Cinderella Dressed in Yellow Went Upstairs to Kiss a Fellow

For everyone who has heard of the Princess and the Frog it's sad that we waited on Disney to do something we should have done such a long time ago. You can't wait on Disney or any film studio, company (which are mostly run by white people) to give our black girls a black princess when the majority of the people in this country are white and run the film industry. We are the ones who should have been giving our girls a black princess film. Disney finally did it and now black people are complaining because there is no black prince. Well so what? I for one am happy she has a non-black love interest. I think it's high time black girls see men of other races seeing us as desirable. Not only that the complaints of the girl being a maid, her name (which ended in being Tiana in a time I don't even think that girl would have had that name, but anyway)that is it any wonder. And why do we expect Hollywood to give black girls good, beautiful images of black women when our own men don't when they make movies as well. (that's another post)

The cool thing about making your own films and images is that you control the images coming out. (This is also why we need film disribution companies run by black people, but that's another post.) We greenlight our own movies, by having control.

On the subject of Nollywoods Cinderella (there are other versions as well)it doesn't look Hollywood and can be cheesy (especially the badly lipsynced singing.lol), but it is a great story for black girls to see.

Through The Glass

Stephanie Okereke a black African woman and Nollywood star made and directed her own movie in which she was the lead and desirable to a wm. This is the power of anyone who controls their own image. You can make yourself the bitchiest woman ala Alexis Carrington and have every guy want you, you can make yourself the sweetest girl next door type and have every guy want you too. It's up to you

Now I haven't seen the movie yet. I'm not going to lie, but I respect this woman emensely. She survived an accident, divorced and went to film school NYFA to be exact
http://nigeriamovies.net/news/news159.php
http://www.nigeriamovies.net/news/news303.php

This is what we seriously need to do. We have to stop worrying about what the black community and even others outside of the bc think about what our movies should be and how they should be. We need to chose what our stories are as black American women filmmakers, writers yes and even the audience.

Take Advantage of Our Right to Create

These videos are songs from Hausa movies from the Kano movie industry before they were banned. There were filmmakers being arrested because they made a film with this style until they just decided to find ways around the system. I believe I read somewhere that these films are cheaper than that of Nollywood films, but the fact they are able to do musical style to it is inspiring. I mean seriously making musicals on no-low budgets. I also like how they took something inspired from another industry and made it their own by fitting it to their culture.

This is why we need to do what we can and tell our stories. We are blessed to be in a country that doesn't ban a style of movie because it doesn't fit the culture. A government telling an artist how to do art, what they should and should not be influenced by because it's not of their culture is ridiculous. I'm not sure if Somalia still has the ban on films or if they have lifted it yet. I will post some videos in another post. We have many resources that we could be taking advantage or right now. So lets start doing that.

Somali movies I could find.



Somalian films are a mix of Hollywood and Bollywood. As I said before not sure if the ban has been taken off yet.

There are other movies on YT that are Somalian films if you want to check them out same with Nollywood, Ghollywood

Third Largest Movie Industry in the World

Yes I know a lot of videos, but it's very interesting and inspiring. Nollywood may have it's issues in production quality right now. The industry is new, but Nigerians got out and created an industry out of nothing. Most of the funding was out of pocket or from others. That's the reason the industry was so low key to many outside of Africa (which Nollywood is watched all over Africa). The reason Nollywood grew is because it catered to African audiences. Yes there are African films like Sia Myth of the Python, Guimba The Tyrant, Little Senegal, and many others that are made more for the festival market, but most Africans really don't ever see. The big problem they have is pirating, but the point is they have an industry they control.

We Can Create The Industry we Want

Okay I know you will be thinking what's up with all of this Nollywood, Ghollywood, Riverwood, Kanywood, Bollywood, Lollywood,Kollywood (Nepal), Kollywood (Tamil), Tollywood, Sollywood, Pastho Films, etc. I know lol? I am going to have a few posts on these industries to show what we can be doing now if we put our minds to it.


Really there is no excuse now for not having a film industry. Hell it really wasn't an excuse in the past with the advent of the VCR. The problem was that many filmmakers from white to black looked at straight to video movies as subpar. You were looked down upon if you took this route. Not only that but making a film on video was even worse even in the early part of the new millenium. With all the DV craze that was going on you'd be surprised at how many people got much disrespect for going the digital route. I have nothing against film I love the look of film and my goal is to learn film, because I started on video. I would love for my films to be in the theater, but I think started in the straight to video market is a better starting point. What I am saying is that these filmmakers closed their doors to the options of making movies for the straight to video market and producing them on video.


Nollywood has proven that you can make a successful industry making movies not only using video, but have it as a straight to video market. Now Nollywood has it's flaws with poor quality productions and scriptwriting, but that comes with building something especially when it's being built from scratch.


You also have Kanywood (which right now the style in which these movies are made is banned because of Sharia Law in Kano) they make movies like Bollywood well that's been banned. I'm not sure if this is still the case in Somalywood, but that would suck. Which that brings me to


Somalian films which are somewat a mesh of Hollywood and Bollywood.


Kenya has started Riverwood. Ghollywood there movies are a bit more like Nollywood, but to me and this is just me seem more glossy. You will notice a few movies like Beyonce the President's daughter, Princess Tyra, Rihanna


Cameroon is working on starting an industry. Haiti has similar style films as well.


Now for film you have of course Hollywood (but they are on the high side lol) Bollywood (same but cheaper than hwood) Tollywood (man call this Bollywoods cheap cousin, but whatever I dig them) Nepali most I've seen are made on 16mm or at least the last time I checked. They make low bud movies in the style of Bollywood althought that seems to be changing, but that could just be some films. Some of those movies are crazy, but they are so much fun. http://www.realbollywood.com/news/2006/10/death-of-sri-lankan-film-industry.html Tells how much movies in Sri Lanka can cost and how hard it is just to make one.


The point of this post is to show that we could make a film industry if we really wanted to. It might not be screened on a big screen in a theater, but it would still have an audience. We can't make excuses anymore.

It's Time to Take Conrol Of our Image

Hello my name is Amanda and I started this blog for black women interested in filmmaking. I also started this blog for the betterment of black women's image in the media. I think it's high time we take control of our images. We have to stop waiting on other people to do stories about us and for us. We have to stop expecting others to show us in a positive light. We have to do our own thing. Nigeria, Ghana and many other African countries have film industries where black people greenlight the films. This is a wonderful thing and I wish black Americans would do the same. Own our own images. Yet in many industries it is often the men who run the show. Meaning that bw end up depending on the men to show them in a positive light, give them good roles etc. The problem is then we are letting others tell our stories or shape us in the way they want to instead of how we want to be seen.

I would like people to send pics as well as topics of interest, but also appropriate for the blog. I cannot guarantee the pics will be used or the topics discussed, but I will look at and consider them for the blog. Please do so at blackwomenmakingmovies@mail.com