Welcome to another edition of Feminist Friday! That time of the week where we pivot away from our regular content to compile 3 of our fave videos that we can’t get enough of right now. And given that we are all spending extra time at home (still!), we love that we can curate the types of videos that feature messages important to us (intersectional feminism!) created by people we need to see more of in media and entertainment – namely, women of color.
First up this week we’re featuring the latest sketch music video from Canadian collective SExT (Sex Education by Theatre), a group started by Dr Shira Taylor, who we have featured on GirlTalkHQ previously, and who you can learn more about by purchasing our founder Asha Dahya’s new book ‘TODAY’S WONDER WOMEN: Everyday Superheroes Who Are Changing The World’. We love what SExT are doing mainly because the performers are majority students, immigrants, and women of color! They are a culturally-inclusive, theatre-based, peer education workshop and performance program that engages youth in priority neighborhoods on topics relating to sexual and mental health.
It’s been a tough few weeks for the cast dealing with the social and mental health impacts of the pandemic and the cancellation of their national tour. In order to cope and boost morale, they decided to self-film and edit a physically distanced parody. Shira tells us it was an amazingly therapeutic creative process for all of the cast. The video is called “It Wasn’t Me: A Quarantine Parody,” and is a parody of Shaggy’s iconic song, tackling topics including anti-Asian racism, coping with quarantine and isolation, mental health, promoting public health guidelines, dating in the time of COVID, and gratitude for frontline workers. You can go to ItWasntMe.ca and watch and share the video below:
The second video this week is the trailer to James Cameron’s new short documentary ‘Akashinga: The Brave Ones‘. Directed by Maria Wilhelm and distributed by National Geographic films, it follows the inspiring, badass work of the world’s only all-female anti-poaching unit, Akashinga, in Africa.
With many of Africa’s key species, including elephants, reaching levels near extinction, Akashinga is a radical, new and highly effective weapon against poaching. Founded in Zimbabwe by former Australian special forces soldier and anti-poaching leader Damien Mander, the women-only team of rangers, drawn from the abused and marginalized, is revolutionizing the way animals are protected, communities are empowered— and its members’ own lives are being transformed. Mander’s innovative approach to conservation calls for community buy-in rather than full-on armed assault against poachers: If a community understands the economic benefits of preserving animals, then it will eliminate poaching without an armed struggle.
The documentary had its premiere at the EarthxFilm Festival, which was screened virtually between April 17 through April 26. Watch the trailer below:
The final video this week comes from experimental artist Lido Pimienta, who’s third album “Miss Colombia” is a culmination of her skills as a “singer, songwriter, and shit-stirrer”, as described by Peyton Thomas on Pitchfork.com. The album names was inspired by the well-publicized Steve Harvey gaffe when he accidentally crowned the wrong winner at the 2015 Miss Universe contestant.
In the album, Lido Pimienta gives Miss Colombia back her symbolic crown, by examining the racism and misogyny that runs rife in the industry. The Colombia-born, Toronto-based artist says it is a “cynical love letter” to her country, sung almost entirely in Spanish, and putting her roots and talent on full display in an enticing blend of culture, feminism, and intersectionality. Watch the music video for “Eso Que Tu Haces” below, and be transported by the sounds and colors of Lido Pimienta:
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