Hypersexuality is not a joke | Notes from Women of the Lens film festival
Free your agendas this weekend. Women of the Lens Film Festival has arrived.
Maybe you saw Lupita Nyong'o on the November cover of Grazia magazine and you thought "wow, she's beautiful even without hair". Maybe you are a fan of How to Get Away with Murder and you don't like Annalise because she is too smart and too bossy.
Well, Lupita accused Grazia of removing her hair and Viola Davis is one of the best actresses in Hollywood and she is absolutely beautiful.
WOTL's poster
Maybe it's time for you to book your ticket for Women of the Lens Film Festival and find out how much black women are underrepresented in the film industry. Women Of The Lens is a 3-day Film Festival created to celebrate and highlight the achievements of black women and women of colour in the UK creative industries.
I found the definition of hypersexuality on an online dictionary: something/one "unusually or excessively active in or concerned with sexual matters". However, you won't find an entry for this term in the Oxford dictionary, the 'official' and most used dictionary in the English language.
It's not necessary to go back to the slavery-era when white people created the Jezebel stereotype of the seductive and hypersexual black woman. Try to think of a coloured woman: probably the first image that comes to mind is an old big mommy or a sassy girl. Or Beyoncè. Well, hellooo! Black women are humans like everyone else, so they can be shy, arrogant, creative, curious and independent. Yes, independent. If a woman is not in a couple, it doesn't mean that she is cheeky. So please, mind your own buisness.
Photo by WOTL's official gallery
WOTL's launch day was a powerful and scrappy awakening. At its first edition, Women of the Lens is a safe place where you can enjoy wonderful independent films and short films. Its founders Jennifer Robinson and Laurelle Jones want to create a network through which women can share their knowledge and experiences about the film industry. But it's not only this: the festival is divided into different themes (all wonderfully interesting, it's hard to choose a favourite!) and for some of them, there is a panel discussion with awesome guests. It's the perfect way to find out the complexity and uniqueness of women of colour.
Women of the lens is this weekend, don't miss it!
Women of the Lens
24th to 26th November
Who?
Check all panel discussions here!
Where?
Cinema Museum
Dugard Way London SE11 4TH
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