May 17, 2022 BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH By Leslie Fields-Cruz Photo by Brett Sayles, at Pexels We Must Do Better Imagine a society where unarmed people of color aren’t getting gunned down regularly by hate-filled White men wielding automatic weapons. A society where the halls of justice aren’t so tilted in favor of …
MAY 10, 2022 BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH By Leslie Fields-Cruz Raising Black Voices on Women’s Health I struggle to understand why anyone is truly shocked that Roe v Wade is on the verge of being overturned. For my entire adult life, anti-abortion advocates, politicians and voters have done everything they could to weaken …
May 5, 2022 BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH By Leslie Fields-Cruz Congratulations PitchBLACK Winners! Pitch competitions are tough. It takes a lot of energy, focus and time to prepare a strong pitch, and an even greater amount of courage and commitment to stand before a panel of jurors and a group of nameless, faceless …
BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH By Leslie Fields-Cruz APRIL 26, 2022 Welcome to PitchBLACK Week! PitchBLACK 2022 kicked off last night (April 25) with the first of several screenings scheduled for this week’s PitchBLACK Orlando Bagwell Online Film Retrospective. The streaming event, co-presented by BPM and GBH, launched with The Terrible Transformation — one …
APRIL 19, 2022 BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH By Leslie Fields-Cruz BPM Presents: Orlando Bagwell Film Retrospective Online April 25-May 1 I am pleased to announce that in coordination with our PitchBLACK Forum and Awards program next week, Black Public Media has arranged for a week-long film retrospective in celebration of our 2022 Trailblazer …
April 12, 2022 BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH By Leslie Fields-Cruz Dawn Porter, photo credit: Kevin Scanlon Dawn Porter to Keynote PitchBLACK Awards 2022 By now, I hope you are already registered to attend PitchBLACK 2022. Slots are filling up quickly, so don’t delay. Whether you come to the Forum on Film Day (April …
APRIL 5, 2022 BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH By Leslie Fields-Cruz Photo from “Downstream to Knishasa”, by Dieudo Hamadi, Episode 3, “AfroPoP,” Season 14 ‘Tis the Season of ‘AfroPoP’ and PitchBLACK A few years ago, I began thinking perhaps that our signature television series, AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange had run its course. I …
MARCH 29, 2022 BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH By Leslie Fields-Cruz The Slap Heard ‘Round the World Last weekend ended with the national broadcast of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 94th Oscar Awards presentation. Big ups to Quest Love for winning Best Documentary for his film Summer of Soul. I saw …
MARCH 22, 2022 BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH By Leslie Fields-Cruz When You Rise, We Recognize There was a time when I looked forward to watching the media arts’ annual EGOT festivities (Emmy, Golden Globe, Oscar, Tony awards). These days, the industry is so awash in award programs, I know I’m not the only …
BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA WEEKLY DISPATCH By Leslie Fields-Cruz For Michelle Materre, Paying it Foward was a Way of Life I write this Dispatch with a heavy heart. The independent film field lost one of its finest last weekend: film educator, distributor, and Black film advocate Michelle Materre. I met Michelle at the beginning …