Ask and ye shall receive. Yesterday I state that we at AICN will cover indie film if only the filmmakers contact us and what do you know, today another young director sends us the following info on her NAKED ACTS.
AFRICAN AMERICAN FEMALE DIRECTOR TO LAUNCH FILM SELF- DISTRIBUTION EFFORT New Yorker Bridgett M. Davis' NAKED ACTS Opens September 25 We know HOW STELLA GOT HER GROOVE BACK and we can guess WHY DO FOOLS FALL IN LOVE. But what about the film VARIETY has touted as "fresh, funny and original," the one truly independent film that offers an alternative movie-going experience to the African American women targeted by Hollywood this Fall?
When filmmaker Bridgett M. Davis' debut feature NAKED ACTS opens theatrically in New York City on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1998 at THE THALIA THEATER (250 West 95th Street at Broadway), hers will be the only one of the three that was produced, written and directed by an African American woman. The film intricately explores a virgin territory for the big screen: the issue of black women and body image.
The award-winning film is ground-breaking in another way: NAKED ACTS' Manhattan theatrical premiere kicks off Davis' national, specialized self-distribution push and makes her the first African-American female director to undertake such an effort. Described by VARIETY's film critic as the film "people will be falling over one another to claim they have discovered," NAKED ACTS tells the story of Cicely, an actress, who has recently lost 57 pounds and has landed her first role in a low-budget art film. She soon learns that the role requires a nude scene. Her dilemma: How to keep her clothes on and keep her part? Cicely launches on a personal journey that unveils a secret she once kept hidden beneath her girth. Along the way, she discovers that emotional nakedness is far more revealing than taking her clothes off could ever be.
"I wanted to explore a complex issue in a sensitive yet dramatically compelling way," says Davis, a Chelsea/West Village resident and tenured professor at CUNY's Baruch College. "I'm glad WAITING TO EXHALE revealed an under-served audience to Hollywood, and I'm glad more films are being targeted at us, but I wanted to create a challenging film that reflected the complexity and texture and humanity of black life that goes beyond the simplistic portrayals we usually see." Some would say that she's succeeded. Says Geoffrey Gilmore, Director of the Sundance Film Festival:
"NAKED ACTS takes us place rarely explored by independent filmmakers. It is engaging, smart and fresh storytelling."
The film is featured on the premium cable Sundance Channel; was named BEST FEATURE FILM '97 by the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame; and was a "BEST OF THE FEST" SELECTION at the Minneapolis International Film Festival. Further, NAKED ACTS has been an official selection at a host of international festivals, travelling to several countries in North America, South America, Africa and Europe, where it has shown before multicultural audiences that connect to its universal themes.
Davis is featured in the September '98 issue of ESSENCE Magazine.
