Julie Dash facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Julie Dash
Dash in 2020
Born	(1952-10-22) October 22, 1952 (age 72) New York City, New York, U.S.
Education	City College of New York (BA) American Film Institute (MFA) University of California, Los Angeles (MFA)
Occupation	Film director, producer, screenwriter, visual artists
Years active	1973–present
Notable work	Daughters of the Dust (1991)
Spouse(s)	Arthur Jafa (divorced)
Children	1

Julie Ethel Dash (born October 22, 1952) is an American filmmaker, author, and director. She makes movies, music videos, and commercials. Julie Dash earned her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in 1985 from the UCLA Film School. She is part of a group of filmmakers known as the L.A. Rebellion.

The L.A. Rebellion was a group of the first African and African-American students to study film at UCLA. They wanted to change how Hollywood showed Black people. They made new and different films to tell original Black stories.

After directing several short films, Julie Dash made history. Her 1991 movie, Daughters of the Dust, was the first full-length film directed by an African-American woman to be shown widely in U.S. movie theaters. In 2004, the Library of Congress chose Daughters of the Dust for the National Film Registry. This means it's important for its "cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance." The film also inspired Beyoncé's 2016 album Lemonade.

Daughters of the Dust tells a fictional story about her father's Gullah family. They lived off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia in 1902. The film shows the Peazant family, who keep their strong African culture and language. They think about what it means to move to the U.S. mainland. The movie highlights stories of Black women and uses beautiful visuals.

Julie Dash has also worked in television since the late 1990s. She directed TV movies like Funny Valentines (1999) and The Rosa Parks Story (2002). In 2004, she directed Brothers of the Borderland for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. This film was narrated by Oprah Winfrey. In 2017, Dash directed episodes of Queen Sugar on the Oprah Winfrey Network. She continues to direct TV series today.

In 2019, it was announced that Julie Dash would direct a movie about civil rights activist Angela Davis. As of 2017, she also teaches at Spelman College. She helps create a major in documentary filmmaking there. Julie Dash is also a member of the Directors Guild of America.

Early Life and Education
Career Highlights
Published Works
Personal Life
Honors and Awards
Filmography
- Music videos
See also

Early Life and Education

Julie Dash was born on October 22, 1952, in Queens, New York. She grew up in the Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City, Queens. She first studied psychology in college. But then she was accepted into film school at the City Colleges of New York. In 1974, she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Film Production. As a student, she wrote a script for a documentary called Working Models of Success.

After college, she moved to Los Angeles for more studies. She attended the AFI Conservatory and learned from famous filmmakers. Then she went to the UCLA Film School. There, she became part of the "Black insurgents," also known as the L.A. Rebellion.

She directed Working Models of Success in 1976. The next year, she produced Four Women (1975). This short dance film was based on a song by Nina Simone. It won a gold medal at the 1978 Miami International Film Festival. While at UCLA, she also directed Diary of an African Nun (1977). This film won a Directors Guild of America Award for student films.

Career Highlights

Early Filmmaking

During film school, Julie Dash was inspired by different types of cinema. These included avant-garde (experimental), Latin American, African, and Russian films. After film school, her work changed direction. She realized she wanted to make narrative movies, which tell a story. She was inspired by books from Black women authors like Toni Morrison and Alice Walker.

Four Women (1975)

Her 1975 short film Four Women is based on the song "Four Women" by Nina Simone. The film shows four different Black women characters. Each character represents different struggles that Black women have faced. The film asks viewers to think about their own ideas and stereotypes.

Diary of an African Nun (1977)

Dash's 1977 short film Diary of an African Nun is 13 minutes long. It was made while she was at UCLA. The film is based on a short story by Alice Walker. It follows a young nun in Uganda who feels empty and unsure about her life. The film's simple style and Dash's poetic way of storytelling won her a Directors Guild Award. This film showed Dash's unique way of making movies.

Illusions (1982)

A scene from Illusions (1982)

Julie Dash wrote and directed the short film Illusions (34 minutes). This film looks at unfair treatment based on race and gender in Hollywood. It became very successful and got a lot of attention. Set in 1942, the film shows Mignon Duprée, a Black woman who pretends to be white to get a high-level job. It also features Ester Jeeter, a Black woman who sings for a white Hollywood star. The film explores the challenges these women face.

Illusions won the 1985 Black American Cinema Society Award. It also won the Black Filmmaker Foundation's Jury Prize in 1989 as the best film of the decade. In 2020, the Library of Congress chose Illusions for the National Film Registry. This means it is important for its "cultural, historical, or aesthetically significant" qualities.

Daughters of the Dust (1991)

Julie Dash started working on the story for Daughters of the Dust in 1975. It was inspired by her father's Gullah family. The Gullah people are descendants of West Africans who lived on the Sea Islands off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina. The film is set in 1902. It follows three generations of Gullah women in the Peazant family on St. Helena Island.

The film is special because it uses Gullah language and tells stories through many female characters. It focuses on family history and the strong community formed by former slaves on the island. The movie's script was written in the islanders' dialect, with no subtitles. This made it a very real language experience.

Daughters of the Dust was shown for the first time at the Sundance Film Festival in 1991. It was nominated for a top award and won an award for its cinematography (how it was filmed). It became the first feature film by an African-American woman to be shown widely in U.S. movie theaters. Critics praised its language, music, and beautiful visuals.

The New York Times called Julie Dash a "strikingly original film maker." They noted that the film was a "wildly lyrical meditation on the power of African cultural iconography." This means it beautifully explored African culture and the strength of the women who kept it alive.

Even with its success, Julie Dash found it hard to get money for another feature film. So, she started working in television. Daughters of the Dust continued to be recognized for many years. In 2004, it was chosen for the National Film Registry. Its visuals also inspired Beyoncé's 2016 video album Lemonade. In 2016, the film was restored and re-released for its 25th anniversary.

Styles and Themes

Julie Dash began making films during the time of the L.A. Rebellion at UCLA. This group of Black filmmakers wanted to show Black stories in an honest way. They wanted their films to entertain and educate. A common theme in Julie Dash's work is showing the lives of Black women and the challenges they face. She wanted to change how African-American women were shown on screen. She aimed to show their hopes, dreams, joys, and sadness.

One important theme in Dash's films, especially Daughters of the Dust and Illusions, is the importance of remembering the past. It also highlights how older Black women pass on their wisdom to younger generations. In Daughters of the Dust, Nana Peazant wants her family's African culture and traditions to live on. In Illusions, Mignon wants true stories to be shown in movies. These women wanted to make sure their culture and voices would continue.

Music Videos

Julie Dash has directed music videos for several artists. These include Raphael Saadiq, Keb' Mo', and Peabo Bryson. Her video for Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason" was nominated for an MTV award in 1996.

Television Work

In 1997, Dash wrote and directed an episode for Showtime's Women: Stories of Passion. She also directed a segment for HBO's Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground. In 1999, she directed the TV film Funny Valentines. She also wrote and directed Incognito (1999) and Love Song (2000) for MTV.

In 2002, actress Angela Bassett asked Dash to direct the movie The Rosa Parks Story. This film tells the story of Rosa Parks and her husband. It shows their struggles with segregation and Jim Crow laws in the 1950s. The movie leads up to Parks' famous refusal to give up her bus seat. The Rosa Parks Story won several awards, including the NAACP Image Award for Best Television Movie. Julie Dash was also nominated for a Directors Guild Award for her work. She was the first African-American woman to be nominated in that category.

In 2004, Dash made Brothers of the Borderland. This film was for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. It was narrated by Oprah Winfrey. The film tells the story of Alice, an escaped slave. It is shown in the Harriet Tubman theater at the museum.

In 2017, Dash directed episodes of Ava DuVernay's TV series Queen Sugar on the OWN Network. She continued directing TV series in 2021 and 2022. These include Our Kind of People, Women of the Movement, and Reasonable Doubt.

Museum Installations

Julie Dash has also created art for museums. She designed two rooms for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and VOGUE's "In American: An Anthology of Fashion" exhibit in 2022. One room highlighted Anne Lowe, a talented gown designer from the 1940s. Lowe did not get much recognition because of racism at the time. Dash used this exhibit to teach people about Lowe's important work. Her other room featured Eartha Kitt as Helen of Troy.

Dash's other museum projects include "Standing at The Scratch Line" at the Philadelphia Museum of African American History. She also created "Shine a Light," a large video projection for the Charles H. Wright Museum in Detroit.

Published Works

Daughters of the Dust: The Making of an African American Woman's Film (1992): This book was co-written with Toni Cade Bambara and bell hooks. It tells the story of how the film was made.
Daughters of the Dust: A Novel (1999): This is a sequel to the film. It is set 20 years later. It follows Amelia, a young student who visits her mother's relatives on Dawtah Island to learn about their culture.

Personal Life

Julie Dash met Arthur Jafa in the early 1980s while working on a film. They got married in 1983 and had a daughter named N'Zinga in 1984. They later divorced.

Julie Dash enjoys reading and listening to audiobooks by Toni Morrison. She still visits the Sea Islands where Daughters of the Dust was filmed. Her uncle lives in Charleston, and many of her family members are buried there.

Honors and Awards

Directors Guild Award for student filmmaking for Diary of an African Nun, 1977
First Prize – Black American Cinema Society Award for Illusions, 1985
Sundance Film Festival Excellence in Cinematography Award for Daughters of the Dust, 1991
Candace Award, National Coalition of 100 Black Women, 1992
NAACP Image Award for Best Television Movie for The Rosa Parks Story, 2002
Family Television Award for The Rosa Parks Story, 2002
Nominated for a Directors Guild Award for The Rosa Parks Story, 2002 (first African-American woman nominated in this category)
Black Reel Awards for Rosa Parks Story, 2003
New York Christopher Award for The Rosa Parks Story, 2003
Daughters of the Dust selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, 2004
Excellence in Cinematography Award for Daughters of the Dust, 2005
Restoration and re-release of Daughters of the Dust, 2016
Women & Hollywood Trailblazer Award, 2017
New York Women in Film & Television MUSE Award, 2017
New York Film Critics Special Award, 2017
Robert Smalls Merit and Achievement Award, 2017
WIFV Women of Vision Award, 2017
Illusions selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, 2020
Joseph R. Biden's President's Lifetime Achievement Award, 2022
Elected honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority
The Ebert Award
Inducted into the Penn Cultural Center's 1862 Circle on St. Helena Island

Filmography

Working Models of Success (1973) [documentary]
Four Women (1975)
Diary of an African Nun (1977)
Illusions (1982) [also writer]
Daughters of the Dust (1991) [also writer, producer]
Praise House (1991)
Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground (1997) (TV) [also writer, segment: "Sax Cantor Riff"]
Women: Stories of Passion (1997) (TV) [also writer, 1 episode: "Grip Till It Hurts"]
Incognito (1999) (TV)
Funny Valentines (1999) (TV)
Love Song (2000) (TV)
The Rosa Parks Story (2002) (TV)
Brothers of the Borderland (2004) [film for immersive museum exhibit]
My Marlton Square (2009)
Smuggling Daydreams Into Reality (2011)
Standing at the Scratch Line (2016) [also writer]
Queen Sugar (2017) (TV) [season 2: episode 9 – "Yet Do I Marvel", episode 10 – "Drums at Dusk"]
Chloe X Halle (2021) Vogue
Our Kind of People (2021) (TV) [season 1; episode 5 – "The Miseducation of the Negro"]
Reasonable Doubt (2022) (TV) [season 1: episode 6 – "Renegade"]
Women of the Movement (2022) (TV) [season 1; episode 4 – "Manhunt", episode 5 – "Mothers and Sons"]

Music videos

Tracy Chapman, "Give Me One Reason" (1996)
Tony! Toni! Tone!, "Thinking Of You" (1997)
Adriana Evans, "Love Is All Around" (1997)