Directors/Producers: Maureen Gosling, Maxine Downs

Description:

In the 1960s, a group of self-empowered Malian women sparked a revolution, inspired by beauty–and economic survival. They transformed the cloth dyeing tradition using colorful powdered dyes and unbridled creative design. The film celebrates African women, whose ingenuity became a force for alleviating poverty and affirming West African cultural identity. 

Biography:

Maureen Gosling has been a documentary filmmaker for more than fifty years and is best known for her twenty-year collaboration with independent director Les Blank (Burden of Dreams, Yum, Yum, Yum!, Garlic Is As Good as Ten Mothers). Gosling recently directed and edited The 9 Lives of Barbara Dane on legendary blues/jazz/folk singer/political activist Barbara Dane. She also co-directed, co-produced and edited This Ain't No Mouse Music: The Story of Chris Strachwitz and Arhoolie Records, with Chris Simon. Gosling edited Pleistocene Park by Luke Griswold-Tergis. She edited A New Color by Mo Morris and Smokin' Fish by Luke Griswold-Tergis and Cory Mann (broadcast nationwide on PBS+). Gosling has worked on these films California’s 'Lost' Tribes, Waiting to Inhale, Heart of the Congo, A Dream in Hanoi, Boys Will Be Men, Bomba, Dancing the Drum. Gosling’s 16mm film Blossoms Of Fire, on the legendary Zapotecs of southern Oaxaca, Mexico, won the Coral Award for Best Foreign Documentary at the Havana International Film Festival. The film was also broadcast on HBO Latino. 

Maxine Downs has worked and lived among diverse cultures internationally for more than fifteen years as a cultural anthropologist. She has managed culturally diverse, interdisciplinary research teams for projects in Africa, South America and Asia. Working for the Department of Defense in Afghanistan, Downs evaluated the efficacy of a cultural awareness training program geared to better equip U.S. Special Forces Advise & Assist Teams and designed mixed-methods research to evaluate whether or not the training program accomplished its intent–to develop stronger rapport between SFAATs and their counterparts, the Afghan military officers. As a gender specialist, she worked on Afghan Presidential Elections focusing on women’s inclusion into the electoral process and on issues of poll security for women voters.

Contact Information:

e: maureen.gosling@gmail.com 
w: www.maureengosling.com