21st Calgary Underground Film Festival

April 18-28, 2024 Globe Cinema

12th CUFF.Docs Documentary Film Festival

November 20-24, 2024 Globe Cinema

Black Barbie: A Documentary

United States, 2023 : Alberta Premiere
Archives 2023
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In Cinema Globe Cinema
Sun, Apr 30 1:00 PM Buy

description

Through intimate access to a charismatic Mattel insider, Beulah Mae Mitchell, the documentary delves into the cross section of merchandise and representation as Black women strive to elevate their own voices and stories, refusing to be invisible.

BLACK BARBIE is a personal exploration that tells a richly archival, thought-provoking story that gives voice to the insights and experiences of Beulah Mae Mitchell, the aunt of the Los Angeles-based filmmaker, who spent 45 years working at Mattel. Upon Mattel’s 1980 release of Black Barbie, the film turns to the intergenerational impact the doll had. Discussing how the absence of black images in the “social mirror” left Black girls with little other than White subjects for self-reflection and self-projection. Beulah Mae Mitchell and other Black women in the film talk about their own, complex, varied experience of not seeing themselves represented, and how Black Barbie’s transformative arrival affected them personally.

DIRECTOR'S BIO
Lagueria Davis graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2007 with a BFA in Media Art. Since graduating, Davis has established herself as an award-winning filmmaker. MAID OF DISHONOR a feature she co-wrote was a 2016 Nicholls Fellowship Quarter-Finalist. In addition, she’s had four scripts place in the Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition. BLACK BARBIE: A DOCUMENTARY is her feature directorial debut.

press for Black Barbie: A Documentary

"A celebration of the talents and creativity of Black women."
- Hammer to Nail
"Energetic and informative."
- Hollywood Reporter

details

Documentary / First Feature / Woman Director

English
100 minutes

credits

Director
Lagueria Davis

Executive Producers
Grace Lay
Sumalee Montano
Camilla Hall
Milan Chakraborty
Jyoti Sarda

Producers
Lagueria Davis
Aaliyah Williams

Screenwriter
Lagueria Davis

Cinematographer
Sara Garth

Cast
Beulah Mae Mitchell
Kitty Black Perkins
Stacey Mcbride-Irby
Ashley Blaine-Featherson Jenkins
Gabourey Sidibe
Julissa Calderon

Music
Esin Aydingoz

Official website:
https://www.blackbarbiefilm.com/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Blackbarbiefilm

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/blackbarbiefilm

community

Community Partners

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