Film

In 1980, Beauty in the Bricks documented the lives of four African American teenage girls who were intimate friends growing up in a Dallas housing project known as “the Bricks.” It captured their hopes and dreams while presenting a realistic and positive portrait of their lives.

Fifteen years later, Beauty Leaves the Bricks picks up with these same four young women and the advisor who had a lasting impact on their lives. It shows where they have been, where they are today, and how their life experiences have changed them. Their former mentor provides a unique perspective on the effects of growing up in the projects.

The video visits with each young woman today as she struggles with the demands of children, husband, parents, and careers. In their own words, the young women explore how living in poverty affected their life choices, and how sometimes dreams, friendships, and spirituality, if not sacrificed, are altered in the growth process. They reveal a positive side of the projects, the neighborhood that nurtured them and which made it painful for some of them to leave. Scenes from the original film are interwoven with the contemporary video footage to connect the past with the present.

For these young women a neighborhood Girls Club offered a center to their lives, providing them with not only a sense of community but also a sense of space in which each could find and develop their talents and a sense of self-worth. As they speak, we see the value of family to these young women and hear how they are trying to pass what was important in their own lives on to their own children.

Awards

  • CINE Golden Eagle

Films in Progress

Sole Sisters

"Every Shoe has a story. Every woman has both." SOLE SISTERS will be a documentary film about women's lives seen through personal stories about their shoes. Anchored by the film, Media Projects will develop a multi-media platform with educational and entertainment experiences that include the web, theater and publishing opportunities.

The Battle For Our Neighborhood

Tells the human impact of development over the past 15 years in a Dallas neighborhood. Its story can be repeated in other cities around the country.

JOHN KIZELL: A Slave Fights Slavery

Recounts the heroic life of John Kizell - seized from his African village and brought to Charles Town, S.C. as a slave in 1773. Eventually, he returned to Africa as a free man to fight the slave trade.