Reel Sisters Journal 2017

Reel Sisters 20th Anniversary

October 21-22, 2017

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www.reelsisters.org Photo: Proclamation Punctuation

African Voices Board Carolyn A. Butts, Publisher/Editor Jeannette Curtis-Rideau, Board Chairperson Kenneth Meeks, Board Treasurer Ebonee N. Tinker, Esq., Board Member

Reel Sisters Film Festival Committee 2017 Carolyn A. Butts, Founder/Festival Director Lisa Durden, Festival Curator Donna Gibson, Committee Member Kosi Harris, Publicist Jennifer Heslop, Festival Coordinator Naim Vann, Technical Production Manager Iman Childs, Social Media Manager Billi Martin, Stage Manager/Production Coordinator Elizabeth Parker, Volunteer Coordinator Pittershawn Palmer, Webmaster Stephanie Woods, Committee Member

Reel Sisters Advisory Board Members Kojo Ade, Kim Singleton, Nicole Franklin and Janice Johnson.

Reel Sisters Jury Members Cathleen Campbell, C. Zawadi Morris, Rhonda Haynes, Sherrie Young, Afua Kafi-Akua, Patrice Bradshaw, Rodney Hurley, Stephanie Woods and Clairesa Clay.

Media Sponsors & Community Partners ImageNation Cinema Foundation, Our Time Press, Akila Worksongs, Walk Tall Girl Productions, POWFest, National Black Programming Consortium, Amsterdam News, Black Documentary Collective, Kumble Theater/LIU Brooklyn, BRIC Arts Media, The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (The Tau Omega Chapter) and Maysles Documentary Center.

Volunteers & Special Thanks 2017 Special thanks to all our volunteers!

LaZette McCants & Volunteer Divas & Divos Plus, Volunteers for Arts & Culture & Community, Billie Holiday Theatre, Mosaic Magazine, Graphic Dimensions and April Knight.

Festival DIRECTOR Carolyn A. Butts

“ You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.”

– Maya Angelou Dear Friends, Welcome to the 20th Annual Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival and Lecture Series.

Thank you for supporting us throughout our journey!

Congratulations to our honorees Tamara Tunie (Law & Order: SVU), Nicole Beharie (Sleepy Hollow) and Vinie Burrows (“Walk Together Children”) for giving us complex and rich characters in film, television and theater!

As multi-faceted actresses, they have given us authentic stories that reflect our history and personal lives. We thank them for paving the way for other artists and serving as mentors — our honorees truly share Reel Sisters’ philosophy of rising together through collective work and collaboration.

One of the highlights of Oscar season was attending a sold-out screening for Hidden Figures.

I stood proudly in the theater lobby seeing sororities and families mobilize to pack theaters for an exceptional Hollywood film. Each person used their personal power to bring friends to see the film and collectively have an impact at the box office.

It proved we are enough and once we shift our consciousness to consistently use our personal power to build the things we envision — we will transform our communities and create more opportunities for women in film. Our collective creative power in art, film and literature are ways we speak change into existence.

I’m asking you to mobilize your friends to attend screenings at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Brooklyn and AMC Magic Johnson 9 for a weekend of amazing stories and films on Oct. 21-22, 2017.

The fire is lit, let’s manifest change together! You are Enough.

Peace & blessings, Carolyn A. Butts Reel Sisters Founder/Festival Director Follow: @africanvoices + @reelsisters 4

THE HATTIE MCDANIEL PROJECT

Equality eluded Ms. Hattie McDaniel, the 1940 Oscar-winning actress (of Gone with the Wind fame), over the course of her lifetime (1895-1952).

The Hattie McDaniel Project is a documentary that explores how the absence of equality, even today, impacts women and their day-to-day existence.

While the film scrutinizes the confrontational era in which Ms. McDaniel lived, there will also be a “behind-the-scenes” study that investigates the lives of the women connected to the project and their own personal challenges. For information visit www.hattiemcdaniel.com.

Background Hattie McDaniel was the first black performer to win the Academy Award in 1940 for her portrayal of Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939). She also was the first black major radio star and acted in over 300 films (she was only credited with less than 90). This project will utilize a mostly female crew. The objective will be to connect & address the diversity issues during Ms. McDaniel’s era and the entertainment landscape of today.

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Festival Curator Lisa Durden

“ You Can Waste Your Life Drawing Lines, Or You Can Live Your Life Crossing Them.”

– Shonda Rhimes.

Dear Supporters, It is with great pleasure to welcome you to the Annual Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival and Lecture Series. Every year we kick off the festival with our star-studded Reel Sisters Awards Ceremony. Getting the opportunity to serve on the festival’s organizing committee and plan the awards ceremony with the founder Carolyn Butts is extra special because it’s a mile stone year; Reel Sisters celebrates turning 20!! #ClapForThat!

Our dream to make the 20th Anniversary unforgettable came true when the newly renovated, state of the art, Billie Holiday Theatre, agreed to host the event. And the power of YES, didn’t end there!!

We are equally as excited to honor actresses Nicole Beharie, best known for her role in the hit FOX fantasy series, “Sleepy Hallow” and Tamara Tunie, who plays the coroner in the NBC original hit series “Law & Order: SUV,” with the coveted Reel Sisters Trailblazer Award. It is with great pride and pleasure to also honor pioneering actress and Broadway legend Vinie Burrows, as the recipient of our Reel Sisters Hattie McDaniel Award. These inspiring women of color more than deserve this honor and we are delighted to celebrate their stellar accomplishments; EPIC!!

In my other life, I’m also a TV personality and filmmaker who has attended many Reel Sisters Film Festivals over the years. It was kismet when the festival’s founder, Carolyn A. Butts, commissioned me to serve as its curator. Our commitment is to find great films made by and about women—fresh with interesting points of view—that shape our collective culture. This mission is reflected in our diverse, exciting content!

We are humbled by your presence!!

Namaste, Lisa Durden Reel Sisters/Festival Curator 6

REEL SISTERS AWARDS CEREMONY

Spoken Word Performance by D. Cross Greetings: Toni Yates, Mistress of Ceremonies Reel Sisters Trailer

Welcome: Carolyn A. Butts, Reel Sisters Founder & Committee Members Nicole Beharie Award Presentation Nicole Beharie Trailer Nicole Beharie Accepts Reel Sisters Trailblazer Award Urban Bush WomEn’s Love Muwwakkil Performs Bitter Tongue Tamara Tunie Award Presentation Tamara Tunie Trailer Kasi Lemmons presents award Tamara Tunie Accepts Reel Sisters Trailblazer Award Toni Yates introduces short film for Vinie Burrows Film Presentation: That’s Why They Calls Us Colored Vinie Burrows Awards Presentation Presenters: LaZette McCants, Co-Founder of Friends of Vivian Robinson-Torch Bearers for Black Theatre and J.e Franklin, filmmaker/writer

Vinie Burrows Accepts Reel Sisters Hattie McDaniel Award Council members Jumaane Williams & Laurie Cumbo Proclamation Presentation to Honorees Reel Sisters Film Festival Highlights (Oct. 21-22, 2017) Closing Remarks 7

Toni Yates Mistress of Ceremonies Toni started her career in Savannah, Georgia, first as a reporter at WTOC, then with WSAV as weekend co-anchor. She has twice returned to her hometown where she was a reporter for WTLV. During her second stint, she was the reporter weekend co-anchor for WJXT. She also held two jobs in Norfolk Virginia, delivering morning news while working a second job as Communications Director for the March of Dimes.

Toni moved farther up the east coast, landing a General Assignment reporter job at WGAL in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

She came to WABC after spending several years at WB 17 in Philadelphia, where she was promoted from weekend anchormedical reporter to weekday anchor.

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Reel Sisters Trailblazer Award 2017

Nicole Beharie Actress

Nicole Beharie is best known for her lead role in FOX’s hit series, SLEEPY HOLLOW. She is also an established film actress, debuting in an award-winning role in the 2008 film AMERICAN VIOLET, opposite Alfre Woodard and Will Patton. She then starred in Steve McQueen’s SHAME opposite Michael Fassbender and as the female lead in the Jackie Robinson biopic, 42, opposite Harrison Ford and Chadwick Boseman.

She will next be seen in JACOB’S LADDER, opposite Jesse Williams and Michael Ealy.

Nicole is a graduate of Juilliard Drama School and currently resides in NYC.

What happens when one’s racial classification changes from white to un-white? “ That’s Why They Calls Us Colored” is Malika N’zinga’s adaptation of a J. e Franklin play from her One-Drop Series based on true stories of invisible Negroes who discover they possess a drop of blood-ousia from an ancestor whose blood-line dips below the Sahara Desert. (1) This and other One-Drop plays address the Great Plague of our time: The White-Race system! (2) 1. Ousia: Gr., the material-stuff from the back of the skin to the marrow in the bone 2. White-Race system; a religious/eugenic program for breeding an Adam which Nature has not created and cannot create: an Immaculate Adam, from ousia purged of sin!

Enquiries: (646) 359-6243 - E-mail: blackgirlbook@aol.com 9

Reel Sisters Trailblazer Award 2017

Tamara Tunie

Actress, Producer, Director, Philanthropist Tamara Tunie (Law & Order: SVU) is known for delivering enthralling, charismatic and passionate performances. Her background spans film, television and stage. Tunie’s versatility has earned her the respect and admiration of her peers and a global fan base that has come to recognize her as the industry’s quiet, graceful leading lady.

Most recently, the veteran actress starred in Tony Award-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan’s BUILDING THE WALL at New World Stages, directed by Ari Edelstein. The two-person political suspense thriller featured Tunie alongside James Badge Dale in a 90-minute theatrical event set in the near future and deals with one of the most talked about topics of this past election. In a time when campaign rhetoric turns into real policies, Building the Wall reveals the power of theater to question who we are and where we might be going.

Tunie starred in two seasons of the Sundance TV original series The Red Road. Her portrayal of Marie Van Der Veen, the matriarch and the “moral fiber” of a Native American tribe, brought her much acclaim. Other memorable television roles include her portrayal of Medical Examiner Melinda Warner on the NBC drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and “mean Alberta Green” in the Fox hit series 24 Season One, as well as attorney Jessica Griffin on the CBS daytime drama As the World Turns, for which she received two NAACP Image Award nominations.

In film, the Pittsburgh native has worked with some of the top directors in Hollywood, including Robert Zemekis, Taylor Hackford, Brian De Palma, Mimi Leder, Harold Becker and Oliver Stone.

She also worked with the legendary Al Pacino in her portrayal of Jackie Heath, the possessed wife of a partner in his law firm in the box office topper The Devil’s Advocate, and as Pacino’s press secretary in City Hall. Among Tunie’s most unforgettable performances was her co-starring role as Margaret Thomason in the Oscar-nominated film Flight, which starred Denzel Washington. Tunie narrated Eve’s Bayou, directed by Kasi Lemmons and later worked again with her on The Caveman’s Valentine, opposite Samuel L. Jackson, for which she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.

Tunie extends herself beyond acting, producing and directing. She is President of the Board of Directors at Harlem Stage/The Gatehouse, a board member of God’s Love We Deliver, and she serves on the Advisory Board of Hearts of Gold.

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Reel Sisters Hattie McDaniel Award 2017

Vinie Burrows Actress, Activist, Scholar

The legendary Vinie Burrows made her Broadway debut with Helen Hayes and Ossie Davis.

Six Broadway shows followed in rapid succession. Frustrated by the available roles for persons of color, Vinie created and produced her first solo show “Walk Together Children” about the Black experience. Called “a magnificent performer” by the New York Times and now hailed as “a living legend,” the veteran actor has performed over 6,000 times on four continents with eight different solo productions. Her work as artist, scholar and activist has earned her many civic and academic honors.

Vinie recently starred in the Public Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the SOHO REP’s production of SAMARA. She also stars in That’s Why They Calls Us Colored, a short film directed

by Malika Franklin and written by J.e Franklin. The film will premiere in Reel Sisters on Oct. 21 at Magic Johnson Theater in Harlem and Billie Holiday Theatre in Brooklyn on Oct. 7, 2017.

Born in Harlem Hospital and now a long time resident of the East Village, Dr. Burrows calls herself “a cultural worker” and a citizen of the world. Mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Vinie now in her 93rd year, continues her work as actor and activist.

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Performances & Special Screening Derick Cross (aka D. Cross) is a multidimensional visual and performance artist who creates imagery in order to reach deep inside the viewer of his artwork. His work is part of the collections of Erykah Badu (Grammy Award-winning Singer-Songwriter), Ed Lewis (Founder of Essence Communications), Ruby Dee (legendary actress), Judith Jamaison (Alvin Ailey director & legendary dancer/choreographer) and Bashiri Johnson (world-renowned percussionist & music producer), among others. He is the Art Director of African Voices. As a performance artist he combines the art of Spoken Word, Vocal Percussion (beatboxing) and Hip-Hop (emceeing/rap), making music to ears of listeners everywhere.

D. Cross has been featured on Nickelodeon, TV Land BET’s 106’s and Park and the Electric Company.

Urban Bush Women Performance by Love Muwwakkil Love Muwwakkil started her relationship with UBW shortly after earning her BFA in Dance from UNC Greensboro.

After two seasons of touring with Urban Bush Women, Love went on to perform in HairSpray on the largest cruise ship in the world, as well as performing in several off-Broadway productions and as a member of contemporary pole dance company The Pulse Project. Love is thankful to maintain her relationship with UBW through performing and teaching!

Bitter Tongue (1987) is “a dance of resistance.”

That’s why they calls us colored Malika Franklin, the director of That’s Why They Calls Us Colored, is a graduate of the New York Conservatory of the Dramatic Arts and Morgan State University’s Vocal Department. She has performed on stage at New Federal Theater, The National Black Theater, and Lincoln Center.

Her most recent stage credits include NEC’s “Rosalee Pritchett” “Laundry”, written by David Bellantoni, and “Freedom Rider”, written by award-winning playwright Ms. J. e Franklin. Her most recent onscreen projects include Marvel’s “Daredevil” and “Luke Cage,” the Amazon pilot “The Good Girls Revolt,” and the short film by Ashton Pina, “The Brother’s Texas,” which ran in the 2014 Oktober Film Festival. She is a member of SAG/AFTRA and AEA. Colored is Malika’s directorial debut.

Actress Vinie Burrows in Ms. Franklin’s That’s Why They Calls Us Colored.

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Greetings from Our Council Members!

Council member Jumaane Williams Reel Sisters Honorary Ambassador Council Member Jumaane D. Williams represents the 45th Council District in Brooklyn. He was elected in 2009, and reelected in 2013. Williams currently serves as Deputy Leader of the New York City Council, and chair of the Council’s Committee on Housing and Buildings. He is also co-chair of the Council’s Task Force to Combat Gun Violence, and a founding member of the Progressive Caucus, and is a member of the Black, Latino & Asian Caucus.

Council Member Williams is a first-generation Brooklynite of Grenadian heritage. He is a proud product of the City’s public school system. He attended Philippa Schuyler Middle School for the Gifted and Talented and Brooklyn Technical High School.

He earned his bachelor’s in political science, and master’s in urban policy and administration at Brooklyn College. He began his career as assistant director for the Greater Flatbush Beacon School, and later went on to serve as the executive director of New York State Tenants & Neighbors. Council Member Williams is an advocate for affordable housing, anti-gun violence measures, fair policing, equity, and social justice. His major successes as Council Member include; the Community Safety Act, which created the Office of Inspector General for the New York Police Department, the Fair Chance Act and co-chairing the taskforce, which created New York’s Crisis Management System and Cure Violence Groups to combat gun violence.

Council member Laurie Cumbo Laurie A. Cumbo was born and raised in Brooklyn, where she attended and graduated from the Berkeley Carroll Day School in Park Slope and Brooklyn Technical High School in Fort Greene. After graduating Spelman College in Atlanta, GA with a degree in Fine Art, she returned to Brooklyn and received her Master’s Degree in Visual Arts Administration from New York University. As a cultural leader, entrepreneur, activist, college professor, educator, lecturer and small business owner working in the not-for-profit sector, she has dedicated her life to community development. Ms. Cumbo has led an effort to turn public housing into an ideal venue for cultural events, in which she privately raised $150,000 to provide monthly cultural programming by world-class musicians and performers in the community centers and outdoor spaces.

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AWARD PRESENTERS

Kasi Lemmons A proven talent as an actress, director and writer, Kasi Lemmons, continues to creatively tantalize with her thoughtprovoking body of work.

Lemmons’ work as an actress includes roles in Jonathan Demme’s “Silence of the Lambs” opposite Jodie Foster, John Woo’s first American film, “Hard Target,” Rusty Cundieff’s parody of the rap music industry, “Fear of a Black Hat,” “Candyman” with Virginia Madsen, Spike Lee’s “School Days,” and “Vampire’s Kiss” with Nicolas Cage.

Lemmons’ first feature-length film, “Eve’s Bayou,” became the highest grossing independent film of 1997. The film won the Independent Spirit Award for “Best First Feature” and received seven NAACP “Image Award” nominations, including “Best Picture.”

For the 2002 Oscar telecast, Kasi directed a touching tribute to Sidney Poitier. She was also involved in an exploration of the roles and representations of black women in film for the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival.

She has worked extensively as a mentor and educator. For nearly years, she has been an executive board member of Film Independent, home of The Los Angeles Film Festival and The Independent Spirit Awards. She has contributed to the Film Independent Filmmaker Labs as a speaker and moderator.

Kasi is currently developing a mini-series for ABC based on the book, “The Black Calhouns”; a movie for HBO, with Oprah Winfrey’s company, based on the book “The Other Wes Moore”; and executive producing and directing a series based on the life of Madam CJ Walker starring Octavia Spencer, with Lebron James’ production company, SpringHill Entertainment.

LaZette McCants It wasn’t until the 1980’s she was introduced to Black Theatre through an organization called AUDELCO (Audience Development Committee, Inc.). She has been involved with AUDELCO since 1983. Her roles included Volunteer, Volunteer Coordinator, Board member, Nominating Committee, Awards Member and black Theatre Awards Planner/Coordinator, and Theatre Lover.

Ms. McCants is currently the Coordinator of Volunteer Services, Take Wing and Soar Productions Inc., Secretary, Team Franco, an effort to Save and Exhibit the Gate Murals on 125th Street, by Franco the Great, Founder of Volunteer Divas & Divos Plus…Volunteers for Arts & Culture and Community and Co-Founder, Friends of Vivian Robinson-Torch Bearers for Black Theatre.

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Reel Sisters Salutes

BEST DOCUMENTARY AWARD Director: John Psanthas Producer: Lili Calfee, Joanne Zielinski, John Psathas, Tayrece Wise, Franshay Lopez, Deja Flanagan, Shawntel Smitherman Rise Up BEST SCREENPLAY AWARD Director: Alex J.Campbell Producers: Candice Onyeama HUSH BEST DIRECTOR Directors: Kaisan Rei Producers: Kulaba Kyabanji The First Stone BEST WEB SERIES AWARD Directors: Lyn Ross, Kim Williams Producers: Kim Williams, Paul Baker Everything I Did Wrong In My 20s BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE Director: Caroline Jules Producer: Ron Dyens TOURMENTS D’AMOUR BEST NARRATIVE SHORT AWARDS Director: Tamika Miller Producers: Tamika Miller, Vitaly Koshman, Sophia Solomon, Tracy “Twinkie” Byrd /smokd/ Producer/Director: Francesca Andre Charcoal REEL SISTERS SPIRIT AWARD Director: Malika Franklin, Ashton Pina Producer: Malika Franklin That’s Why They Call Us Colored BEST ANIMATION AWARD Director/ Producer: Carrie Hawks Black Enuf* BEST EXPERIMENTAL AWARD Director: Sewra G Kidane Producer: Namakula Nasejje Musoke Proclamation Punctuation

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Reel Sisters Schedule at a Glance Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017 VENUE: AMC Magic Johnson 9, Harlem 2309 Frederick Douglass Blvd.

VENUE: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, BK 445 Albee Square West, 4th Fl, Brooklyn

SECTION A — 1 pm-2 pm

By The Tide, 12 min.

Dare To Dream, 30 min.

Proclamation Punctuation, 5 min.

SECTION B — 2:05 pm-3:15 pm The Tale of Four Screening & Panel SECTION C — 3:20 pm-4:15 pm The Creed, 17 min.

HUSH, 15 min.

SECTION D— 4:21 pm-5:28 pm /smokd/, 15 min. everything i did wrong in my 20s, 26 min.

Saving Father, 16 min.

SECTION E — 5:33 pm-6:14 pm Harlem Love, 9 min.

Prudence, 9 min.

Louisiana 1961, 13 min.

SECTION F — 6:19 pm-7:32 pm That’s Why They Calls Us Colored, 13 min.

Tourments D’Amour, 50 min.

SECTION G — 7:37 pm-9:17 pm A Conversation on SIGHTED EYES/ FEELING HEART, a new documentary on Lorraine Hansberry's life directed by Tracy Heather Strain. Marcia Pendleton (Walk Tall Girl Productions) will moderate a discussion with the director. Preview clips from the film!

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How to With Callaloo screens Oct., 21, 3:10 pm at Alamo in Brooklyn!

REEL SISTERS FAMILY DAY SECTION A— 1 pm-2:30 pm A Place For Us, 24 min.

Final Decision, 7 min.

POWGirls Films Presented by POWFest SECTION B — 3:10 pm-4:07 pm How To With Callaloo, 5 min.

Black Enuf, 23 min.

Charcoal, 6 min.

Leche, 13 min.

SECTION C — 4:47 pm-6:01 pm Brixton Rock, 13 min.

Fostered, 10 min.

Rise Up, 12 min.

The First Stone, 16 min.

In the Dark, 13 min.

Special Closing Wrap Up, TBA

Reel Sisters Film Schedule at a Glance Sunday, Oct. 22, 2017 • Magic Johnson, Harlem

Ori Inu: In Search of Self directed by Chelsea Odufu, Screens Sun., Oct. 22, 2 pm-2:50 pm

AMC Magic Johnson 9, Harlem 2309 Frederick Douglass Blvd.

SECTION A — 1 pm-1:55 pm Paradise, 17 min.

And Call Her Blessed: A Portrait of Janie, 13 min.

SECTION B — 2:00 pm-2:50 pm Mine, 9 min.

Ori Inu: In Search of Self, 29 min, Section C — 2:55 pm-4:50 pm QUEST, 105 min.

SECTION D — 4:55 pm-6:16 pm Dreamtown, 71 17

Reel Sisters Honors Nicole Franklin at Filmmakers Award Reception On October 17, 6:30 pm at Maysles Documentary Center

REEL SISTERS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT HONOREE

NICOLE FRANKLIN Filmmaker – Writer – TV Director Nicole Franklin is an award-winning filmmaker, published writer and an Assistant Professor of Television Production at Hofstra University. She has recently made her narrative feature directorial debut with TITLE VII, a film on the rarely discussed subject of same-race discrimination. Her other directing credits include The Double Dutch Divas!, Journeys In Black: the Jamie Foxx Biography, Black Enterprise Business Report, and corporate videos. Educational films executive produced by her company EPIPHANY Inc. and directed by Nicole include Gershwin & Bess: A Dialogue with Anne Brown and the 10-chapter series Little Brother, both titles distributed by Third World Newsreel and currently airing on kweliTV.

Photo by: Francesca Andre

Through her 27 years in the industry Nicole has been a television director (multi-camera), theatre director, stage manager, editor, educator, public speaker, web event host and contributing writer to such publications as NBCBLK, The Good Men Project and Toronto-based ByBlacks.com. For eighteen years, her company EPIPHANY Inc. has produced independent films for numerous cable networks including Showtime, BET, IFC, Nickelodeon, Sundance Channel and kweliTV. In news, she has worked on several Emmy Award-winning teams in stations from St. Louis to Los Angeles to New York City and on programs such as The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, CBS This Morning and CBS Sunday Morning. Single-topic news programs, such as OJ Simpson: The Trial, were also part of her earlier assignments while an editor at KNBC-TV in Los Angeles.

Currently, Nicole is the co-producer and co-moderator of the weekly Monday night Twitter series #BlerdDating, created by Leesa Dean of ChilltownTV. Little Brother is a recipient of the Foundation to Promote Open Society/Campaign for Black Male Achievement Award. Nicole’s affiliations include Directors Guild of America (DGA), Producers Guild of America (PGA East), IBEW, The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), The Black Documentary Collective (BDC), Film Fatales NYC and New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT). Project reels may be viewed at NicoleFranklin.com.

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Sponsors and Presenters: Reel Sisters is sponsored, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts, Brooklyn Arts Council and New York City Council members Jumaane Williams and Laurie Cumbo.

community partner logos:

Join Reel Sisters 20th Anniversary Celebration!

October 21-22, 2017 Enjoy a provocative selection of 30+ films produced, directed & written by women of color!

Magic Johnson 9, Harlem (Oct. 21-22) Alamo Drafthose Cinema, Brooklyn (Oct. 21) Tickets & Info:

www.reelsisters.org

Photo: Proclamation Punctuation

Reel Sisters 20th Anniversary Celebration October 21-22, 2017 @AMC Magic Johnson Theater, Harlem @Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Brooklyn

Join Reel Sisters in celebrating 20 years of presenting films by women of color!

Enjoy our fall season of exciting screenings, panels and events!

Reel Sisters will screen more than 25 films from across the globe!

For information visit:

www.reelsisters.org Follow us on Twitter: @reelsisters || @africanvoices

Reel Sisters is sponsored, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts, Brooklyn Arts Council and New York City Council members Jumaane Williams and Laurie Cumbo.