Doc Watchers Curated by Hellura Lyle
/Monday, March 4th, 7:00pm
Doc Watchers
Curated by Hellura Lyle
(A Women’s History Month Special)
Ebony Goddess: Queen of Ilê Aiyê
Carolina Moraes-Liu, 2010, 20 min
Directed by Carolina Moraes-Liu
Filmmaker Carolina Moraes-Liu's documentary Ebony Goddess: Queen of Ilê Aiyê tells the story of three young women searching for identity and self-esteem as they compete to be the queen of Ilê Aiyê. The documentary explores the contest’s role in reshaping the idea of beauty around Afro-centric notions of beauty, as opposed to prevailing standards in Brazil, a country famous for slim supermodels and plastic surgery.
Cinderella of the Cape Flats: Volume 2 of Real Stories from a Free South Africa
Jane Kennedy, 2004, 58 min.
Everyday the working class women of color in the garment industry of the windswept flats around Cape Town toil anonymously to make clothes so that other women will look beautiful. Invariably they cannot afford these garments themselves. But for one day a year they come out in all their glory at the Annual Spring Queen pageant. The pageant is created by the workers and their trade union to bring their families together for an evening of solidarity and fun. After working for weeks on glamorous costumes, which one will be queen for a day? Set against the preparation for the 2003 pageant, this film explores the lives of working women and celebrates them as creators of beauty. Although the end of apartheid has not taken away the drudgery of repetitive factory labor, this pageant shows working class women inventing their own lively folk culture.
Reception to follow screening.
BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/343704
