Page 13 - Florida Sentinel 12-25-15 Edition

FLORIDA SENTINEL FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2015
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Tampa Native UCLA Grad Student
Completes Her First Short Film
BY KENYA WOODARD
Sentinel Feature Writer
Artists use different tools and techniques to ex- press their creativity: for writers, it’s a pen and paper, for painters, it’s a canvas and brush.
For Taylor Raye Curry, there’s no better way to tell a story than through the lens of a video cam- era.
“Filmmaking for me is all about agency and his- torically, that has been denied to Black women,” she said. “Having access to your own story...is something that Black women have not been able to do.”
The Spelman grad is currently studying for a masters of fine art degree in production and direct- ing at the University of California Los Angeles’s School of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA), Ms. Curry said she’s on a mission to change the how the images and stories of Black women are portrayed on the large screen.
Her first short film, “A Seat at the Table,” brings to light the invisibility
Black women often face in the film industry. In the two-minute film, a Black woman is in a pitch meeting with three white men who want to make a film “more urban.” But her presence – and objec- tions to their racist and misogynist plotline and char- acterizations – is ignored.
The film is not autobiographical, but rather a mix of situations Ms. Curry has read about or others have shared with her.
“(The movie) was me paying homage to all the things that I want to change in the industry,” she said.
While Hollywood can be powerful, lucrative, and fun, it is also guilty of overlooking the varied and complex perspectives and experiences of black women, Ms. Curry said.
“Sometimes the people in the room are out of touch,” she said. “Some people have just one idea of the black struggle, the urban struggle, and they are valid, but they are not the only (experiences),” she
TAYLOR RAYE CURRY
said.
Ms. Curry’s own life could serve as the back-
drop for a film. The daughter of a retired Naval offi- cer and teacher, Capt. Bruce and Casey Curry, Ms. Curry endured 15 moves and attended 11 dif- ferent schools before the family settled in Tampa in 2007.
Where some would lament such a nomadic exis- tence, Ms. Curry said she’s grateful for the experi- ence of meeting different people and living in different places.
“Being that girl has made me the type of person who can get along with anyone,” she said. “I can hold a conversation with just about anybody in the world.”
The experience of constantly moving as a child has lent itself to her craft as well, she said.
“You absorb your surroundings and translate them through writing or whatever your medium is,” she said.
A 2011 graduate of Bloomingdale High School, Ms. Curry followed in her older sister April’s foot- steps and enrolled in Spelman College. Another older sister, Shannon, also attended Spelman,
graduating in 2011.
She switched majors a few times before settling
on English, which turned out to be the perfect fit as it blended into one everything she had studied pre- viously, including psychology and history.
It was during this time that Taylor Raye began to tap into her desire to create films. She took a doc- umentary class and produced her first film, “Rebel Dance,” featuring African-American women chore- ographers discussing some of their most well-known works. The film was screened at the 11th Annual Spelman College Digital Moving Image Salon Stu- dent Documentary Film Showcase in Atlanta.
Growing up, Curry wrote short stories as a child. The penchant for prose runs in the family; mom, Casey, directs the creative writing program at Blake High School and is a published author.
When Taylor creates characters, she’s “writing the movie I wish I could see.”
While writing is still her first love, she said she realized that directing and producing give her the freedom she needs to fully tell a story.
“I could write a bunch of amazing short stories, but for now, a lot of writers don’t have that much agency,” she said. “Directing is a way to make sure you have control over your story.”
Ms. Curry said she admires Shonda Rhimes and Ava DuVernay for both their creativity and business acumen and, like them, she hopes to also start her own production company.
While the changes she wants to see in Hollywood won’t happen overnight, Taylor Raye said she’s happy to see Black women taking on more diverse roles – both in front of and behind the camera.
“Black women have been awesome storytellers forever,” she said. “I’m really excited that some of the (television and film studio executives) are waking up.”
Watch “A Seat at the Table”, at www.vimeo. com/taylorrayecurry. Follow Taylor Raye Curry on Twitter at @Taylor- RayeinLA.
Middle Schooler Is Winner Of Poem For Recycling Project
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
A 6th grader at Williams Middle IB Magnet School was one of the winners in the 10th Annual City of Tampa Poetry and Tee-Shirt Design Project 2015. First place awards were presented to Elementary and Middle School students for their design and po- etry.
Eric Russ, the son of Eric, Sr. and Dr. Maria Russ, is the winner of the Middle School poetry presentation.
The students or their After School Activities Pro- gram Director were presented a package of informa- tion with instructions and tips on participating in the project.
The winning designs and poems will be placed on the front and back of tee-shirts. The design will also be placed on the sides of recycling trucks. Each win- ner received 4 tee shirts.
The designs and poems were being judged on originality, positive waste reduction or recycling
Sixth grader Eric Russ is shown with Mayor Bob Buckhorn and his winning poem.
message, and demonstration of language arts skills. The poetry had to be done in 15 lines or less.
In order to teach the youngsters about the impor- tance of recycling, those who participate in the After School Activities Programs had to take pre and post recycling tests included in the package. The package
also included several books and websites on the En- vironment, Waste Reduction, Disposal and Recy- cling.
Other winners were: ARTWORK
Elementary School - Madison Ward, Save the World (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)
Middle School - Ashlyn Smith, Recycle Star
High School - Brooke Vantoorenburg, Make It Green
POETRY
Eric Russ, Recycle
According to his mom, Dr. Russ, ARNP, CPNP,
School Health Services Supervisor, Velasco Student Services, Eric has been writing since the age of 3. “He loves school, every subject, more specifically, reading, math, science and history,” she said.
The youngster was encouraged and inspired to write by 2 of his teachers – Michelle Fernandez at Hunter’s Green Elementary and Arlene Tannis- coll at Williams Middle School.
His hobbies outside of school include: reading, writing, soccer, skiing and traveling.