Boston International Film Festival

Screened earlier today at the Boston International Film Festival.  It was a great time.  People really responded well to the film.  We were paired with another film, Mississippi Damned, that also explores the issues of families, secrets, loss,  and memories.  The thing I found most interesting about looking at these two films together is the enormous unspoken toll families exact upon their own, all in the name of love.  In both films, girls were harmed most by the ones they loved most.  It speaks to the power of those we love on our lives.  Also worth noting is the fact that the stories, although both dealing with African American families, shined the spotlight on families with completely different socio-economics, levels of education, concepts of sexual identity, etc.  I found that to be a huge leap in a dawning realization that African Americans are not some monolith, but have lives and stories as different and as universal as any other ethnic or racial group.  Seems obvious to say; but still a fact not represented in mainstream media.