African American Policy ForumVarmennettu tili

“The objective of the #HerDreamDeferred film fest is to elevate films that are writing into the representational void enveloping Black women, girls, and femmes,” says @sandylocks. “And as you just witnessed, A Love Song for Latasha does just that.” #HerDreamDeferred

A Love Song for Latasha “is narrativizing the lives of Black girls. It addresses their lived experiences with poetry, with care, with love and attention that they are so deeply deserving of.” - @sandylocks #HerDreamDeferred

“Little has been written or published about Latasha herself— the care she took of her family after the tragic loss of her mother, her courage in a tough neighborhood & her dreams & aspirations for the future. That's what tonight's film so beautifully explored.” - @sandylocks

"I really wanted this story [told by] the young Black girls that knew her at that time. And it became important to me for us to honor these memories, honor the oral history," says @SophiaNAllison. #HerDreamDeferred

Director @SophiaNAllison telling the story of how the film began: “I pitched the idea to [my production company]— 'Let's tell a fuller story of Latasha Harlins.' And they completely turned the idea down. And at that moment I decided I had to quit.” #HerDreamDeferred

“I needed to tell this story from the Black woman gaze, I needed to tell this story as a Black woman that grew up in South Central,” says @SophiaNAllison. #HerDreamDeferred

Director @SophiaNAllison speaking on the choice to “make sure the audience remembers this was a child. How do we confront adultification? We remind you that this is a young Black girl." #HerDreamDeferred

“We have generations of people who never heard the name Latasha Harlins. So knowing that unless we tell our stories, we will be buried, they will be lost— and this has happened across our history.” - @sandylocks #HerDreamDeferred

“Having real Black girls was number one. I wanted Black girls that looked authentic, that grew up in the neighborhood, that were living their everyday lives within this moment, not me trying to create this picture,” says @SophiaNAllison at #HerDreamDeferred

“When we think about South Central,” says @SophiaNAllison, “we always have masculine individuals helping us paint that backdrop. There aren't that many movies where we allow a Black woman to be the center of these stories of South Central.” #HerDreamDeferred

A Love Song for Latasha “is a lasting repudiation of the ugliness in which the value of her life was dismissed,” says @sandylocks. It’s “part of the archive of restoration, of reparation, & it occupies a different plane than traditional forms of documentary.” #HerDreamDeferred

"#SayHerName has presented us with the same kind of challenges," says @sandylocks. "How do we breathe life into a space that has been absent? How do we elevate our sister without rehearsing the thing that people know her for, as the girl who got killed?" #HerDreamDeferred

“What do you want to do to open the pathway for the next story like this?” asks @sandylocks. “I want people to trust Black women, to trust Black women artists." #HerDreamDeferred @SophiaNAllison

"If A Love Song for Latasha were to win the Academy Award, it would mean so much for Black women & Black girls that this young 15-year-old Black girl from South Central is being recognized by the masses, that her story will never be forgotten.” - @SophiaNAllison #HerDreamDeferred

"I just want Black girls in the hood, Black girls globally, to realize they deserve to have their story celebrated on the highest level. They deserve to have their stories talked about. They deserve to be at the forefront of their stories." @SophiaNAllison #HerDreamDeferred

Closing remarks from @sandylocks: "To be able to talk about a movie as important and as impactful as this one, with the director that's steeped in the intersectional framework, it is something that I will cherish for a very long time." #HerDreamDeferred

Powerful responses to A Love Song for Latasha from @KWestSavali and @pannocen. Thank you. #HerDreamDeferred