A Different Image

Alile Sharon Larkin

Alile Sharon Larkin is an acclaimed L.A. Rebellion filmmaker and multicultural artist-educator. Born in 1953 in Chicago, Larkin grew up in ethnically diverse neighborhoods in Altadena and Pasadena, California. She received her B.A. in Creative Writing (Humanities) from USC in 1975 where she won that year’s Moses Award in Creative Writing. Larkin earned her M.F.A. in Film and Television Production from UCLA and a teaching credential from CSULA, where she also began an M.A. in Storytelling.

Larkin is a grassroots, community-based filmmaker whose work has for decades, screened and broadcast nationally and internationally in diverse venues: community centers, libraries and universities; festivals and museum exhibitions; community cable and PBS stations.

Larkin has created award-winning narrative, documentary and dissolve-animation films including The Kitchen (1975), Miss Fluci Moses (1987), Dreadlocks and the Three Bears (1992), Warriors of the Rainbow: Children Storytellers (1996), Mz Medusa (1998) and Tie-Dye: A Children’s Music DVD (2016).

For over 25 years, Larkin made filmmaking a part of her public school elementary classroom curriculum. She was awarded ten Video in the Classroom Awards (VICs) from KLCS-TV for teacher-produced videos documenting student learning about textile arts, storytelling, yoga, jazz, women's history, Kwanzaa and African-inspired dance.

Larkin continues to create art and media that affirm and celebrate global Black life through Dreadlocks and the Three Bears Productions. Her award-winning children’s video Dreadlocks and the Three Bears which is now a picture book and the Tie-Dye music videos can be accessed from her website. (9/21)