Black Barbie: A Documentary

Through intimate access to a charismatic Mattel insider, Beulah Mae Mitchell, Black Barbie delves into the cross section of merchandise and representation as Black women struggle to elevate their own voices and stories, refusing to be invisible. This film is a personal exploration that will tell 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.

Film Stills

Image Caption: Featured image for ‘Black Barbie: A Documentary’. Image Caption: Featured image for ‘Black Barbie: A Documentary’.

Links

Black Barbie: A Documentary (2023)

Feature (100mins) Documentary

Region:

United States of America

Language:

English

Rating:

No Rating

Producer(s):

Aaliyah Williams

Director(s):

Lagueria Davis

Showtimes:

Sat 23 Sep 2023, 8.00pm, MovieTowne, POS—Screen 10

Mon 25 Sep 2023, 5.30pm, MovieTowne, POS—Screen 09 Q+A

Caribbean Premiere


Lagueria Davis

Lagueria Davis

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. In 2019, her short film, Light in Dark Places hit the film festival circuit and is now streaming on Amazon. Currently, Davis is in production on her next project Black Barbie: A Documentary and a 2021 fellow in the Mentorship Matters program.

Davis resides in LA where she’s on the Emeritus Board of the Alliance of Women Directors.

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