Dasjanae Mosley recalls being “beyond stoked” when her film was accepted to the Crenshaw Dairy Mart Film Festival. Her first documentary, Year of Jordan, shot and edited herself on zero budget, draws a connection between her family’s experience living in the Jordan Downs projects in South LA and Syrian refugees she worked with in Greece in 2016. Mosley was one of 19 Black and Brown filmmakers who screened work at the inaugural film festival on February 17 at the Miracle Theater in Inglewood.
“I was beyond grateful to have this platform as a filmmaker of color, and for fellow people of color with similar lived experiences to see the story,” says Mosley.
Inglewood-based abolitionist artist collective and art gallery The Crenshaw Dairy Mart is behind the festival. The arts group decided to host the event after hearing from community members that BIPOC filmmakers needed more opportunities to show their work in Los Angeles. Executive Director Ashley Blakeney says they wanted to expand on the tradition set by the Pan African Film Festival, now in its 31st year in Leimert Park.
The audience filled the Miracle Theater in Inglewood to near capacity during The Crenshaw Dairy Mart Film Festival on Feb 17. Photo by Lexus Gallegos/courtesy of The Crenshaw Dairy Mart.
Hollywood has a dismal record for people of color trying to work behind the camera. Of the top 100 grossing films of 2022, only one in five were led by directors from underrepresented groups, and that number has been stagnant for several years, according to a 2023 report by USC.
There are fears that things could get even worse as studios continue to make budget cuts, says Eddie Hemphill, a creative executive with Field/House Productions and an independent filmmaker. He was on the committee that selected the festival’s films.
“I think it's community-based places like [The Crenshaw Dairy Mart] that help facilitate indie filmmaking continually when Hollywood is even less inclined to take those kinds of risks,” says Hemphill.
Hollywood isn’t the end goal for everyone who makes films in the community, says Blakeney. For that reason, she intentionally promoted the festival as a space for BIPOC filmmakers to experiment, learn, and grow safely.
“A lot of the films that we're showing are really rooted in a healing process, and really trying to tell a specific part of their story,” says Blakeney. “I feel like those films also deserve to be seen.”
The Crenshaw Dairy Mart was founded by Patrisse Cullors, alexandre ali reza dorriz, and noé olivas — and named after the historic minimart they took over in 2020. All of the films selected for the festival aligned with the organization’s values of ancestry, healing, and abolition, says Blakeney. The festival also included a panel discussion on how film can be a tool in abolition work. Blakeney defines abolition as “taking down harmful systems that are negatively impacting us,” and adds, “but I always lean on the fact that it really requires the imagination to build new systems, and to reimagine what the world could look like that really benefits us.”
Dasjanae Mosley (left) and Shandaeya Caldwell (middle) won the jury selection awards for their films “Year of Jordan” and “Niecy.” Alvaro Parra (right) won the audience selection award for his film “Sonidero Metrópolis.” Photo by Lexus Gallegos/courtesy of The Crenshaw Dairy Mart.
Hollywood invests a lot in a particular type of racial trauma story. While the festival didn’t shy away from painful truths, many films celebrated other experiences, with a wide range of genres in the lineup including blocks of experimental, romantic, thriller, and mental health films.
The film Niecy, for instance, directed by Shandaeya Caldwell, centers around a cook meeting the love of his life at work in a diner. The Garden Edette, written and directed by Guinevere Thomas, is a Southern Gothic horror about a young Creole woman who has to choose between sacrificing herself or a new friend to her flesh-eating garden, a metaphor for the disappearing Creole language. And Alvaro Parra’s documentary Sonidero Metrópolis explores cumbia culture across the U.S. and Mexico.
Dasjanae Mosley says it was rewarding to see an audience experience her film in Inglewood, and was especially thrilling when her film Year of Jordan was one of two that won the jury selection award. Before the festival, Mosley wasn’t sure if she wanted to keep making films, but she is reconsidering after feeling inspired by the festival experience. “I know that I have so many additional narratives inside me,” she says.
