ABOUT
Cultivating The Next Generation Of Storytellers From Dream To Screen
WHAT IS BLACK GIRLS FILM CAMP?
Black Girls Film Camp (USA) is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that provides a FREE, national (USA), and hybrid 16-week experience (held once a year) where high school Black girls across the country pitch a story idea, and a final ten are selected to have their short film project produced by the program. Over 200 Black girls across the country applied for the 2023 camp and 10 finalists were selected to direct and develop their own short films. The camp is an incubator for the 10 girls and each of their films.
Participants receive free technology (SONY Cameras, lighting kits, boom mics, tripods, etc.) free software (final draft and adobe premiere), a personal production team of exemplary Black women creatives (editor and creative coach) contracted out by the camp, an all-expense paid weekend retreat in LA, and free workshops from Black women that are award-winning filmmakers and Ph.D. scholars. Films created by the teen girls and their production teams are showcased live during a virtual event over the summer and at film festivals (i.e. 2021 Mill Valley Film Festival, Essence Film Festival, Bentonville Film Festival) and college events (i.e. Emory University, USC, UC Davis, Georgia Tech, UNCC, etc.) in the US throughout the year. Following the 16-week camp, alumni participate in international outreach events throughout the year to share their stories with the world and support other aspiring young Black girl filmmakers.
Another allure to the camp has been the amazing award-winning filmmakers that are featured speakers over the 16-week period. TSpeakers for the camp over the last 3 years have included Academy Award winner, Karen Toliver, TV Executive and Writer, Kelly Edwards, Black Feminist Scholar, Brittney Cooper and the Crunk Feminist Collective, Casting Directors, Tracy "Twinkie" Byrd and Donyell Kennedy-McCullough, award-winning filmmaker, Kelly Kali, actresses, Karyn Parsons, and Quvenzhané Wallis, TV Producers, Deniese Davis, Erica Shelton Kodish, Janine Sherman Barrois, Angela Nissel and more! Some of the partners for the camp include the USC Annenberg Critical Media Project, Beats By Dre, Final Draft, Tik Tok, PBS, Array, PBS News Hour Student Reporting Labs, and Women In Film LA.
BGFC Mission
To create safe spaces for Black girls to build critical media literacy skills, construct their own narratives centering on Black girlhood, and share their stories through film with the world.
BGFC Vision
To cultivate the next generation of Black girl storytellers from "dream to screen."
WHY BLACK GIRLS?
Although Black girls make up eight percent of K–12 students nationally, they are more likely as a group to be criminalized from disciplinary practices in school. Black girls also endure higher levels of sexual violence inside and outside of schools and score the lowest in literacy proficiency in the US compared to their other female peer groups.
When assessing the many disparities and critical issues that
impact the lives of Black girls, BGFC is a response to the untapped solutions for creating a liberatory space for them to reach their full potential. BGFC empowers Black girls with tools to support Black girl identity, advocacy, storytelling through film, and for some may lead to media careers that can begin to change the industry from the inside.