Zeinabu irene Davis

Zeinabu irene Davis

Born April 13, 1961
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Alma mater Brown University, University of California, Los Angeles
Occupation Director, producer, professor
Years active 1982–present
Spouse(s) Marc Arthur Chéry

Zeinabu irene Davis is an African-American filmmaker and professor of the Department of Communication[1] at the University of California, San Diego. Her works in film include narrative, documentary and experimental film.[2] Her husband and daughters inspire Davis's films, which are created to show alternative perspectives from the mainstream.

During her undergraduate career, Davis realized her passion for film-making through an internship experience at PBS in Rhode Island and her experience overseas. Her love for working in the production process is because she is able to control the creation of images. One of her biggest challenges as an African-American woman filmmaker is the high level of difficulty in attaining funding for her films, since investors are apprehensive about funding independent films due to the very competitive nature of such platforms that exist within the film production community.

Personal life

Davis was born in Philadelphia to a working-class family. She became the first in her family to complete college, with the support of her parents, who initially encouraged her to lean towards law due to her argumentative nature.

Upon graduating from high school, Davis was accepted into Brown University, where she started as an International Relations student. She soon realized the major was not for her and decided to create her own. At the time, the university offered a program what gave students of ability the freedom to create a major of their choice. Zeinabu graduated as a Mass Media Images of Third World Peoples. She continued her education at the University of California, Los Angeles and received a MFA in Motion Picture/Television Production.[3]

As an undergraduate, Davis spent a year abroad in Kenya. While there, she worked with Ngugi wa Thiong’o on a play he had written, and was involved in actually building a theater, bleachers and an entire set. The first three opening nights drew thousands of people. Sadly, on the third night, the set was bulldozed by the Kenyan government, and the production lacked funds to continue its operation.

During her time in Kenya, Davis observed several filmmakers document the country without involving the people of the region. This observation provided her inspiration for a project she hopes to one day create: to co-direct a feature film on the history of the Kenyan people.

Education

Career

Davis began her career teaching at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio in 1989. In 1991, she moved to teach in the Radio-TV-Film Department at Northwestern University. After teaching several years at Northwestern, Davis moved to San Diego, California to teach at the University of California, San Diego. The move was prompted due to her desire to teach a more diverse group of students. She wanted to give back to a community that was similar the one she grew up in.

Films Throughout Career

Cycles

Cycles is a 1989 short, experimental, black and white film by Davis. It is a 17 minute film about a woman awaiting her period.[1] The woman goes through a process of cleansing her home and body through African traditions. The film focuses on images of the female body and uses playful stop-motion sequences.[3]

A Period Piece

A Period Piece, in 1991, is a rap video directed by Davis exploring the promises made by advertisements for feminine products. It showcases relatable and embarrassing situations involving such products in a comic way. The video is four minutes long.

Mother of the River

In 1995, Mother of the River is a black and white film that revolves around an African-American slave named Dofimae. The character of Dofimae is a rebellious young girl who is dissatisfied with the oppression of her people. Her mother has been sold to other slave owners, and therefore, she misses the companionship. She befriends a woman that she meets in the woods. The woman calls herself Mother of the River and through her, Dofimae gets an insight into her past and experiences the glorification of her African ancestors. Oral Tradition is a strong theme throughout the film, which provides Dofimae with knowledge of her ancestors.[2]

Compensation

Compensation is a 1999 film by Davis that depicts two relationships in two different periods of time in Chicago. It was inspired by a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar. A parallel is created between the two relationships as both couples go through different issues within the relationships. The relationship of Malindy and Arthur takes place in the turn of the century during contemporary times while the relationship between Malaika and Nico takes place in Modern Chicago. The characters of Malindy and Malaika are deaf and played by a deaf actress. The film contains long periods of silence and can be understood by both deaf and hearing viewers. The film also showcases the diversity of the black experience sending a message about communication within the black community. Back in time, Malindy and Arthur deal with the issues of education and Arthur eventually becomes sick with Tuberculosis. In the present day part of the film, Malaika is HIV positive.

Co-Motion: Tales of Breastfeeding Women

Co-Motion: Tales of Breastfeeding Woman is 2010, exploring the idea of breastfeeding within society. Davis interviews mothers, fathers and professionals.[3]

Momentum: A Conversation with Black Women on Achieving Advanced Degrees

This another 2010 documentary about black students at the University of California, San Diego and their accomplishments.

Themes

In her films, Davis focuses on the lives of African American woman, creating positive images of these woman opposed to the usual stereotypes. Some of her films revolve around femininity and the female body. She also gives viewers a glimpse of romance and intimacy within the African American community in movies such as Compensation and another movie she directed called A Powerful Thang. Davis also uses the idea of oral tradition in Mother of the River, helping the main character and the viewer get an insight into the ways of the African ancestors. She also uses this to glorify the ancestors.

Black Feminism

The work of Zeinabu Davis is particularly important in the world of Black Feminsim. Davis is one of few African-American Female filmmakers that has contributed to the exploration and representation of femenism in the black community. In her work, Momentum: A Conversation with Black Women on Achieving Advanced Degrees, depicts a series of conversations with UCSD graduate students about to earn their degrees. Their conversations reaffirmed the importance of community for Black graduate students, and also included some of Davis’s meditations on being a professor at a public institution that serves so few Black students – undergraduates or graduates. This documenatary, in particular, showcases the lack of representation in institutions of higher education and the many problems that ensue with such dilemmas. When thinking about race, feminism, and technology, it is important in the world of black feminism to create works that represent the timeless struggles of Black women in America. According to film scholar Gwendolyn Audrey Foster, Davis believes that black filmmakers are "developing a new genre that constitutes a black aesthetic".[5]

Davis' work in many ways, show how the technology of television is a limited space for representation and content creation for people of color, especially when taking into account the power structures inherent in producing television that relates to a large mainstream audience. Drawing on Frantz Fanon and the view of the Black body, Fanon argues that the Black Body is marked with implicit racial distinctions that lead to encoded stereotypes that essentially cannot be escaped. In Davis' case, her work is important because she presents these bodies as racially distinct but with codes that are open to interpretation. Jaqueline Bobo, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbera, stated that "Black women as content creators producers versions of Black womanhood that usually do not exist within the mainstream of society. At the same time, the proliferation of these unusual portrayals of Black womanhood in online spaces seeks to normalize the humanity and freedom to choose that should be a normal part of human beingness." The work produced by Davis is a proactive example of how the representation of African American women should be and is a clear indicator that feminist theory in media still needs more work when it comes to creating a tangible field for equality.[6]

Media Appearances

Selected Articles

Filmography

Films
Year Title Contribution Notes
1982 Filmstatement Director
1983 Recreating Black Women's Media Image Director
1986 Sweet Bird of Youth Director
1986 Crocodile Conspiracy Director
1987 Canta For Our Sisters Director
1989 Cycles Director Best Drama: National Black Programming Consortium; Best Experimental Film: Big Muddy Film Festival; Best of Category: Experimental, Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame
1991 Period Piece, AA Period Piece Director Honorable Mention: ETA Creative Arts Foundation, African American Women & The Arts Festival, Chicago.
1991 Powerful Thang, AA Powerful Thang[7] Director, Producer Best Narrative, Lawrence Kasdan Award, 30th Ann Arbor Film Festival, Best Experimental Narrative, ETA Creative Arts Foundation, Chicago, Honorable Mention, Best Original Drama, American Film & Video Association, Honorable Mention, Best Feature, Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, Oakland, Honorable Mention, Best Production Design, Atlanta Film and Video Festival,

Honorable Mention, Best Experimental Narrative, 23rd Sinking Creek Film & Video Festival

1995 Mother of the River Director Best Film and Video, Children’s Jury, 12th Annual Chicago International Children’s Fest

Best Short Feature, 6th New England Children’s Film Festival Best of Category Chris Award, 34th Columbus International Film Festival Gold Award, Films for Family & Children Worldfest Charleston Silver Hugo, Chicago International Film and Video Festival

1999 Compensation Director, Producer 2002 Paul Robeson Prize, Best Film, Narrative Section,

Newark Museum 28th Annual Black Film Festival Gordon Parks Award, Best Director, 1999 Independent Feature Market, New York City “Outstanding Film” - Reel Black Award, Black Film & Video Network, Toronto Independent Spirit Award Nomination, Best First Feature under $500k, IFP-West

2005 Las Abuelas - Latina Grandmothers Explain the World and Other Stories of Faith Co-director, Producer
2005 Trumpetistically, Clora Bryant Director, Producer
2008 Delta Children: Future of the Blues Co-director
2009 Passengers Director, Producer
2010 Momentum: A Conversation with Black Women on Achieving Graduate Degrees Director
2010 Co-motion: Tales of Breastfeeding Woman Director
2011 Spirits of Rebellion: Black Film at UCLA[8] Director Work-in-progress

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 University of California, San Diego, Department of Communication.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ogunleye, Foluke (2007). "Transcending the "Dust": African American Filmmakers Preserving the "Glimpse of the Eternal"". College Literature 34 (1): 156–173. doi:10.1353/lit.2007.0008.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/makers/fm26.shtml.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 http://www.linkedin.com/pub/zeinabu-davis/7/944/706.
  5. ↑ Gwendolyn Audrey Foster, 1995, Greenwood Press, Westport (CT) & London, Women Film Directors: An International Bio-Critical Dictionary, Retrieved December 15, 2014, see page(s): 103
  6. ↑ http://www.hastac.org/blogs/violafaithe90/2014/01/23/feminism-technology-and-racialized-body-thoughts-and-notes-femtechnet
  7. ↑ http://mediaartists.org/content.php?sec=artist&sub=detail&artist_id=36.
  8. ↑ "Spirits of Rebellion: Black Film at UCLA (2011)". L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema. UCLA Film & Television Archive. Retrieved 2011-10-02.