There is no end to the complexity of the identity issues that Africans and African Americans are constantly negotiating within themselves and in relation to each other. So this short film by Sierra-Leonian/American filmmaker Nikyatu Jusu (in the pic below), for which she earned a Director’s Guild Honorable Mention as well as an HBO Short Film Award, is as relevant now as it was two years ago when it was made.
It’s the coming of age tale of a teenaged Isatu who, in the lead up to prom night, experiences the conflict many young African girls in diaspora know all too well: fitting into the mould cast by peers at school versus staying true to cultural values at home.
WHAT’S BLACK-FACE GOT TO DO WITH IT?
Last week, alarm bells rang all through cyberspace when pictures of Beyonce’s cover shoot for French magazine L’Officiel emerged with her sporting black make-up (black-face?) and Africa inspired fashion. The big idea was that it was in tribute to African queens throughout the ages as is mentioned in the clip below (controversial moments begin around the 2:15 mark):
Was this a good look do you think? While you get your heads around that we leave you with the infamous Naija Boyz’s hilarious spoof on Wiz Khalifa’s ubiquitous hit Black and Yellow, because sometimes comedy’s the best way to talk about what’s going on.
Written by Phiona Okumu
