Published: 25 April 2013
Region: Worldwide
“Imagine a Future”, a documentary on African-American women, has been screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
The film is backed by Procter & Gamble, a multinational consumer goods company, through its My Black Is Beautiful, an initiative whose goal is to celebrate African-American beauty.
As the New York Times reports, the documentary “explores how media images of rail-thin white women as a standard of beauty can make black women, particularly curvy ones, feel inadequate.”
Through the story of Janet Goldsboro, a teenager from Delaware who used to compare herself with white women seen in the magazines, the film aims to empower African-American women. Janet Goldsboro remembers how she felt ugly-looking when boys admitted to prefer light-skinned girls.
“Goldsboro points to the images in magazines and throughout the media where there is little or no reflection of her. There are plenty of excuses being thrown around for the lack of diversity, yet they’re all weak, of course”, reports the Huffington Post.
The 30-minute documentary shows her trip to South Africa, a country where skin bleaching is still an issue. This story is alternated with interviews with women, such as the writer Michaela Angela Davis, the Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas, and the MSNBC channel host Melissa Harris-Perry.
The subject of the film was found through Black Girls Rock! , a non-profit organisation supported by My Black is Beautiful, where Janet Goldsboro attended a summer leadership camp last year. Black Girls Rock! Promotes the arts for young women of colour, and encourage the analysis of the ways women of colour are portrayed in the media.
“The program in collaboration with Black Girls Rock, aims to create opportunities for young black girls throughout the country by providing resources that foster a greater sense of confidence. And they aren’t just talking a few hundred or a few thousand girls — the goal is to reach one million young women over the next two years”, reports Huffington Post.
The directors of the film are Shola Lynch, author of a theatre documentary about civil rights activist Angela Davies, and Lisa Cortes, executive producer of the multi-awarded film “Precious.”
Despite the filmmakers maintained their creative freedom, the New York Times points out, in the documentary there is no mention of the skin-lightening products sold by the P&G brand Olay all over the world.