Oscar winning filmmaker Euzhan Palcy on her film “Sugar Cane Alley”
Set against the vivid backdrop of 1931 French-colonized Martinique, “Sugar Cane Alley” (“Rue Cases-Nègres”) stands as one of cinema’s most tender and politically charged coming-of-age stories. The film follows eleven-year-old José, a bright and curious boy raised by his devoted grandmother, M’man Tine, who dreams of a life for him beyond the sugar cane fields. […]
Cinema Femme’s Most Anticipated Films at the 2025 New Orleans Film Festival
Rental Family, directed by Hikari Set in modern-day Tokyo, “Rental Family” follows an American actor (Brendan Fraser) who struggles to find purpose until he lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese ‘rental family’ agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. As he immerses himself in his clients’ worlds, he begins to form genuine bonds that […]
In the Direction of Healing: Kat Blade, Danyelle Monson, Jordan Rivers and Cara Winter on “Cottage Grove”
Sometimes the most meaningful interactions can take place in the unlikeliest of locations. Consider the central relationship in George Ellzey Jr.’s riveting short film, “Cottage Grove,” between a young man, Emmanuel (Patrick Agata), and his father, Senior (Sean Blake), who has suffered a stroke. The film’s action takes place primarily in the parking lot of a […]
Nailah Jefferson on Her Empowering Documentary, “Commuted”
To celebrate the release of the film, we bring back our 2023 New Orleans Film Festival interview (originally posted on 11/2/23) with filmmaker Nailah Jefferson about her feature documentary “Commuted,” coming to PBS on April 1st. “Commuted” by Nailah Jefferson, which follows Danielle Metz, as she is freed by decree of President Obama after spending half […]
Sundance 40: Haley Elizabeth Anderson pens a love letter to Brooklyn in her feature debut, “Tendaberry”
Haley Elizabeth Anderson’s feature debut, “Tendaberry,” moves you, not just on a visceral level, but a deeply human level. I felt the same way after I watched “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” directed by Raven Jackson. Noise is a powerful element in both of these films. As Raven’s film is mostly quiet, its sound […]
NOFF 2023 Interview: Michéle Stephenson’s “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” illuminates a reimagined future
I’m going to keep my intro brief because I feel filmmaker Michéle Stephenson speaks to the truth of her film “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” which she co-directed with Joe Brewster, in more of an eloquent way than I could. So this interview is going to be mostly comprised of her words rather […]
NOFF 2023 Interview: Raven Jackson’s “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” washes over you and moves your soul
Sometimes you need a film that can wash over you and speak to the elements in your soul by reflecting the world around you. That is what “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” did for me. It was a pleasure speaking with the director of the film, Raven Jackson, while she was at the Indie […]
The Liberation of the Work: A Conversation with Jada-Amina, Lead Curator of Black Harvest Film Festival
I’ve been fortunate to interview some of the up-and-coming female programmers who have come out of Chicago. Earlier this year, I spoke with Imani Davis, who now is a programmer at the American Cinemateque in Los Angeles. Last week, I talked to a poetic soul, and the new lead curator of the Black Harvest Film […]
Emerging filmmakers empower audiences at Heartland’s 2023 Indy Shorts International Film Festival
“My poems and songs have no flavor without you.” The above quote comes from the end of the short documentary “Ayenda,” directed by Marie Margolius. A group of teenage Afghan girls sing this song about their homeland after they’ve been evacuated by a special mission team, and the line, “My poems and songs have no […]
Emerging filmmaker Tiffany Tenille tells her own fairy tale in “Albion Rose”
Tiffany Tenille is a phenomenal woman. She is an actress (as displayed in Numa Perrier’s “Jezebel”), writer and an emerging filmmaker. We were so honored to host the Chicago premiere of her first film, “Albion Rose,” at our film festival this past spring. She was awarded the Cinema Femme 2023 Phenomenal Person Award, because really, […]
Numa Perrier on making her rom-com “The Perfect Find”
“Numa was our choice and we went after her. She did this movie for Netflix called ‘Jezebel’ and I loved it. She was in it – she starred in it as well as directed it. And I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, she can multitask and she can create beautiful narratives. She knows how to shoot […]
Luchina Fisher on Her Captivating Documentary Short Subject, “Team Dream”
When I turned 36, I put together clips from films that I felt represented my life at that moment in time, and I broke it up into six parts. I gave every segment a title, and for the last part, I titled it “wisdom”. It’s comprised of a clip from “Under the Tuscan Sun” where […]