Pariah
From the Black Queer Cinema department, this is the story of 17-year-old Alike growing up in a black family from New York City's Fort Green. Alike loses her virginity, experiences her first emotional ups and downs all the while fighting for her family's acceptance. Because her mother tries to reorient Alike's non-normative sexuality, the girl is forced to grow up fast. Pariah manages to be both bold and subtle in portraying Alike's process of maturing-while-queer in an Afro-American community by avoiding popular stereotypes and clichés. Visually inspired by queer cinema manifesto Paris is Burning, the movie plays with independent film esthetic conventions. The biggest strength in Pariah is the exceptionally good articulation of identity tensions without excess sentimentality. Taking note of the autobiographical themes in the film, IndieWire called it a movie that is consistently riveting because it is steeped in truth. Pariah screened at Sundance to rave reviews.
October 21, Wednesday, 3.30 PM
After screening panel: Film Fatales: Film Fatales in Wroclaw. Women in Film - from indie to mainstream
guests: Amy Berg, Darrien Gipson (Indie SAG), Britni West
moderators: Shaz Bennett, Ewa Drygalska
awards
Sundance FF 2011 – Cinematography Award; Gotham Independent Film Award 2011 – Breakthrough Director Award; Black Film Critics Circle Awards 2011 – Best Director, Best Independent Film, Best Original Screenplay; Independent Spirit Awards 2012 – John Cassavetes Award
Dee Rees
Dee Rees is an American film director born in Nashville, who has worked in New York since graduating from NYU. Her debut feature, produced by Spike Lee, played to critical raves at independent festivals and received numerous awards, including Best Film at the Independent Spirit Awards. In 2014, she began working with HBO on the biography of blues legend Bessie Smith.
Selected filmography
2008 Eventual Salvation (doc.)
2011 Parias / Pariah
2015 Bessie
