Sisters in the life : a history of out African American lesbian media-making

From experimental shorts and web series to Hollywood blockbusters and feminist porn, the work of African American lesbian filmmakers has made a powerful contribution to film history. But despite its importance, this work has gone largely unacknowledged by cinema historians and cultural critics. Assembling a range of interviews, essays, and conversations, Sisters in the Life tells a full story of African American lesbian media-making spanning three decades. In essays on filmmakers including Angela Robinson, Tina Mabry and Dee Rees; on the making of Cheryl Dunye's The Watermelon Woman (1996); and in interviews with Coquie Hughes, Pamela Jennings, and others, the contributors center the voices of black lesbian media makers while underscoring their artistic influence and reach as well as the communities that support them. Sisters in the Life marks a crucial first step in narrating the history and importance of these compelling yet unsung artists. Contributors. Jennifer DeVere Brody, Jennifer DeClue, Raul Ferrera-Balanquet, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Thomas Allen Harris, Devorah Heitner, Pamela L. Jennings, Alexandra Juhasz, Kara Keeling, Candace Moore, Marlon Moore, Michelle Parkerson, Roya Rastegar, L. H. Stallings, Yvonne Welbon, Patricia White, Karin D. Wimbley To be transparent: seeing directions and connections in black lesbian film / Alexandra Juhasz -- The sisters in the life archive project / Yvonne Welbon -- Birth of a notion: toward black, gay, and lesbian imagery in film and video / Michelle Parkerson -- Narrating our history: an introduction / Thomas Allen Harris -- Narrating our history: selections from a dialogue among queer media artists from the Afri-can diaspora / edited by Ra℗Đl Ferrera-Balanquet and Thomas Allen Harris, with Shari Frilot, Leah Gilliam, Dawn Suggs, Jocelyn Taylor, and Yvonne Welbon -- Constructs of computation and desire: introduction to Yvonne Welbon's interview with Pamela L. Jennings / Kara Keeling -- Ruins and desire: July 27, 2012, interview with Pamela L. Jennings / Yvonne Welbon -- The book of ruins and desire: interactive mechatronic sculpture / Pamela L. Jennings -- Cosmic demonstration of curatorial practice / Roya Rastegar -- Identity and performance in Yvonne Welbon's remembering Wei-yi fang, remembering my-self: an autobiography / Devorah Heitner -- Producing black lesbian media / Candace Moore -- Stereotypy, mammy, and recovery in Cheryl Dunye's the watermelon woman / Karin D. Wimbley -- Coquie Hughes: urban lesbian filmmaker. Introduction to Yvonne Welbon's interview with Coquie Hughes / Jennifer DeVere Brody -- Stepping out on faith: interview with Coquie Hughes, July 27, 2012 / Yvonne Welbon -- "Invite me in": Angela Robinson at Hollywood's threshold / Patricia White -- Shine Louise Houston: an interstice of her own making / L.H. Stallings -- From rage to resignation: reading Tina Mabry's Mississippi damned as a post-"civil rights response to Nina Simone's "Mississippi goddam" / Marlon Rachquel Moore -- The circuitous route of presenting black butch: the travels of Dee Rees's Pariah / Jennifer DeClue -- Creating the world anew: black lesbian legacies and queer film futures / Alexis Pauline Gumbs "From experimental shorts and webseries to Hollywood blockbusters and feminist porn, the work of African American lesbian filmmakers has made a powerful contribution to film history. But despite its importance, this work has gone largely unacknowledged by cinema historians and cultural critics. Assembling a range of interviews, essays, and conversations, Sisters in the Life tells a full story of African American lesbian media-making spanning three decades. In essays on filmmakers including Angela Robinson, Tina Mabry and Dee Rees, on the making of Cheryl Dunye's The Watermelon Woman (1996), and in interviews with Coquie Hughes, Pamela Jennings, and others, the contributors center the voices of black lesbian media makers while underscoring their artistic influence and reach as well as the communities that support them. Sisters in the Life marks a crucial first step in narrating the history and importance of these compelling yet unsung artists."--Publisher's description. Assembling a range of interviews, essays, and conversations, Sisters in the Life narrates the history of African American lesbian media-making during the past thirty years, thereby documenting the important and influential work of this group of understudied and underappreciated artists.