Pioneer director Julie Dash is set to join Spelman University as a Distinguished Professor in the Arts this fall, positioned to leave a mark on the next generation of future filmmakers, artists, and creators.
Twenty-six years ago, filmmaker Julie Dash broke through racial and gender boundaries with her Sundance award-winning film (Best Cinematography) “Daughters of the Dust.” With its release, she became the first African-American woman to have a wide theatrical release of a feature film.
In 1999, the 25th Annual Newark Black Film Festival honored Dash and Daughters as being one of the most important cinematic achievements in Black Cinema in the 20th century. In 2004, the Library of Congress placed “Daughters of the Dust” in the National Film Registry where it joins a select group of American films preserved and protected as national treasures by the Librarian of Congress. Dash is the only African-American woman with a feature film that has been inducted into the National Film Registry.
Recently, Dash was hand-picked by Ava DuVernay (13th, Selma) to join the all female directorial team of Queen Sugar. She is also in production on a feature length documentary about Vertamae Smart Grosvenor, a world-renowned author, performer, and chef from rural South Carolina who led a remarkably unique and complex life based upon Grosvenor’s bestselling work, Vibration Cooking: or the Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl.
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