Picking Tribes

A film by S. Pearl Sharp

1988 | 7 minutes | Color | 16mm/DVD | Order No. 99345

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SYNOPSIS

“In a heartfelt, and often hilarious, attempt to be more than ‘ordinary,’ a girl growing up in the 1940s tries to choose between her African-American and Native-American heritages. It is only when her beloved grandfather dies that she is able to reconcile the power of both her heritages and realizes her own uniqueness." -Moving Pictures Bulletin

Sharp uses vintage photographs and Carlos Spivey’s watercolor animation to create a spirited portrait of a girl’s search for identity.

Now with Bonus Short Film: BACK INSIDE HERSELF 2009 Remix by S. Pearl Sharp (4min 45secs)
Originally released in 1984, this lyrical visual poem featuring Barbara-O urges black women to both discover and invent their own identities. The 2009 remix includes updated audio with vocals by Sharp and Dwight Trible.

PRESS

"Recommended."

American Library Association

"A delightful, provocative film invoking a universal response to the search for identity."

Newark Black Film Festival

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

San Francisco Poetry Film Festival, 1st Place (BACK INSIDE HERSELF)
Newark Black Film Festival, Paul Robeson Award
Black American Cinema Society, 1st Place (BACK INSIDE HERSELF)

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

S. Pearl Sharp

S. Pearl Sharp has focused on cultural arts, Black Diaspora history and wellness, working in radio, theatre, music, literature and in film on both sides of the camera. Her semi-animated short Picking Tribes (1988) is archived in the Women Make Movies collection of the Motion Picture Academy (AMPAS). Documentaries include The Healing Passage/ Voices From The Water (2004) which aired on The Documentary Channel, Life Is A Saxophone (1985) on poet-griot Kamau Daáood, the controversial women's health video, It's O.K. To Peek, produced with Arabella Chavers-Julien, and a dozen cultural arts docs for the City of Los Angeles’ Channel 35. She has put poetry on film in the shorts Back Inside Herself (1984), Channeled (2009), and Blood Bank (2022). Print publications include Black Women For Beginners and The Evening News, her collected commentaries and essays broadcast on NPR and Pacifica Radio Network. S. Pearl is a founding member of the Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers {BADWest} and one of her joys is mentoring new documentary filmmakers.
www.spearlsharp.com www.YouTube.com/user/aSharpShow

Subject Areas

Real Indian

REAL INDIAN is a lighthearted, very personal look at the meaning of cultural identity. As a Lumbee Indian, the filmmaker is constantly confronted with the fact that she doesn't fit any of society's stereotypes for Native Americans. Those stereotypes are imposed by both whites and other Indians, alienating the filmmaker from many of the conventional definitions of Native American identity. REAL INDIAN is a unique look into the fascinating and complex world of Lumbee Indian culture and makes the viewer question perceptions of Native Americans, as well as the meaning of our own cultural identity.

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Illusions

This critically acclaimed drama from filmmaker Julie Dash (DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST) takes place in 1942 at a fictitious Hollywood motion picture studio.

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Black Girl in Suburbia

For many Black girls raised in the suburbs, the experiences of going to school, playing on the playground, and living day-to-day life can be uniquely alienating. BLACK GIRL IN SUBURBIA looks at the suburbs of America from the perspective of women of color. Filmmaker Melissa Lowery shares her own childhood memories of navigating racial expectations both subtle and overt-including questions like, "Hey, I just saw a Black guy walking down the street; is that your cousin?" Through conversations with her own daughters, with teachers and scholars who are experts in the personal impacts of growing up a person of color in a predominately white place, this film explores the conflicts that many Black girls in homogeneous hometowns have in relating to both white and Black communities. BLACK GIRL IN SUBURBIA is a great discussion starter for Freshman orientation week and can be used in a wide variety of educational settings including classes in sociology, race relations, African American Studies, Women's Studies, and American Studies.

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OUR CATALOG

Picking Tribes

SYNOPSIS

PRESS

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Subject Areas

RELATED LINKS

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Real Indian

Illusions

Black Girl in Suburbia