For me, Black History Month is best illustrated by my 92-year-old grandmother Ella Queen Johnson’s recall of our family stories. She shares these stories knowing that the wider world lacks a true and full recognition of the African American family legacy. For most of her long life, she has known that she should not look for depth and dimension in film and television as it relates to families like ours. This is the very reason why she told our history to us herself. My grandmother is a dynamic woman who is not formally trained as a teacher or a historian, but nonetheless, she is both. I am drawn to distributing films created by indie Black filmmakers through Array as a continuation of her calling. By supporting storytellers in the telling of their truths, I am celebrating a great legacy and making my grandmother proud.
I was a young girl...
I was a young girl...
- 2/10/2022
- by Tilane Jones
- Variety Film + TV
Shantrelle P. Lewis’ feature documentary debut, In Our Mothers’ Gardens, calls forth and preserves the family histories of several Black women from Lewis’ life, traces each of their past joys and traumas to the present and lets them out into the world to heal. She creates a welcome space for her interviewees to open up on camera, many of whom are dear old friends, and she listens intently and asks thoughtful questions like, “What does your grandmother’s love look like?”, which encourage equally thoughtful responses. All of the women she interviews can call the names and stories of their ancestors […]
The post “Every Visual Aspect of the Film Functions to Bring People Home”: Director Shantrelle P. Lewis on In Our Mothers’ Gardens first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Every Visual Aspect of the Film Functions to Bring People Home”: Director Shantrelle P. Lewis on In Our Mothers’ Gardens first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/14/2021
- by Aaron Hunt
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Shantrelle P. Lewis’ feature documentary debut, In Our Mothers’ Gardens, calls forth and preserves the family histories of several Black women from Lewis’ life, traces each of their past joys and traumas to the present and lets them out into the world to heal. She creates a welcome space for her interviewees to open up on camera, many of whom are dear old friends, and she listens intently and asks thoughtful questions like, “What does your grandmother’s love look like?”, which encourage equally thoughtful responses. All of the women she interviews can call the names and stories of their ancestors […]
The post “Every Visual Aspect of the Film Functions to Bring People Home”: Director Shantrelle P. Lewis on In Our Mothers’ Gardens first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Every Visual Aspect of the Film Functions to Bring People Home”: Director Shantrelle P. Lewis on In Our Mothers’ Gardens first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/14/2021
- by Aaron Hunt
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
In Our Mothers’ Gardens, the feature directorial debut of Shantrelle P. Lewis, gingerly tends to the incandescent and sometimes knotty relationships between Black mothers and their daughters. The film, distributed by Ava DuVernay’s Array and available on Netflix, takes inspiration in name and concept from Alice Walker’s 1972 essay “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens,” a still-brilliant meditation on the interior and artistic lives of Black women in America.
Walker’s essay begins with several questions: How did the mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers of Black American women, forced into bondage and servitude, express themselves? Who were they? What did they do with ...
Walker’s essay begins with several questions: How did the mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers of Black American women, forced into bondage and servitude, express themselves? Who were they? What did they do with ...
In Our Mothers’ Gardens, the feature directorial debut of Shantrelle P. Lewis, gingerly tends to the incandescent and sometimes knotty relationships between Black mothers and their daughters. The film, distributed by Ava DuVernay’s Array and available on Netflix, takes inspiration in name and concept from Alice Walker’s 1972 essay “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens,” a still-brilliant meditation on the interior and artistic lives of Black women in America.
Walker’s essay begins with several questions: How did the mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers of Black American women, forced into bondage and servitude, express themselves? Who were they? What did they do with ...
Walker’s essay begins with several questions: How did the mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers of Black American women, forced into bondage and servitude, express themselves? Who were they? What did they do with ...
Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing has acquired the documentary In Our Mothers’ Gardens, the feature film debut of director, curator, and author Shantrelle P. Lewis. The film is set to debut theatrically in select cities and on Netflix starting fittingly on Mother’s Day, May 6.
In Our Mothers’ Gardens celebrates the strength and resiliency of Black women and Black families through the complex, and often times humorous, relationship between mothers and daughters. The film pays homage to Black maternal ancestors while examining the immediate and critical importance of self-care, and the healing tools necessary for Black communities to thrive.
The film features a variety of interviews from #MeToo founder Tarana Burke; The Roots and Chris Rock tour manager Tina Farris; cultural critic Dr. Brittney Cooper of Rutgers University; Rev. Dr. Theresa S. Thames of Princeton University; holistic lifestyle maven Latham Thomas; photographer Adama Delphine Fawundu and NPR’s Senior Director for Programming Yolanda Sangweni.
In Our Mothers’ Gardens celebrates the strength and resiliency of Black women and Black families through the complex, and often times humorous, relationship between mothers and daughters. The film pays homage to Black maternal ancestors while examining the immediate and critical importance of self-care, and the healing tools necessary for Black communities to thrive.
The film features a variety of interviews from #MeToo founder Tarana Burke; The Roots and Chris Rock tour manager Tina Farris; cultural critic Dr. Brittney Cooper of Rutgers University; Rev. Dr. Theresa S. Thames of Princeton University; holistic lifestyle maven Latham Thomas; photographer Adama Delphine Fawundu and NPR’s Senior Director for Programming Yolanda Sangweni.
- 4/1/2021
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
44 Blue Productions (Wahlburgers, Hollywood Medium) has acquired the rights to Shantrelle P. Lewis' book Dandy Lion: The Black Dandy and Street Style and has partnered with Viola Davis and Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions for a Dandy Lion docuseries. Inspired by the book and its curated collection of photographs and stories, Dandy Lions will chart the history of the Black Dandy fashion and style movement and its increased attention in recent years, with the popularity of…...
- 3/7/2018
- Deadline TV
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