Black Camera: African Women, Cinema, and Leadership: Empowerment, Mentorship, and Role-Modeling by Beti Ellerson (Spring 2020)

African Women, Cinema, and Leadership: Empowerment, Mentorship,

and Role-Modeling

Beti Ellerson

Black Camera: An International Film Journal

African Women in Cinema Dossier

Vol. 11, No. 2 (Spring 2020), pp. 222-238

Abstract

Leadership entails listening, sharing, mentoring, and understanding that we may learn from each other through diverse exchanges: intergenerational, intercultural, and inter-regional. These features are incorporated in many of the workshops and forums organized by African women, designed for leadership awareness and development. Moreover, African women film professionals have initiated mechanisms to foster effective leadership in the diverse areas of the profession. These initiatives aim to create an African women's cinema culture that encourages and empowers women film professionals as well as those who seek to work in cinema. Leadership encompasses consensus building, collaboration, being a team player, and being prepared to change one's attitude when confronted with other perspectives. These are foundational strategies that African women employ in their leadership practices. And perhaps above all, it is important to remember that leaders were also at one time students, mentees, apprentices, and assistants. Drawing from general women and leadership discourse, this article examines the leadership strategies of African women of the moving image.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/blackcamera.11.2.11

- When African women in cinema take action, African cinema moves forward
- Strategies of African women, cinema and leadership
- Leadership recognition, support and development
- Visualizing leadership: strong, empowering, and influential women on screen
- Current strategies of mentorship
- Taking care of our leaders: watching over those who watch over us
- What is sisterhood to you?

Also see on the African Women in Cinema Blog: African Women Leading the Way in Cinema: Sharing, Mentoring, Role-Modeling and Working Together