Friday, April 12, 2013

Post 4 Alternative Media Source - Bruce Le




     “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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