10 Daring Changemakers Who Challenge and Eclipse Hollywood’s Status Quo
Reframing Hollywood Through the Black Female Gaze: A Black History Month Series (Part I)
Image of Chinonye Chukwu by The Hollywood Reporter
Black female personalities shined brightly in 2022.
However, the spotlight proved to scorch rather than uplift these talented stars.
Multi-Grammy and Emmy award-winning musician Lizzo spreads her infectious brand of unconditional self-love.
Yet she receives relentless harassment from fat-shaming trolls. Even fitness guru Jillian Michaels (someone I once admired) attempted to destroy Lizzo’s body-positivity movement.
Inventive female rap artist Megan Thee Stallion identified fellow hip-hop artist Tory Lanez as the gunman who shot her on July 12, 2020.
Stallion’s male peers completely disregarded her incessant pleas that Lanez was guilty. She defended herself against claims that she lied about being shot.
Misogynistic voices within the hip-hop community labeled her a liar, bitch, and villain, including media mogul 50 Cent.
In December of last year, a Los Angeles jury found Lanez guilty on three counts related to the violent incident.
And then there’s the people’s princess, Meghan Markle, who has received less public sympathy than either Lizzo or Stallion.
Markle has endured obscene malice during and after her tenure at Buckingham Palace.
Jeremy Clarkson, the racist host of The Grand Tour series, penned a vile column for a popular British tabloid, expressing his contempt for her.
The only thing Markle is guilty of is being a Black woman who has agency over her narrative.
Clarkson’s $70 million remains intact, his two Amazon Prime Video series running through 2024.
However, after the former Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry were financially cut off from the Royal Family, they sought the help of friends and acquaintances to settle into their new lives in America.
Their unexpected predicament forced them to resort to desperate measures, such as a tell-all book deal, to earn an income.
If mainstream society demonizes Lizzo, Stallion, and Markle for existing in their Black identities, what hope do ordinary women have?
Fortunately, vanguard change agents are rewriting the script of how the world views and treats Black women.
Welcome to Widening the Lens’ Black History Month Series!
This month we’re honoring prolific female storytellers. These pioneers amplify humanity’s triumphant spirit through the lens of overlooked and undervalued Black women.
In 2022, these gifted creatives shared their truth, represented their culture, and centered their Black identities on the screen.
They used their Black girl magic to re-contextualize ordinary acts of survival into extraordinary feats of courage.
By showcasing the honorable struggles, uncompromising sacrifices, and awe-inspiring breakthroughs of women who look like them, they create more empathy for Black women around the globe.
Let’s celebrate these daring changemakers who challenge the status quo and redefine Hollywood through the Black female gaze.
Image of Katori Hall by Shondaland via Amber Hawkins
These artists lead the way in reclaiming the agency of Black women on screen.
1. Katori Hall (P-Valley, 2020)
Hall is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright, screenwriter, producer, actress, and director.
This Julliard-trained writer’s first scripted series, based on her off-Broadway play Pussy Valley, is about Black exotic dancers in the Southern Delta.
Hall offers a unique juxtaposition of representation, identity, and female empowerment.
She depicts the beauty, grace, and athleticism of fierce yet broken women who refuse defeat. It’s a brutal, raw, and visceral representation of marginalized women we rarely see on screen.
Hall inked an overall deal with Lionsgate TV.
2. Janicza Bravo (Zola, 2021; Kindred, 2022)
Bravo is a multi-talented Panamanian American filmmaker, director, producer, and screenwriter.
This quirky filmmaker showcases the vulnerability and hustle of Black women.
She delivers off-beat narratives that underscore how dark humor can expose trauma, tragedy, and triumph.
Zola is based on a 2015 viral Twitter thread referred to as the greatest stripper saga ever. It’s about two strippers’ crazy road trip to Florida, where things take a tragic turn.
Bravo also directs and produces Kindred, the long-awaited Octavia E. Butler adaptation, about a modern Black millennial transported back to the 1815 Antebellum South.
Bravo will team up with fashion house Miu Miu for their series entitled Women’s Tales.
Image of Kasi Lemmons by The LA Times via Hugh Hart
Experienced trailblazers reframe the narratives around historical Black women.
3. Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou, 1997; Harriet, 2019; Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody, 2022)
Lemmons is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, and actress who’s amassed critical acclaim and an award-winning career spanning over thirty years.
She focuses on real-life Black women who challenge societal norms with awe-inspiring results.
Lemmons adeptly translates the perseverance of larger-than-life Black historical figures who overcome unimaginable odds on the path to greatness.
Her legendary biopics include Harriet, the Oscar-nominated film about the heroic abolitionist Harriet Tubman, and I Wanna Dance With Somebody, which chronicles Whitney Houston’s meteoric rise as one of the best voices of all time.
Lemmons serves as a prominent mentor and educator for women in Hollywood.
4. Gina Prince Bythewood (Love & Basketball, 2000; The Secret Life of Bees, 2008; The Woman King, 2022)
Bythewood is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter.
She subverts societal stereotypes around accomplished Black women.
Her nuanced and complex portrayals reflect the real-world challenges women of color face in their aspirational quest for achievement.
Bythewood illuminates their passion and ambition as strengths, not impediments to reaching their goals.
This multi-award winner is the driving force behind last year’s break-out hit, The Woman King, led by an all-Black female cast. It’s based on the real lives of the Agoji Dahomey, a West African warrior unit of the 17th century composed entirely of women.
The African American Film Critics Association awarded this best-reviewed action film its top prize.
While she decided not to return to direct the Old Guard sequel for Netflix, Bythewood will remain on the project as one of its producers.
5. Chinonye Chukwu (Clemency, 2019; Till, 2022)
Chukwu is a Nigerian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer.
She honors conflicted Black women who exhibit a compassionate understanding of their power and place in the world.
Chukwu made history by being the first Black woman to win the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at Sundance for her powerful prison drama, Clemency.
The auteur’s latest film, Till, examines Mamie Till-Mobley’s pursuit of justice for the brutal murder and lynching of her 14-year-old son, Emmett, in 1955, Jim Crow South Mississippi.
Chukwu reframes this national tragedy through a fearless Black female lens. Till-Mobley’s sacrifice fueled the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Chukwu will direct A Taste of Power, the memoir of the first and only female Black Panther leader, Elaine Brown.
Image of Courtney A. Kemp Agboh by The NY Times
Innovative voices leave an indelible mark on the television landscape.
6. Courtney A. Kemp Agboh (Power Universe, 2014 - Present)
Kemp is an American television writer and producer.
This prolific storyteller is behind the record-breaking series Power, which she grew into a juggernaut serialized universe.
She defies gender stereotypes with three-dimensional female characters who are as ruthless and calculating as their male counterparts.
Her brand of brassy, confident women unlocked the Black female audience for the premium cable provider STARZ.
Kemp’s break-out hits generate the largest concentration of African-American viewers of any scripted premium series.
Power remains STARZ’s most-watched series, with its spinoff shows breaking new viewing records each week.
Kemp inked a reported eight-figure deal with Netflix to develop global projects for the streamer.
7. Shonda Rhimes, (Scandal, 2011; How to Get Away With Murder, 2014; Bridgerton, 2020)
Rhimes is an American television screenwriter, producer, and author.
She is the brilliant mind behind two of the most successful prime-time shows featuring a Black female lead.
Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder (HTGAWM) are groundbreaking series that made significant strides for Black actresses.
Scandal became the first scripted drama starring a Black female lead in almost forty years. And HTGAWM garnered the first-ever Emmy win by a Black lead actress.
Rhimes continues to broaden the scale and scope of representation through re-imagined stories that showcase LGBTQ+ and BIPOC talent.
One example is the casting of Golda Rosheuvel, a veteran Black actress, as Victorian Queen Charlotte in Netflix’s global sensation Bridgerton. The number one streamer announced a spinoff dedicated to her popular character.
Rhimes signed a historic $150 million deal with Netflix.
8. Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere, 2012; When They See Us, 2019; Queen Sugar, 2016)
Duvernay is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, and visionary trendsetter.
Her revered award-winning work on the small and big screen is the gold standard for a more inclusive Hollywood, especially for women of color.
DuVernay set an extraordinary television precedent by being the first producer to hire only women directors for Queen Sugar’s seven-season run.
She employed forty-two women directors to tell the story of siblings who must put aside their differences to reclaim their father’s stolen Louisiana sugarcane farm.
DuVernay’s groundbreaking achievements, combined with socially relevant storytelling, make her a formidable force in promoting Black female talent in front of and behind the camera.
DuVernay will write, produce, and direct the film Caste, based on Isabel Wilkerson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
Image of Nikyatu Jusu by Deadline
Fresh global talent spotlights the immigrant experience through forgotten Black women.
9. Nikyatu Jusu (Nanny, 2022)
Jusu is a Sierra Leonean American writer, director, producer, and editor.
Her independent work highlights Black women's complexities, specifically immigrant women from Africa living in the U. S.
Jusu’s horror drama is about an undocumented Senegalese nanny who hopes to bring her son to New York.
However, a malevolent presence threatens to destroy her long-awaited reunion and shatter her shot at the American dream.
Jusu blends African folklore with incisive character studies to create a striking visual tone.
This sharp, insightful directorial debut won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Dramatic competition. She’s the second Black woman to win the festival’s top honor, and this is the first horror film to receive the prestigious award.
Jusu will direct the new Night of the Living Dead sequel, a follow-up to George A. Romero’s 1968 cult classic.
10. Alice Diop (Saint Omer, 2022)
Diop is a Senegalese French filmmaker and screenwriter.
She crafts devastatingly beautiful narratives focusing on isolated immigrant women in contemporary French society.
This award-winning documentarian makes her narrative debut with the acclaimed Saint Omer, France’s entry for the Best International Feature Film for the 95th Academy Awards.
Saint Omer examines Rama (Kayije Kagame), a pregnant novelist, who attends the trial of Laurence (Gusalagie Malanga), a Senegalese immigrant accused of leaving her 15-month-old child on a beach to die.
Diop’s heart-wrenching French courtroom drama centers on immigrant mothers' crippling loneliness and desperation. Her gripping story exposes the prejudices toward these women and the devastating mental toll they’re forced to endure.
Diop signed with CAA, signaling greater exposure to bigger projects.
Final Thoughts
This is only a small sample of the immense Black female talent diversifying Hollywood one story at a time.
Unfortunately, Tinseltown continues to deny accomplished Black women, giving them zero nominations in the Best Director and Best Actress categories for this year’s Oscars.
What’s needed are more chances for women of color to tell their stories, more opportunities for us to discover them, and more avenues to honor their success.
Our collective strength can change who and what we see on screen.
Let’s exercise this power, celebrate these dynamic changemakers behind the camera, and allow their Black female lens to widen our worldview.
Remember to subscribe and spread the word! Another installment in the series is coming next week.