can relate to and represent ourselves accurately instead of leaving
it to the bigwigs of Hollywood.
Since 2003, the QWOCMAP have held a free
annual film festival that “blends art and activism with community
building, and is decisively different from traditional film
festivals.” These film festivals show to a full house every time.
The 2012 festival poster shows a woman carrying another woman as if
they were a newly wed couple going over the threshold. Their wide
smiles in front of a tree-filled background giving off a joyous
theme. In a pink box on the bottom, white letters read “Festival
Focus – I Do and I Don't: LGBTQ People of Color & Same-Sex
Marriage.” Short films were screened alongside panel discussions
that explored the history of Prop 8. The festival also showcased
documentaries from Latin America and coming out stories.
Sponsors for these events include
“Vertical Response” and “shades Magazine.”
Shades Magazine is actually a news
publication and project that covers stories of “all women of
color.” They describe themselves as a publication that promotes
“intellectual enhancement, spiritual enlightenment and cultural
enrichment.” Such stories as immigration issues in Florida and
African American artists were featured on the front page of their
website. Their next film festival is going to be at the Brava
Theater in San Francisco, CA on June 14-16, 2013.
Sources:
www.qwocmap.org
– Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project
Making Movie Magic – Bell Hooks
Feminist Literary Theory and Feminist
Film – Maggie Humm
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