Director Julie Dash on Black Representation in Entertainment
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The #OscarsSoWhite backlash the past few years has unleashed a bevy of criticism over African-American representation in movies, television, and the overall diversity of Hollywood and the entertainment industry.
So this week, we're dedicating time in every show to conversations about diversity in entertainment, looking at the ways directors, actors, and producers are challenging standards and pushing boundaries across all genres in the field.
It's been 25 years since director Julie Dash's 1991 film "Daughters of the Dust" was released. It was the first movie directed by an African-American woman to receive a theatrical release in the U.S., and the only film to date by a black woman that has been added to the National Film Registry. The movie has been restored and is out in theaters now.
Dash, who directs, writes, and produces, is from Harlem and was part of a group of young black filmmakers whose work was influenced in part by events like the civil rights movement, the 1965 riots in Watts, and the Vietnam War. Her mission, she says, is exploring the culture of women in film, an inspiration drawn from the pages of the books she was passionate about.
