Representation - Blaqly https://blaqly.com Latest Black News and Gossips Tue, 15 Jul 2025 18:16:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Inside Geena Davis’ Bentonville Film Festival And Her Fight For Real Representation – Blavity https://blaqly.com/sub/inside-geena-davis-bentonville-film-festival-and-her-fight-for-real-representation-blavity/ https://blaqly.com/sub/inside-geena-davis-bentonville-film-festival-and-her-fight-for-real-representation-blavity/#respond Tue, 15 Jul 2025 18:16:02 +0000 https://blaqly.com/sub/inside-geena-davis-bentonville-film-festival-and-her-fight-for-real-representation-blavity/ When Geena Davis launched the Bentonville Film Festival 11 years ago, it was a bold leap into uncharted territory. A festival in ...

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When Geena Davis launched the Bentonville Film Festival 11 years ago, it was a bold leap into uncharted territory. A festival in a town with no movie theaters? It sounded wild. But for Davis, it was about more than logistics — it was about shifting culture.

“My hope is that this festival can impact how commercial films are made. They can be created by people with voices that we typically don’t hear from and populated by characters that we typically don’t see, and broaden our perspectives,” Davis said in a recent interview with Blavity. “We already know that films with very diverse casts make more money and are incredibly popular, and the more diverse it is, the better off they are. We’re not [the industry] acting on that as much as we can, so we’re really trying to show through what we show here at the festival that this is an important thing to think about when you’re making something.”

From its earliest days, Bentonville has prioritized underrepresented storytellers, especially those behind the camera.

“Our directors are the most important people to us,” Davis said. “We really are about celebrating directors of tremendous diversity. We are so proud of them. Their stories are going to be unique, and they’re going to have a unique cast to expand on their story, and that is what we want to celebrate — broadening our perspective and reaching a bigger audience.”

Despite pushback against DEI initiatives in the industry, Davis stays focused on the long-term goal.

“It’s the way it’s gonna go. Whatever hiccups we are having, this is the way it is gonna go and needs to go,” she said. “We need to have people represented who are citizens of the world and who are all equally valuable. We cannot have this myopic view of what society should be and what should be presented to us as the way to be. We have to embrace what we have going on, and I think we will continue with that.”

She also emphasized the importance of institutions and educators in shaping the future.

Al Roker and Geena Davis arrive at the opening reception of the 11th Annual Bentonville Film Festival at Blake Street House on June 16, 2025 in Bentonville, Arkansas. | Photo by Jason Davis/Getty Images for Bentonville Film Festival

“We have to keep up the momentum, and part of it is going to be in film schools,” Davis explained. “The last studies I read of people who are studying directing, 75% of first-time hires are males and 25% are women, whereas film schools are 50/50 men and women. They’re still finding a lot of unconscious bias in professors and the way courses are taught. There is so much work to do in so many areas to make change, but we have to do it and we will.”

And while Bentonville has become a national platform for inclusive storytelling, it’s the local community that’s meant the most to her.

“I have been thrilled over these eleven years with the local support we get here. It’s just amazing,” she said. “From the very first festival, we launched a movie festival in a town that had no movie theaters. We had to bring in these tractor-trailers that turned into movie theaters. We had to put screens in the high schools, too. The local community turned out, and they are so supportive and continue to be, and our audience just grows and grows. We have people coming in from all over. To have this local support and people that care about this festival, it’s thrilling to have this kind of support.”

Her dream for the future? Festivals like Bentonville become benchmarks for creative inclusivity.

“My secret dream about this festival is that eventually, when people are making films, they will make them more diverse to qualify for festivals like Bentonville.”

A legacy of impact

Davis’ legacy of inclusive storytelling goes beyond Bentonville. Her role in A League of Their Own continues to inspire new generations, and when Prime Video’s series adaptation dropped, it sparked a new wave of love.

“I didn’t know I was ever going to be in movies that last over 30 years and really still speak to people,” she said. “It has been thrilling to be a part of movies like that. I have women and girls who tell me they play sports because of that movie. It’s amazing people still recognize me, and it’s really wonderful.”

Davis said the series expanded on themes the original couldn’t fully explore. “The series expanded on ideas about the LGBTQ community and women of color not being able to play. They spoke to Penny Marshall before the series was written and were able to expand on things she couldn’t in just one movie, and really went there, which was a tremendous accomplishment.”

As for fans still mourning the show’s early cancellation, Davis had a cheeky response: “I already have the idea for a sequel. It’s gonna be called Little League of Their Own.”

What’s next: ‘The Boroughs’ on Netflix

Up next, Davis is headed to Netflix with The Boroughs, a new series from the Duffer Brothers (Stranger Things).

“It’s about a fancy retirement community, and something creepy and dangerous starts happening,” she said. “My character is a former manager for rock bands, but fell on hard times and moved in with her mom in the retirement community. She is really cool, and I get to have a young boyfriend. It’s fun and the Duffer brothers are so great.”

She’s also a part of an incredibly stacked cast.

“Great, incredible cast. Alfre and I 40 years ago co-starred in a sitcom, so we have known each other for most of our professional lives,” she said. “Alfred Molina, Bill Pullman, and I had the best time. Such an incredible cast. We had the best time and can’t wait to see if we get to do more of it.”

The post Inside Geena Davis’ Bentonville Film Festival And Her Fight For Real Representation appeared first on Blavity.



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Black Brilliance: ‘Beyond The Gates’ Cast Celebrates Renewal & Refreshing Representation At Essence Fest [Exclusive] https://blaqly.com/sub/black-brilliance-beyond-the-gates-cast-celebrates-renewal-refreshing-representation-at-essence-fest-exclusive/ https://blaqly.com/sub/black-brilliance-beyond-the-gates-cast-celebrates-renewal-refreshing-representation-at-essence-fest-exclusive/#respond Fri, 11 Jul 2025 04:29:34 +0000 https://blaqly.com/sub/black-brilliance-beyond-the-gates-cast-celebrates-renewal-refreshing-representation-at-essence-fest-exclusive/ Under the bright lights and bold beats of this year’s 2025 Essence Fest, CBS’s newest soap shone bright. Beyond The Gates, the ...

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Under the bright lights and bold beats of this year’s 2025 Essence Fest, CBS’s newest soap shone bright. Beyond The Gates, the sumptuous saga of secrets, status, and the sprawling Dupree dynasty, has already been renewed for a second season, a swift and significant win for a show that only debuted in February.

Source: Robin L Marshall / Getty

The first daytime soap with a predominantly Black cast in more than 35 years, Beyond the Gates weaves its stories around an elite Maryland family whose power and passion extend far beyond their gated community. Created by acclaimed writer Michele Val Jean and executive produced by Sheila Ducksworth, the show has helped revitalize CBS’s daytime block, with viewership gains and industry buzz to match.

At Essence Fest, where Beyond the Gates felt perfectly at home amid a weekend celebrating culture, community, and creativity, BOSSIP caught up with cast members Tamara Tunie and Karla Mosley, along with executive producer Sheila Ducksworth.

Source: Paras Griffin / Getty Images

“It feels terrific,” Ducksworth told BOSSIP when asked about the show’s season two renewal. “It’s another season to bring you all the happenings of everything Beyond The Gates and with the Dupree family. It’s just something that we just love more than I can even say to have the opportunity five days a week to tell these stories with these characters and really show us a side of America that people haven’t seen before.”

Five days a week of fierce family drama is no small feat, and one of its most talked-about characters is the fiery and fearless Dani Dupree, portrayed by Karla Mosley. Dani is the firecracker of the Dupree family who never backs down from a fight (or a suckerpunch), especially if it involves herself or her relatives.

Source: Robin L Marshall / Getty

“Yes,” Mosley said when asked if Dani is a fighter. “And I think that’s the thing. Everything she does comes from love. She just can’t help it, she says, and she acts first, and then she doesn’t really think that much about the repercussions, she just keeps going, but it all comes from a place of love and truth, and just wanting justice.”

That blend of raw emotion and righteous energy is matched by Tamara Tunie’s portrayal of Anita Dupree, the commanding yet compassionate mother at the heart of the show. Known for playing strong women across stage and screen, Tunie effortlessly pumps power and poise into her role as the Dupree matriarch.

Source: Paras Griffin / Getty Images

“Who does she worry about the most? Anita worries about all her children,” Tunie told BOSSIP. “The two sisters (Dani and Nicole) are very different. Nicole is much more calm and steady, and Dani’s a little more impulsive, you know, but she loves them both. And she loves them in different ways, because she meets them where they’re in need, and she fills that.”

The family dynamics are rich and real, but at the center of it all is a constant current, Black excellence. BOSSIP asked each cast member to define it in their own words, and the answers painted a vivid portrait of purpose and pride.

Source: Paras Griffin / Getty Images

“I mean, it’s something that it was always expected and always was in my life. So for me, it’s the norm, you know?” said Tunie. “But it’s great to be able to represent it on television, and I’m not saying Black excellence is only about wealth or money or material things. It’s about what’s happening in here,” she added, placing her hand over her heart. “And how you are moving through the world. Whether you are the garbage man, the postman, or a doctor, it’s how you are moving through the world and what you represent and what you’re bringing and putting into the world. That’s what Black excellence is, to me.”

Mosley agreed, reflecting on her personal experiences while filming in the peach state’s celebrated capital city, ATL.

“I think that’s so beautifully put,” she said. “And you know, it’s exciting for me to be on the soap, but also to live in Atlanta, to be here in New Orleans, to be in the South around so many more Black people, and where it’s the norms and just show up as you as fully as you are, and where children are encouraged to speak their minds, and that what they have to say is important and valued, and our innovation is celebrated. I think that’s really what it is all about.”

Source: Paras Griffin / Getty Images

Then Ducksworth brought it all home with clarity and conviction.

“It’s about being the best that you can be, whatever stage of your life that you’re in with being the best that it can be,” she told BOSSIP. “When I first went to put the show together, it was really about something that inspires, and something the people can aspire to. And that’s exactly what this show delivers on. It’s all about just being the best that you can possibly be.”

As Beyond the Gates heads into its second season, its success isn’t just a win for CBS, it’s a triumph for storytelling that centers and celebrates the richness of Black identity. With each episode, the show redefines what daytime drama can look like, and at Essence Fest, the cast reminded us why representation means absolutely everything from inside the gates and beyond.



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