Filmmakers and Producers

Yvonne Welbon

Yvonne Welbon is Senior Creative Consultant at Chicken & Egg Pictures. She is an award-winning filmmaker and founder of the Chicago-based non-profit Sisters in Cinema. She has produced and distributed over 20 films including Living With Pride: Ruth Ellis @100, winner of ten best documentary awards and Sisters in Cinema, a documentary on the history of black women feature film directors. Her work has been broadcast on PBS, Starz/Encore, TV-ONE, IFC, Bravo, the Sundance Channel, BET, HBO, Netflix, iTunes and screened in over one hundred film festivals around the world. She has taught at University of Chicago, Northwestern University and chaired the Journalism & Media Studies Department at Bennett College. Raised in an Afro-Latinx Honduran household on the South side of Chicago, Welbon received a B.A from Vassar College, a MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, and is a graduate of the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women.

FILMOGRAPHY

The Roadwork Oral History and Documentary Project [in production]
Producer/Writer/Director · The documentary film project’s goal is to strengthen a new era of activism that utilizes culture as a strategy for resistance, inspiration and survival through the stories of women activists, artists and organizers who built progressive movements through multi-racial, cultural and inclusive organizing.

Sisters in the Life [in-production] www.sistersinthelife.com
Producer/Writer/Director · A trans-media project centering out African American lesbian media-making from 1986 to 2016 that includes an archive, a book of essays, a feature documentary, and a website.

Sisters in Cinema · 2003 www.sistersincinema.com
Producer/Writer/Director · A documentary historical overview of the lives and the films of African American women feature film directors from the early part of the 20th century to the early part of the 21st. Screened in over 50 film festivals and venues around the world. Winner Best Documentary African Diaspora Film Festival- Audience Award. Received the inaugural St. Louis Int’l Film Festival - Women in Film Award.Broadcast on Starz! Encore, TV-ONE

The Taste of Dirt · 2002
Director · AFI Directing Workshop for Women narrative short exploring issues of race and class experienced by 7-year-old African American girls on the school playground. Nationally broadcast on PBS.

Living with Pride: Ruth C. Ellis @ 100 · 1999
Producer/Writer/Director · Ruth C. Ellis was born July 23, 1899 and was thought to be the oldest known ‘out’ African American lesbian. Her story offers a rare opportunity to experience a century of our history as lived by one inspiring woman. Winner of 10 Best Documentary Awards. Screened in over 100 film festivals, conferences and venues around the world including the 2000 Biennial at The Whitney Museum of American Art. Broadcast on the Sundance Channel, KQED, WNET, WTTW, WHYY.

Remembering Wei Yi-fang, Remembering Myself… · 1995
Producer/Writer/Director · A witty and original autobiographical documentary about coming-to-terms with race, cul- ture and self. My six-year stay in Taiwan transforms my understanding of what it means to be an African American and illuminates my connection with my Honduran-born grandmother. Winner: Silver Hugo - Chicago International Film Festival: Intercom. Winner: Best Film/Video on Matters Relating to the Black Experience - Xith Black International Cinema, Berlin. Nationally broadcast on PBS on POV in 1996.

Missing Relations · 1994
Producer/Writer/Director · On February 20, 1969, my mother gave birth to twin daughters. Six months later, their father "kidnapped" them. We never saw my sisters again. Missing Relations is an experimental dramatic documen- tary which explores loss and denial in an African American family through the story of my kidnapped twin sisters, erased from family history for 24 years. Awarded School of the Art Institute MFA Traveling Fellowsh

AVAILABLE FROM TWN

The Cinematic Jazz of Julie Dash
Yvonne Welbon
1992, 26 min., Color, US
This is an in-depth interview with filmmaker Julie Dash, whose first feature film, DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST, has become a critical and word-of-mouth sensation since its release in the Winter of 1992. Here, Dash discusses the era and the trials and triumphs of two decades of filmmaking by African Americ...

Missing Relations
Yvonne Welbon
1994, 13 min., Color, US
Almost 30 years ago, the filmmaker's mother gave birth to twin daughters. For a few months, Welbon shared her childhood with her baby sisters until their father "kidnapped" them. Welbon never saw her sisters again. Through narrative recreations of time and place, the video explores childhood memorie...

Monique
Yvonne Welbon
1990, 3 min., BW, US
Using a childhood experience of racial bigotry at school, this film looks at the ways in which racism is ingrained in American society, even in the play of children. MONIQUE is a compelling exploration of identity and memory....

Remembering Wei Yi-fang, Remembering Myself.
Yvonne Welbon
1995, 30 min., Color, us/China
An autobiographical experimental documentary about the artist's experiences as an African-American woman living in Taiwan for six years. Recreations of time and place are presented through memories, historical documents, photographs, and film and video footage, moving from the artist's ancestral hom...

Sisters in the Life: First Love
Yvonne Welbon
1993, 30 min., Color, US
A thirty-something black lesbian reflects on falling for her best friend in junior high. Set in the '70's and '90's, this is a delightful tale of love and friendship. Welbon incorporates recreated flash-backs and real reminiscences, mixes media and styles, and throws in an original tune that embodie...


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TWN is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Color Congress, MOSAIC, New York Community Trust, Peace Development Fund, Ford Foundation, Golden Globe Foundation, Kolibri Foundation and individual donors.