Dallas Black Queer Collective Celebrates Film's Power to Turn Back Bigotry

Cinema is a powerful tool for creative expression that, sadly, has long dehumanized marginalized voices.

Consider  D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation. Released in 1915, the film brought technical innovation to American films and is considered a landmark work of cinema. Based on a book titled The Clansman, it's also incredibly racist.

With a start like that, it's not surprising that motion pictures with homophobic caricatures, warped views of indigenous communities, misogynistic worldviews and other toxic traits tremendously influenced the art form. Meanwhile, talented artists have through the years co-opted cinema for subversive means, rendering multifaceted, complicated voices from underrepresented communities. One-note caricatures vanish in favor of fascinating characters exploiting all of film's possibilities.

The Dallas Black Queer Collective is setting out to emphasize how motion pictures can reaffirm rather than eliminate humanity. That mission statement underpins “She Is the Moment: Celebrating Black LGBTQ+ Womxn Through Film," a mini film festival coming to the South Dallas Cultural Center from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on March 21. (Womxn is an alternative spelling of woman intended to be more inclusive of non-binary and trans people.)

The festival will screen four short films, though right now details were available on only two of them. One is Grace, from writer/director/producer Natalie J. Harris. Grace takes place in the 1950s South and chronicles a teenager who, with her baptism just hours away, begins to have questions related to her theology and identity, all tied up in her passionate emotions for her best friend. This is the second consecutive year a Natalie J. Harris short film has appeared in the “She Is the Moment” event. This filmmaker’s 2020 short film Pure was one of three features showcased in 2024.

The second film is You Don't Have to Like Me from writer/director Safiyah Chiniere. A quasi-autobiographical story, You Don’t Have to Like Me follows a masculine-presenting young woman and the challenges she faces just existing in the modern world.

Premiering on the film festival circuit in 2024 and 2023, respectively, the very existence of both projects in the 2020s is an encouraging sign for the future of queer cinema. Facing endless obstacles (COVID-19, financing struggles, corporate trepidation about anything queer, etc.) affecting modern filmmaking, “She Is the Moment's” cornerstones endured. Now, Dallas film fans can appreciate these miracles of 2020s DIY filmmaking.

The screenings at "She Is the Moment" will precede a panel discussion. Dallas Black Queer Collective founder De'Ane Kennedy says the panel will consist "of Black LGBTQ+ women who are active in [the] Dallas community and who have been creating safe and welcoming spaces for the Black community here in Dallas."

In a December 2024 Shoutout DFW interview, Kennedy said the Dallas Black Queer Collective is determined to bring positivity to the community. “I believe Dallas Black Queer Collective helps to create space for folks in the community who tend to go unseen and maybe even feel like they don’t belong and/or have yet to find a space where they feel like they fully belong,” Kennedy said. “Not just a part of them.”

Since its creation, the Dallas Black Queer Collective has organized DFW events exemplifying this concept.

“We've done a number of events that range from volunteering with mutual aid orgs in the community to social mixers and happy hours to queer beauty expos and spiritual circles and more,” Kennedy tells the Observer.

Even the location for “Celebrating Black LGBTQ+ Womxn Through Film” intersects with the collective's mission. Venture over to the South Dallas Cultural Center website and a slogan reading "Black Culture. Celebrated." greets you.

“We seek to promote a more equitable, cooperative, and empathetic community by engaging the public with art and cultural experiences influenced by the African Diaspora," the center's mission statement reads.

Writers such as Audre Lord and gay liberation activists such as Marsha P. Johnson are just two of the Black LGBTQIA+ womxn who helped pave the way for civil liberties and revolutions for all queer folks. These individuals are cornerstones of the broader LGBTQIA+ community, yet conversations about queer history often expunge them. Recent political developments promise to try to erase any discussion of Black and queer trailblazers. “Celebrating Black LGBTQ+ Womxn Through Film” is now more important than ever, a brutal reality that Kennedy is more than aware of.

“It is important our voices are heard and our stories shared,” Kennedy says. “This event not only allows for folks outside of the Black queer community to come listen and learn but also even folks a part of the queer community to come celebrate a demographic that is often silenced within our own LGBTQ+ community.”

“She is the Moment: Celebrating Black LGBTQ+ Womxn Through Film” runs 6:30-8:30 p.m. Friday, March 21 at the South Dallas Cultural Center, 3400 S. Fitzhugh Ave.. To attend, you must RSVP in advance. Tickets are $10 and can be found on EventBrite.