BronzeLens Film Festival marks ‘Sweet 16′ with stories from around the world
As corporate sponsorships and grant funding for arts programs continue to get cut, Kathleen Bertrand and Deidre McDonald are holding on to their commitment to celebrate Black culture through cinema.
BronzeLens Film Festival, the nonprofit that Bertrand founded in 2009 to showcase Atlanta as a developing film and television hub, begins Wednesday and runs through Sunday at Tara Theatre. The festival, which is in its 16th year, features over 100 features, short films and documentaries made by filmmakers of color from across the world.
The five-day event has panels, workshops and networking events designed to connect filmmakers with industry professionals, aspiring talent and film enthusiasts. Bertrand, the BronzeLens executive producer, says that despite dwindling funding sources, her mission to showcase homegrown talent and stories hasn’t changed.
“We want to recognize our film community and continue to make sure that we are representative of this place as a (film and television production) destination,” Bertrand said.
“We knew when we started that we would have to plant the seeds and grow our own.”
Earlier this year, BronzeLens launched its Sweet 16 Club, a perks program that offers discounted festival tickets, passes and merchandise. Packages start at $16 and go up to $161 for the VIP experience.
The Sweet 16 Club is part of the festival’s fundraising efforts for future events.
“It’s the same eight or nine of us every year doing six different jobs to get to the end goal, so it puts a burden on everyone to excel. There’s no problem with the creativity or ideas flowing, so we’re calling on the community to help us be here for the long haul,” Bertrand said.
Special feature screenings this year include “The Rhythm and the Blues,” a period piece starring Leon Robinson about blues guitarist Eddie Taylor experiencing music industry and family exploitation. “Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story” is a documentary that chronicles the life of a Jamaican dance hall singer famous for “Bam Bam,” a percussive 1982 single that was sampled by numerous hip-hop and R&B artists.
“Bam Bam” director Alison Duke, first attended BronzeLens in 2019 to screen her documentary short, “Mr. Jane and Finch.” The Canadian filmmaker calls the fest a “gem.”
“It’s a remarkable festival for Black creatives around the world. It’s gets me excited to feel the buzz from the audience full of beautiful Black people watching cinema, talking to the screen and getting really invested in the films,” Duke said.
Short films include “They Call Me Sue” and “Welcome Home” — directed and produced by AJC photographer Natrice Miller.
“They Call Me Sue” follows Sue Ross, a photographer who’s captured Black culture in Atlanta for over 50 years. “Welcome Home,” is about Press Lane, the owner of a Black beauty supply store in Roswell.
Miller, who’s making her BronzeLens debut, said she wants her films to recognize unsung heroes who made an impact on Atlanta’s Black community.
“People talk about John Lewis and MLK, but (people like) Sue has dedicated her life to documenting history and she should be celebrated. I’m really interested in telling stories of people who do their part to shape Black culture,” Miller said.
Programming also includes panel discussions on costume design, artificial intelligence, casting and cross-platform storytelling. McDonald, the festival’s founding artistic director, said the conversations are created to educate attendees on industry changes and to build workforce development.
“We try to look at what are the major issues that are happening within the industry. People don’t know or haven’t learned a lot of the information, so it’s a way to impart the knowledge,” McDonald said.
Cinema and Social Justice Sunday — a free slate of films themed around human and civil rights — is screening “Mount Mutombo,” a documentary about late Basketball Hall of Fame basketball player and humanitarian Dikembe Mutombo. There is also a screening of “When We Free the World,” a cross-generational documentary about Black manhood written and directed by former journalist Kevin Powell.
Powell, a first-time filmmaker, said he chose to come to BronzeLens because it continues an evolution for his multihyphenate career.
“My first interview I ever did with Tupac, participating in the National Black Arts Festival, meeting John Lewis and Julian Bond were some of my critical turning points that happened in A-T-L, so I wanted the first festival to be in a space that represents us, our history and puts the battery in our backs,” Powell said.
It’s fitting that the festival closes with the BronzeLens Awards at Morehouse College’s Ray Charles Performing Arts Center on Sunday.
Bertrand and McDonald hope to expand on the event’s career development panels and workshops at colleges and universities. It’s their way of ensuring that future generations of filmmakers can have road maps for success.
“We want to help aspiring people continue to see the greatness that’s within the film and entertainment community and help those understand what it takes to get there,” Bertrand said.
IF YOU GO
16th annual BronzeLens Film Festival. Through Sunday. $15 per film; $75 student pass; $200 bronze pass; $400 festival pass. Tara Theatre, 2345 Cheshire Bridge Road, Atlanta. bronzelens.com
About the Author
Christopher A. Daniel is a Black Culture reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He is an Atlanta-based, award-winning journalist, cultural critic and ethnomusicologist. He previously taught courses at Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University and Georgia State University.
