The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, presents Through the Lens of Black Women: Beauty and Expectations, featuring four films that consider the experiences of Black women.
Returning to program the second iteration of the series she created is Autumn Johnson, communications coordinator at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and social media coordinator at Houston Cinema Arts Society. This year, Johnson decided to focus on the idea of “beauty” and what defines Black and female authorship in film. Johnson will introduce each screening.
Schedule of screenings
- February 2: Mountains - Monica Sorelle’s debut feature follows a Haitian father and his family as their local Miami neighborhood faces the effects of rapidly increasing patterns of gentrification. Dream and desire, honor and hatred, love and lust - all contrast in this journey to find where one belongs in the middle of socioeconomic change.
- February 3 (4 pm): All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt - This lyrical, decades-spanning exploration across a woman’s life in Mississippi marks the feature debut of award-winning poet, photographer, and filmmaker Raven Jackson. All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt presents a visually poetic portrait that serves as a beautiful ode to the culture and people that shape us.
- February 3 (7 pm): Invisible Beauty - The essential memoir of fashion pioneer Bethann Hardison, Invisible Beauty shines a spotlight on one of the fashion industry’s most influential icons. As a Black model, agent, and entrepreneur, Hardison (born 1942) has pushed the boundaries of fashion culture and has been at the forefront of progress throughout her career. In her lifetime, the singular and unapologetic Hardison has seen the pendulum swing toward and away from the Black model. A panel discussion will follow the screening.
- February 4: Naked Acts - Naked Acts depicts conflicts surrounding the expectations of bodies in intimate settings on screen, in real life, and in the mind. Writer/director Bridgett M. Davis sets out to examine the impact on self-image of “the dominant film portrayals of Black women in this country’s cinematic history” and “to get beyond the limitations placed on our bodies by our racialized past.” Celebrated as a key film in the canon of independent cinema by African Americans in the 1990s, the film was included in the seminal anthology The 50 Most Influential Black Films by S. Torriano Berry.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, presents Through the Lens of Black Women: Beauty and Expectations, featuring four films that consider the experiences of Black women.
Returning to program the second iteration of the series she created is Autumn Johnson, communications coordinator at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and social media coordinator at Houston Cinema Arts Society. This year, Johnson decided to focus on the idea of “beauty” and what defines Black and female authorship in film. Johnson will introduce each screening.
Schedule of screenings
- February 2: Mountains - Monica Sorelle’s debut feature follows a Haitian father and his family as their local Miami neighborhood faces the effects of rapidly increasing patterns of gentrification. Dream and desire, honor and hatred, love and lust - all contrast in this journey to find where one belongs in the middle of socioeconomic change.
- February 3 (4 pm): All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt - This lyrical, decades-spanning exploration across a woman’s life in Mississippi marks the feature debut of award-winning poet, photographer, and filmmaker Raven Jackson. All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt presents a visually poetic portrait that serves as a beautiful ode to the culture and people that shape us.
- February 3 (7 pm): Invisible Beauty - The essential memoir of fashion pioneer Bethann Hardison, Invisible Beauty shines a spotlight on one of the fashion industry’s most influential icons. As a Black model, agent, and entrepreneur, Hardison (born 1942) has pushed the boundaries of fashion culture and has been at the forefront of progress throughout her career. In her lifetime, the singular and unapologetic Hardison has seen the pendulum swing toward and away from the Black model. A panel discussion will follow the screening.
- February 4: Naked Acts - Naked Acts depicts conflicts surrounding the expectations of bodies in intimate settings on screen, in real life, and in the mind. Writer/director Bridgett M. Davis sets out to examine the impact on self-image of “the dominant film portrayals of Black women in this country’s cinematic history” and “to get beyond the limitations placed on our bodies by our racialized past.” Celebrated as a key film in the canon of independent cinema by African Americans in the 1990s, the film was included in the seminal anthology The 50 Most Influential Black Films by S. Torriano Berry.
WHEN
WHERE
TICKET INFO
$7-$9