Preview: ‘Alice Walker: Beauty In Truth’

You can help Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth by donating to its Indie GoGo campaign.

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”

–Alice Walker.

I’m excited to learn about a new documentary in the works about Alice Walker, the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature (for The Color Purple), from Kali Films. Information about the film and its preview have been making their way around the blogosphere, but we hope you’ll learn more if you’re not already familiar.

The filmmakers have an Indie GoGo campaign to fund the completion of the film; they are 85% through, but need to raise a total of $50,000 more (they have currently raised over $15,000 of their goal).

Here’s more about the film from the fundraising site:

ALICE WALKER: BEAUTY IN TRUTH has been 4 years in the making. During this time we have most definitely rolled up our sleeves, put our heads down and dedicated ourselves to getting this film out in the world by any means necessary. On this ever eventful journey, we have been joined by some truly committed and amazing people who share our vision to tell this inspiring story of hope. We have got this far with the help of generous donations from individuals, grants and awards, major extensions on our personal credit cards and most recently filmmaker support from ITVS. We have now completed 85% of the filming and are working towards the completion of a rough cut.

The filmmaking team is award-winning filmmaker Pratibha Parmar and producer Shaheen Haq.

[…]

Alice Walker’s dramatic life has been lived in a spirit of resistance and grace. Born in 1944, in a paper-thin shack on a cotton plantation, the eighth child of sharecroppers in rural Georgia, her early life unfolded in the midst of violent racism and poverty in the segregated South. Her poor, black, Southern upbringing and her activism in the civil rights movement in Mississippi in the 1960’s greatly influenced her consciousness and shaped her writing. Being forced to ride at the back of the bus, and watching her parents being brutalised by racist segregation, instilled in her a life long commitment to justice and equality. In 2010, Walker was awarded the LennonOno Peace Award for her humanitarian work by Yoko Ono, another visionary and a risk-taker.

Watch the trailer:

Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth – Trailer from Kali Films on Vimeo.

If you can afford to, we encourage you to donate to this important project. If not, please help them by spreading the word about the film.