Snapshot
Black girls coming of age on their own terms
From the lands of Brooklyn, NY to South Africa, across the ground-breaking work of Cauleen Smith, Ayoka Chenzira, Milisuthando Bongela, Leslie Harris & more, SNAPSHOT turns the spotlight to Black girls who are coming of age on their own terms. Through these intimate explorations of their interior lives, we find joy in their adventures, in the refreshing variety of perspectives they have to offer, and in storytelling that simply lets Black girls be girls.
T A P E with the support of the BFI, awarding funds from the National Lottery presents a programme of radical archive and critical contemporary offerings with a series of features and short films which capture and celebrate the multi-faceted experiences of Black Girlhood. In a world where Black girls are too often relegated to sidekick or trauma narratives, we bring to the fore the audacious, the hilarious and the beguiling - stories which have long sought to redress this balance.
With an eye that is at once nostalgic and critical, take a deep dive into films by Black female filmmakers across the decades, platforming cinema which allows its subjects to be powerful, complicated, vulnerable, and the main character in their own stories.
Drylongso
Written & Directed by
Year
Cauleen Smith
1998
Pica Sullivan is a young art student who lives with her mother and grandmother in Oakland. She works a nighttime job papering walls, which puts her safety at risk. As an outlet for her dysfunctional home life, she photographs young African American men with the belief they are an "endangered species" who may one day become extinct.
Her night job affects her attendance in photography class, which she is also struggling with because she uses a Polaroid for her photos and not the requisite 35 mm camera. One night, Pica meets Tobi, a young woman who is left beaten on a street curb by her abusive boyfriend.
Pica learns Tobi disguises herself as a man to protect herself from violence. Pica and Tobi bond over their shared fears for their safety. Pica also becomes enmeshed in news reports of the "Westside Slasher", a serial killer who is claiming victims in the neighborhood, with some of the young men she has photographed being amongst the victims.
Alma’s Rainbow
Written & Directed by
Year
Ayoka Chenzira
1994
A coming-of-age comedy-drama about three African American women living in Brooklyn, ALMA’S RAINBOW explores the life of teenager Rainbow Gold (Victoria Gabrielle Platt) as she enters womanhood and navigates standards of beauty, self-image, and the rights women have over their bodies.
About Ayoka Chenzira
Ayoka "Ayo" Chenzira is an independent African-American producer, film director, television director, animator, writer, experimental filmmaker, and transmedia storyteller. She is the first African American woman animator and one of a handful of Black experimental filmmakers working since the late 1970s.
Milisuthando
Set in past and present South Africa, "Milisuthando" is a poetic coming-of-age personal essay documentary on love and what it means to become human in the context of race, explored through the memories of Milisuthando – who grew up during apartheid but didn't know it was happening until it was over.
2023
Directed by Milisuthando Bongela
Year