20771Subjects of Desire Alexandra Germain in the Albuquerque Desert

SUBJECTS OF DESIRE

Year 2020
Runtime 102 mins
Language English
Alberta Premiere
Availability
  • Online & In-Cinema

Since 1968, the Miss Black America beauty pageant has been celebrating and upholding the philosophy, "Black is Beautiful." Capturing the 50th anniversary edition of this once-revolutionary event, SUBJECTS OF DESIRE dives deeper, deconstructing the current meaning of the phrase.

Director Jennifer Holness' second feature examines how shifting global beauty standards are embracing Black aesthetics, but—as one contestants points out—on the backs of Black women. Why is it that the same Black features are more desirable when they're on the body of a white woman? In the face of this contradiction, today's Miss Black America contestants embrace all the different variations of what it means to be a Black woman in North America.

Featuring interviews with India.Arie, Amanda Parris and Rachel Dolezal, SUBJECTS OF DESIRE offers a much-needed deconstruction of the intersection of race and the power of beauty.

Countries

Canada
Festivals
SXSW 2021, Hot Docs 2021
Director
Jennifer Holness
Producer
Jennifer Holness, Sudz Sutherland
Screenwriter
Jennifer Holness
Cinematographer
Iris Ng, Ricardo Diaz
Editor
Lawrence Jackman
Music
A. “Teddi Jones” Tjernagel
Cast
India Arie, Jully Black, Alexandra Germain, Brittany Lewis, Seraiah Nicole, Ryann Richardson