Explores the careers of twenty black women working as film directors.

Sisters in Cinema

In this video work, Zeinabu irene Davis and collaborator Quinta Seward perform a comic rap (old-school style) about the false promises in ads for feminine hygiene products.  Lampooning the classic embarrassing scenarios (getting your period at the prom, exercise class or walking down the aisle), the rap’s feminist refrain reminds us that “confidence” comes from within, not from a box or tube.  —Jacqueline Stewart

A Period Piece

This innovative drama, set in Ohio, traces an African American couple's search for intimacy and friendship. The spirited, African-identified Yasmine Allen is a writer and single mother who has been dating saxophone teacher Craig Watkins for a month. Wishing to end her self-imposed celibacy following her son's birth, Yasmine has reached a turning point in the relationship-but Craig, the Big Lug, wants to take it slow. Sage advice from friends and family members remind them, "sex is a powerful thang." Like her highly acclaimed CYCLES, Davis's film incorporates animation as well as Afro-Haitian dance in a rich exploration of the lives of African Americans.

A Powerful Thang

The life of a deaf African American woman in the early 1900s parallels with another living in the 1990s.