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Julie Dash (born October 22, 1952 in Long Island City, Queens, New York) is a United States filmmaker. She directed Daughters of the Dust, which in 1991 became the first full-length film with general theatrical release in the United States by an African American woman. In 2004, Daughters of the Dust was included in the National Film Registry. Julie Dash initially was rejected by Hollywood executives when she pitched her first full-length film, Daughters of the Dust. Dash stated in an interview with the Boston Globe that she was turned down in a very similar systematic fashion of excluding... MORE

Julie Dash (born October 22, 1952 in Long Island City, Queens, New York) is a United States filmmaker. She directed Daughters of the Dust, which in 1991 became the first full-length film with general theatrical release in the United States by an African American woman. In 2004, Daughters of the Dust was included in the National Film Registry. Julie Dash initially was rejected by Hollywood executives when she pitched her first full-length film, Daughters of the Dust. Dash stated in an interview with the Boston Globe that she was turned down in a very similar systematic fashion of excluding black women from Hollywood. She was told that her film was "too different." However, remaining confident in an interview with the Detroit Free Press, Dash states "I'm a very hopeful person and I think we can accomplish a lot through film in the '90s. We're going to see a lot of film work done by black women who have different concerns than our brothers who make films [...] We have strong statements to make because we've been silenced for so long." "Daughters of the Dust" opened to critical acclaim. The Boston Globe called it "mesmerizing"; the Atlanta Constitution described it as "poetry in LESS