The AfroSouth Film Festival will take place Thursday, November 2 – Sunday, November 5, 2023 in Charleston. The festival includes screenings, panels, workshops, youth programs, and music. There will be a panel on “Voices of Black Southern Filmmakers” on Saturday, November 4 which will feature filmmakers Julie Dash, Sanford Green, and Tracey Oliver with Dr. Karen Chandler as moderator. SC Humanities supported this program with a Mini Grant.
The AfroSouth Film Festival is a new festival in historic Charleston, South Carolina that focuses on filmmakers, their creative spirit and their sources of inspiration around the lowcountry. The “Voices of Black Southern Filmmakers” panel will feature acclaimed African American filmmakers discussing their work and careers and showing clips of their films.
Julie Dash is a pioneer of the world of African American filmmaking. A 1985 graduate of the UCLS film school, she was a member of the “L.A. Rebellion,” a group of Black filmmakers who set out to provide an alternative to classical Hollywood cinema. Dash’s 1991 independent film Daughters of the Dust was the first feature film made by an African-American woman to be distributed theatrically in the United States.
Sanford Greene is a comics artist and resident of Columbia, SC. He is co-creator of the Eisner Award-winning Bitter Root series, which started as a series of comics and is undergoing a film adaptation directed by Regina King and produced by Black Panther director Ryan Coogler.
Tracy Oliver is a film and television writer, producer, director, and actress from Columbia, SC. A graduate of the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts’ Peter Stark Producing Proram, Oliver worked as an actress, writer, and producer for the popular Web series The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl with fellow USC grad Issa Rae.
The “Voices of Black Southern Filmmakers” panel is scheduled to take place Saturday, November 4 from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. at the College of Charleston Harbor Walk (360 Concord St, Charleston, SC 29401). Ticketing information is available on the festival website: https://www.afrosouth.com/.
The mission of SC Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. Established in 1973, this 501(c)3 organization is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state. It presents and supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos, and other humanities-based experiences that directly or indirectly reach more than 250,000 citizens annually. South Carolina Humanities receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as corporate, foundation and individual donors. The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.
