Introduction -- Chronology -- Filmography -- A conversation with...Kasi Lemmons / Susan Bullington Katz -- Kasi Lemmons: the woman behind Eve's Bayou / Erika Muhammad -- Writing and directing Eve's Bayou: a talk with Kasi Lemmons / Annie Nocenti -- Caveman's Valentine: I just like to stir it up a little / Cynthia Fuchs -- Kasi Lemmons / Wheeler Winston Dixon -- Distaff and distinguished: the new wave of women directors / Sarah Kuhn -- Kasi Lemmons: Talk to Me / Melissa Silverstein -- tips for finding your creative path from Black Nativity director Kasi Lemmons / Melinda Loewenstein -- Refashioning a gospel story in Black Nativity / Rachel Martin -- Third act: the journey of a Hollywood director / Natalie Chang -- Kasi Lemmons interview / Christina N. Baker -- Eve's Bayou screenwriter Kasi Lemmons says black women writers have a responsibility / Joi-Marie McKenzie -- Black feminist in public: Kasi Lemmons on telling Harriet Tubman's freedom story / Janell Hobson -- Director Kasi Lemmons on the defining moment in Harriet / Peppur Chambers -- Kasi Lemmons: Harriet is 'a savior movie and not a slavery movie' / Daniel Joyaux -- Index.
Summary:
"Beginning with her critically acclaimed independent feature film Eve's Bayou (1997), writer-director Kasi Lemmons's mission has been to push the boundaries that exist in Hollywood. With Eve's Bayou, her first feature film, Lemmons (b. 1961) accomplished the rare feat of creating a film that was critically successful and one of the highest-grossing independent films of the year. Moreover, the cultural impact of Eve's Bayou endures, and in 2018 the film was added to the Library of Congress's National Film Registry as a culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant film. Lemmons's directing credits also include The Caveman's Valentine, Talk to Me, Black Nativity, and, most recently, Harriet, making Lemmons one of the most prolific and long-standing women directors in Hollywood. As a black woman filmmaker and a self-proclaimed black feminist, Lemmons breaks the mold of what is expected of a filmmaker in Hollywood. She began her career in Hollywood as an actor, with roles in numerous television series and high-profile films, including Spike Lee's School Daze and Jonathan Demme's Academy Award-winning The Silence of the Lambs. This volume collects fifteen interviews that illuminate Lemmons's distinctive ability to challenge social expectations through film and actualize stories that broaden expectations of cinematic black femaleness and maleness. The interviews reveal Lemmons's passion to create art through film, intimately linked to her mission to protest culturally and structurally imposed limitations and push the boundaries imposed by Hollywood"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.