BADWest presents three documentary shorts - Inner Wound Real, The Lucky Ones, and Tar Baby Jane. Q&A after the screening with the directors.
INNER WOUND REAL
directed by Carrie Hawks
THE LUCKY ONES
directed by Debra A. Wilson
TAR BABY JANE
directed by Gregory Scott Williams, Jr.
Q&A after the screening with the directors.
Inner Wound Real tells the story of three BIPOCs who used to self-injure, then seek out new ways to cope in a 15-minute animated documentary. Each participant’s story has its own distinct visual style. The chapters are independent puzzle pieces that together form the film. Everyone self-harms in some way such as smoking, excessive drinking, or eating unhealthy foods, yet self-injury carries a unique stigma. While most media depictions of selfinjury focus on able-bodied white cis-women, this project focuses on three individuals: an Indian cismale, a Black transgender non-binary person, and a Fillipinx queer femme.
Carrie Hawks confronts self-imposed and external assumptions about identity in order to promote healing, particularly in relation to Blackness, gender, and queer sexuality. They work in animation, drawing, collage, sculpture, and performance, often incorporating humor. Their film black enuf* was nominated for a New York Emmy, screened at over 40 festivals, and made its broadcast debut on World Channel. They were selected for fellowships with the Jerome Hill Foundation, the Leslie Lohman Museum, and Brown Girls Doc Mafia. They have curated programs for the Ann Arbor Film Festival and ASIFA-East and are an Assistant Professor at Parsons, The New School.
The Lucky Ones is Alexander and Timothy's poignant love story, a husband & wife, both diagnosed with Schizophrenia. Their conjoined life together gives us a glimpse into what it means to survive with mental health issues and how one unexpected event can upend their already precarious world. Confronted with a life-altering event, they must figure out how to face this most daunting task or risk losing the only stability in their lives. The love they share and their unbridled support for each other redefines the elimination of stigma, and the fear society has for mental illness.
Debra A. Wilson, director/producer
Debra A. Wilson made her national debut with her film Butch Mystique, which she wrote and directed. The film has been screened in more than 30 film festivals worldwide and has won Jury and Audience Awards as well as Showtime’s Black Filmmakers Showcase. After receiving a grant from Showtime, she directed her next documentary, Jumpin’ the Broom: The New Covenant, that premiered on Showtime and Logo’s Real Momentum series. In her role as assistant location manager, she has worked on such projects as MILK, Hereafter, Contagion, 5-Year Engagement, The Master, Fruitvale Station, and HBO’s new series LOOKING. Debra co-produced Tina Mabry’s award-winning feature film Mississippi Damned, which amassed an impressive 11 awards and aired on Showtime. She also produced Crossover, ITVS Futurestates Season 3 episode, also directed by Mabry. In 2011 she directed the short documentary Ward 86 that is part of Still Around a feature-length compilation about people living with HIV/AIDS. In 2013, Debra received the Location Team of the Year Award for “Fruitvale Station.” She collaborated with Mabry as a producer for ITVS Futurestates Season 5 film ANT, starring Guillermo Diaz from the hit ABC series “Scandal.” Debra holds a B.A. in Television/Film Production from Cal-State University at Northridge.
Tar Baby Jane is an observational documentary that creates a lean but complex and intimate portrait of Vanessa German as a person and reveals the processes through which her work is created. The film observes Vanessa as she brings together the necessary elements for a solo exhibition of her sculptures, Tar Baby Jane & Doowop, at 709 Gallery in Pittsburgh; and prepares for a performance of her one-woman show, Root, at The Vineyard Playhouse in Martha’s Vineyard.
Through observation and interviews, Tar Baby Jane reveals how Vanessa is constructing her own identity as an artist and woman as she pieces together and gives life to the tar babies, poems and performances that define, shape and reveal her life. The film also explores how Vanessa is battling depression and a family history of mental illness as she is experiencing a heightened critical and public interest in her work.
WRITER, PRODUCER, DIRECTOR, CINEMATOGRAPHER, EDITOR
Gregory Scott Williams, Jr. is an award-winning filmmaker who has written, directed and produced several short films. He is currently in production on his first feature documentary, Miki, an intimate portrait of legendary R&B singer Miki Howard. His other recent projects include, Project Chick, which was an official selection of the 2019 Cinequest Film and Creativity Festival and awarded a 2018 Small Arts Initiative Grant from The Heinz Endowments; and Selfies From The Hill, which was awarded a 2016 Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh Grant from The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments, was selected to participate in Black Public Media’s 2016 360 Incubator & Fund, and was selected to participate in IFP’s 2017 Spotlight on Documentaries. His feature screenplay, Window Pains, and his treatment for a feature documentary, Midlife Fantasy, were both awarded Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh Grants from The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments in 2014 and 2019 respectively. Greg also served as the Producer for WQED’s initiative: THINK!, which was nominated for a 2018 Golden Quill Award and a 2018 Emmy Award.
His other films include the documentary Tar Baby Jane, which received a 2014 Paul Robeson Award from the Newark Black Film Festival and was awarded grants from The Heinz Endowments, the Pittsburgh Foundation’s Multicultural Arts Initiative and the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council: Tar Baby Jane aired on PCTV’s Indie Film Forum in 2015 and WQED’s Filmmakers Corner in 2021; Introducing August Wilson and Urban Innovator, which were awarded grants from the Pittsburgh Foundation and Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council: both shorts aired on PBS affiliate WQED as part of Filmmakers Corner in 2013; Dance Chile, which was nominated for a DGA African American Student Award for Directing; and Sonny’s Blues, an adaptation of the short story written by James Baldwin, which aired on ABC and CBS.
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Monday, June 26, 2023
7:00pm - 9:30pm PST
Looking forward to a great screening and lively discussion!
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The Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers West is a project of Fulcrum Arts' Emerge fiscal sponsorship program. www.fulcrumarts.org
BADWest champions and further advances the art of Black documentary filmmakers across the Diaspora.
