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I
was Born a Black Woman |
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Description: I Was
Born a Black Woman is a documentary based on the remarkable life
of the first Afro-Brazilian woman to be elected to Brazil’s
senate. Benedita da Silva was born to poverty, started working at
age seven and gradually gained stature for herself and her community
through education, faith in God and community organizing. Filled
with Afro-Brazilian music, poetry and dance, I Was Born a Black
Woman weaves a dynamic tale of black Brazil and one woman’s
victory over racism. I Was Born a Black Woman was based on the acclaimed
biography, "Benedita da Silva: An Afro-Brazilian Woman's Story of
Politics and Love," written by Benedita da Silva, Maisa Mendonça
(co-director of the film) and Medea Benjamin and published by Global
Exchange and Food First. Director Maria Luisa (Maisa) Mendonça co-authored the book on Benedita with Medea Benjamin and Benedita herself. Maisa has won many awards in the US, Canada and Latin America for her films. Her film Indonesia, One Struggle, One Change is being used by colleges and organizations working for democracy in Indonesia. She is the coordinator of the Brazil Program at Global Exchange in San Francisco. Cinematographer, editor Vicente Franco has worked on more than two dozen films dealing with social issues in Latin America. They include The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farm workers Struggle, Cuba Va, The Challenge of the Next Generation, and Freedom on my Mind, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. Producer,
translator Kit Miller has photographed for the N.Y. Times, S.F.
Chronicle, Native People’s Magazine, and other publications.
In Brazil she covered street children, rubbertappers, and native
people. Kit raised funds for Elvia, Land and Liberty, The Mothers
of the Plaza de Mayo and Faces of War. Her photo of Benedita da
Silva appears in Africana edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Kit
Miller
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