Join us for today's program on zoom:

Please click the link below to join the webinar:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83681905060?pwd=MmVxMDZCSzZmcWJxczlWeXR2RVYxUT09Passcode: 987368

Museum of the African Diaspora and Black Public Media present

African Diaspora Film Club at MoAD | MAMA GLORIA

Join us for our monthly series, The African Diaspora Film Club. Modeled after our African Book Club, we will meet once a month to discuss a film that we have all viewed in advance of the discussion. The conversation will be moderated by Cornelius Moore, co-director of California Newsreel and film series curator at MoAD.

We will be choosing a selection of films, some previously screened at MoAD. You may have already seen it, or this may be your first introduction. In either case, join us on the second Sunday of the month for a lively discussion of the film.

This month we will be discussing Mama Gloria (2020, Luchina Fisher, 76 mins). You will receive instructions to join via zoom after you sign up here. Look for an email from MoAD after you sign up, if you don’t receive it in your inbox, look in your spam or junk mail.

We will not be screening the film. You can view MAMA GLORIA here in advance of the discussion. It will also be available for streaming as part of Afropop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange on PBS worldchannel.org beginning April 5th.

Director Luchina Fisher will join us for the discussion.

Meet Mama Gloria. Chicago’s Black transgender icon Gloria Allen, now in her 70s, blazed a trail for trans people like few others before her. Emerging from Chicago’s South Side drag ball culture in the 1960s, Gloria overcame traumatic violence to become a proud leader in her community. Most famously, she pioneered a charm school for young transgender people that served as inspiration for the hit play Charm.

Luchina Fisher’s empathic and engaging documentary is not only a portrait of a groundbreaking legend, but also a celebration of unconditional love, the love Gloria received from her own mother and that she now gives to her chosen children. And it is driven by the love that Luchina has for her teenage transgender daughter, Gia.

The film is a co-production of Black Public Media with major funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and The Field Foundation of Illinois.

LUCHINA FISHER is an award-winning writer, director and producer. Her feature directorial debut, MAMA GLORIA, about a trailblazing Black transgender elder activist, premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival, won Best of Fest at CineOdyssey and the Jury Award for Best Documentary at Teaneck International, and is making its broadcast debut on PBS. Previously, Luchina co-executive produced and co-wrote the critically acclaimed feature documentary BIRTHRIGHT: A WAR STORY, which appeared in more than 70 theaters nationwide, qualified for Oscar consideration and is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

She is the director of two short films and has written and produced several nationally broadcast documentaries as well as numerous segments for television. Luchina began her career as a journalist and has written for People, the Miami Herald, The New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine and ABCNews.com. She has also co-authored or ghostwritten several books.

Luchina is a Sisters in Cinema Documentary Fellow and a member of Brown Girl Doc Mafia and the Black Documentary Collective.

‍The African Diaspora Film Club is presented in partnership with Black Public MediaBlack Public Media (BPM), formerly known as National Black Programming Consortium develops, produces, funds, and distributes media content about the African American and global Black experience. Our mission is to commit to a fully realized expression of democracy and we accomplish this by supporting diverse voices through training, education, and investment in visionary content makers.

For 40 years, BPM has addressed the needs of unserved and underserved audiences. BPM continues to address historical, contemporary, and systemic challenges that traditionally impede the development and distribution of black stories.