*54th Nashville Film Festival Bonus Episode* 

An Interview with Lagueria Davis, Writer-Director of Black Barbie: A Documentary

Originally Released October 9, 2023

Intro

(music) This is Screen Cares. I'm Jennie and I'm Sarah. And we welcome you to our place to connect beyond the screen and watch better together.

Lagueria Davis, Writer and Director of "Black Barbie: A Documentary": Hi, thank you so much for having me. I'm Lagueria Davis. And I'm the writer and director of Black Barbie: A Documentary that's screening at the Nashville Film Festival. We premiered in March of 2023, at SXSW. That was the first time that, an audience saw the film that audiences will be seeing this weekend [September 28-October 4, 2023] in Nashville.

Jennie, Screen Cares Co-Host: So you mentioned that it started at SXSW which also I noticed in your bio that you are from Fort Worth, Texas, and I'm also recording this in Houston, Texas, um, where are you now? And, like, where are you based out of? 

Lagueria Davis, Writer and Director of "Black Barbie: A Documentary ": Okay, yes. So, from Fort Worth, Texas, and I am currently based in Los Angeles, and so it's really nice because that move to Los Angeles in 2011 is what led me to discover the story of Black Barbie.

I stayed with my aunt for a couple of months and we didn't know each other because I'd met her maybe twice as a kid, growing up, she came out to Texas. And so I'm moving to Los Angeles in 2011 as an adult woman person. And she's like, “Hey, we should get to know each other. Let's eat and drink and talk.” I knew she worked for Mattel, but I didn't know her story. And so there she was just like telling me, “Oh, I was on that first Barbie line in ‘59 and, I was like, to Ruth, ‘why not make a black Barbie? Why not make a Barbie that looks like me?” And I'm listening as a filmmaker and I'm like, that sounds like a story to me and so, you know, that's the beginning of the Black Barbie: A Documentary journey. 

Jennie, Screen Cares Co-Host: As you were going through the process of creating the film, did you see any parallels between the process of Black Barbie, the toy being made, and the process you went through making the film?

Lagueria Davis, Writer and Director of "Black Barbie: A Documentary That's one of the things that I just truly love about it in the sense of, um, it's very nuanced and we kind of dabble, um, and tow the line into a lot of different, issues and topics and one of them is how my aunt Beulah Mae Mitchell Is there laying the groundwork for Kitty Black Perkins who would then be hired as the first black woman designer at Mattel who was hired in 1976 and would then go on to create, the very first Black Barbie that was released in 1980. And you hear her story and how rich it is in the sense of she brought together a team to help her bring this doll to life and to the world. 

And a protege of hers, Stacey McBride-Irby, who then designed the 30th anniversary Black Barbie, talks about the team she brought together to do that and also some other Black Barbie doll lines. I was struck by [how] they saw a need and then they put together a diverse team at Mattel and then they. made something happen. I felt like that was a similarity there where my aunt's telling me the story and I get to do some research and realize that Black Barbie story really isn't out there in a mainstream kind of way.

And I was like, I see a need here, I see a need to tell my aunt's story, and Kitty's story, and Black Barbie's story, and I assembled an amazing team, and we made it happen. It was 21 years to bring the first Black Barbie, from 59 to 1980, and it took us 12 years from, 2011 to, 2023, to get Black Barbie: A Documentary out to the world. I'm glad it didn't take 21 years. 

Sarah, Screen Cares Co-Host: We noticed that you do a lot of work sort of behind the scenes, in representing women in film, women directors. And I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about why you think that's an important endeavor?

Lagueria Davis, Writer and Director of "Black Barbie: A Documentary: I feel like I came to filmmaking later in my journey. I initially was in college to be in electrical engineering and computer science. And I didn't really have an understanding that this was something that I could do. Does that make sense? It feels weird to think in terms of having limitations on what it is that you're able to do and accomplish, but with the lack of representation, there are certain lanes that you feel like these are the only things that you're able to do. And these are the only stories that you're able to tell. And I think for me, it's just important to be able to be that person that people can see now as a Black Queer woman out here doing something that hopefully, they will be able to aspire to do. 

It was Love and Basketball, which came out in 2000, I want to say. And Gina Prince-Bythewood. I saw that, and I loved the film, because I was like, “I'm a basketball player.” I wanted to be a basketball player, but WNBA was just starting up and I wasn't quite there just yet so of course I had to pivot, but first, I wanted to be a ball player, and that film comes out and I'd never seen anything film-wise that had a Black woman protagonist playing basketball, and then I'm a hopeful romantic. And so then it's a love story, and I was just like, “Oh my gosh, like, I love this so much, and I want to do this. You can marry so many different joys and experiences.” I was just so excited to see that film. 

And, I will say that really inspired me and encouraged me that I had made the right decision to pivot. So I think it's just important to be able to navigate in these spaces as my authentic self. And, hopefully if someone's watching Black Barbie or hear me speaking on a panel, then they will come to being a filmmaker, a storyteller a lot earlier in life and that can be helpful so you're not like an older person trying to make things happen.

Jennie, Screen Cares Co-Host: It seems like you're also speaking to the power of film to actually shape your life and drive your direction, and hearing you talk about the idea that you could have a movie as a creator actually shift the course of someone's life and that you may be kind of paying that forward now with Black Barbie is really great.

Lagueria Davis, Writer and Director of "Black Barbie: A Documentary Yeah, I mean, I'm struck by, you know, one of the moments we had in December of 2015, I think the first “She Rose” line for Mattel was released, and in that first “She Rose” line was Ava DuVernay Barbie, director Barbie, and I was struck, between 2011 and 2015, Black Barbie was on and off the shelf, I'd be working and put together materials and put it out there and be like, oh, okay, it's, I didn't get anything. Then I'd come put it on the shelf, work on some other stuff, go shoot a short, come back to it, revamp the materials, put it back out there. Oh, oh, okay. Yeah, no. 

So in 2015, I saw that that doll had sold out and there was a big media frenzy and, you know, I was just thinking about little Lagueria. And I was like, man, if I saw this Barbie, I could have been dreaming about being a director as a kid back then. I really kind of thought about that and so I took the film off the shelf again, revamped all the materials again, send it out and I got some bites. We were in a top 10 finalists in a documentary competition and then, from there it never went back on the shelf.

I feel like you can hear “representation matters” today and it doesn't mean anything, it's kind of like a throwaway line in the sense, like, it's lost all of its meaning and, I think what the way that we communicate is how it shows, how it can work and why it matters. With Kitty and Stacey's storyline, like Stacey's, a 12-year-old, 13-year-old kid who sees Kitty in the New York Times being a doll designer and her dad's like, “This is you love doing stuff like this. You should do it.” 

There's a Black woman doing this very thing and she decides to go after it. She decides to follow that path. But like 10 years later, she graduates from design school and Kitty hires her, you know? And so I was just like, man, this is representation at one of its finest moments. And we're able to tell that story and try to give meaning back to what it means when you say “representation matters.” 

Sarah, Screen Cares Co-Host: When you were talking about the importance of the team building that happened at Mattel for Black Barbie to come into the world, what was the process of building your own team, for Black Barbie: A Documentary?

Lagueria Davis, Writer and Director of "Black Barbie: A Documentary: Yeah, you know, I think again, that's one of the storylines that I love. Just because it demonstrates how it's not a monolithic experience and you need more than one person in the space, right? Kitty's like, “I brought in Melly Phillips, who was a hair designer for Barbies back then, and she's a woman of color, Black woman, and I brought in Abo, who was a sculptor, and he's a man of color,” and so it's kind of like, for me, saying that the people of color in the space was like, “Yeah, this is important. We hear you, we see you, let's do this.” 

And so when thinking in terms of putting together our team, I definitely was inspired and sought out people who would light up. One of the first people to come on board was Camilla Hall who I met through the Film Fatales at one of their meetings. And she's a documentary filmmaker, and I was like, “oh, I'm more a scripted-writer-narrative filmmaker, but I have a documentary idea and it's about the first Black Barbie.

And it was so amazing. She's like, “Oh, that sounds interesting. Tell me more.” We leave the meeting and she emails me and she's like, “Hey, I'm kind of busy. Let's schedule a meeting a couple of months out.” And I was like, “Okay. Yeah. You know, two months, your schedule, just let me know.”

And then, maybe an hour later I got a text and she's like, “I can't stop thinking about your project. Can you meet up in like an hour, you know?” And I was like, “Yes.” So, it's so awesome, and she came on board and it was great to have her in the space navigating with me, as I was starting to take more meetings and stuff. And, then she was the one who connected me to Jyoti Sarda, who's an EP, they're both EPs on the film now, and that was the small team that we brought together in the beginning. I believe this was in either 2016, 17, when I just took it back off the shelf, and it was starting to gain that momentum.

I kind of liken it too, as a Sisyphus who's like pushing the boulder of the hill.  And it's your baby. So for the journey, you're mostly pushing it up yourself, and every once in a while, you'll get people to come and help you push it up, and then you bring in more people, and so that's basically, I felt like, building out the team, and we have a really great team. 

We were able to bring on Aaliyah Williams as our producer, another, just powerhouse Black woman who really sparked the material, and before her, we were able to be connected with the Linley Productions through Milan Chakraborty, who's also an EP on the film. And, he connected me with Grace Lay and Sumalee Montano with Linley Productions who really sparked the material and saw the vision and what I was trying to put together with the film and wanted to be as supportive as possible. I feel like... I'm a very woo woo person, so the universe was just really aligning, for me to meet the right people, to be able to collaborate and bring Black Barbie: A Documentary to the world.

Sarah, Screen Cares Co-Host: What an amazing team and story and speaking of the right team, I guess we also have to speak about the right time, because this was a journey in time, but, it just seems too perfect? How does it feel to see Black Barbie, a documentary coming out, around the time that the other Barbie movie has seen a lot of success this year?

Lagueria Davis, Writer and Director of "Black Barbie: A Documentary: I think that's so interesting, because, since the film was 12 years in the making. If I was able to get that support earlier on, I definitely feel like it would have been a different film and it probably wouldn't be this film that is out now, where I'm super proud of it and our team is proud of it and it's everything and more than I thought I could, be able to achieve with it, you know?

And as a younger filmmaker back then in 2011, I wouldn't have been able to make this film like I was still in the process of really honing the craft of storytelling and finding my voice and all of these things. So, long as it took, I am very appreciative and I honor the process because speaking to what you just said, timing. I couldn't have timed it if it was a shorter journey. We would've not been able to be in conversation with the year of Barbie. It's something that I could not have planned from 2011 to 2019 as I'm the boulder, pushing it up. Woof! It's hot. I'm sweaty. It's tiresome. Trying to keep the morale and the self up, self care. “It's not you. It's the system.” 

Like, trusting that process. Now that I can sit back and say, okay. I understand why it had to take so long, and This is the best time for the film to have been released because we can be in conversation with the Barbie movie that's coming out and the universe is just as it's done with this project aligned in a way that I could not have planned for. So, I mean, it really is just, so many lessons, within the process and the release of the film. 

Jennie, Screen Cares Co-Host: Now, Black Barbie: A Documentary is in the world in the year of Barbie, and it's engaging people in these great conversations, what are you hoping to accomplish with the film?

Lagueria Davis, Writer and Director of "Black Barbie: A Documentary: I feel like it's a tall ask. It's a tall order. Ashley Blaine Featherson Jenkins in the film talks about how the inclusivity of dolls that we have now and the options that the kids have to play with and how that's, an introduction to different cultures and different ethnicities and skin tones and hair and at an early age so that it mirrors the world around them, and she's like, “it could change the world.” 

That is a tall order, but I definitely hope it gives our audiences something real to think about and something tangible to take away that they can incorporate and think about in their daily lives. And, what does it really mean to navigate, white spaces as “other.” And I just came from Trinidad, where we had two screenings, and that was an interesting experience. The first day I'm walking around and I'm like, “Whoa, there's lots of people of color here. This has not been my experience in the US. I wonder how the film and that theme of navigating white spaces as “other” will translate here and communicate here and land,” and so we had some really interesting conversations about that notion because that's not their experience. That's not their lived experience. And, hopefully, for the, white audiences, I hope they're able to walk in the shoes of the other and see what it means to walk around and not necessarily see yourself and why it's so important to do so. 

Sarah, Screen Cares Co-Host: When you were sitting in the screenings, that's the best part, right? Of watching movies is being in an audience and feeling that just sort of like communal electric feeling when people are reacting and emoting and feeling and vibing and all that. So what was that like?

Lagueria Davis, Writer and Director of "Black Barbie: A Documentary: I think, what is interesting and what definitely kind of translates is, we've made a really, fun, entertaining film that, I've been calling it like it's a human journey. Hopefully, you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll think. We take you on that kind of human journey with all of the emotions. It's emotionally rich and what I've found that translates across all audiences so far is just that human relatability, that human journey. 

So the audience, they might not laugh at all the different things, some things that people laugh at here in the States, there, I was like, “oh, that usually gets laughs,” and so, I think that has been, something that has our team has taken to heart is just the emotional journey, being felt and recognized and experienced and I think It's more than what we could ask for as a filmmaker, just that the audience enjoys the ride. 

Jennie, Screen Cares Co-Host: Since you mentioned audiences, that's actually one thing that's really important to us at Screen Cares, and it's the idea of who do you share these movies with. And so we were interested in knowing what rating you would give this film based on our Screen Shares Ratings. So Sarah, will you share what our different Screen Shares Ratings are, and then you can tell us what you think Black Barbie: A Documentary would be rated. 

Sarah, Screen Cares Co-Host: So our Screen Shares Ratings are really born out of the idea that we did not feel that the MPAA or now the MPAAratings, always do the best job historically. And so we were thinking, well, let's create a new system. 

So we have five rating options. There is the ever unpopular rating, an option which is called a Work Screen. So these are movies that you would share professionally in a professional capacity for some sort of professional reason. You have Family Screen. These are movies that you would want to share intergenerationally. Little Screen, movies to watch with kids. And Love Screen, those are movies to watch with either a significant other or somebody that you would like to be your significant other. And, then the last category is Solo Screen, and those are movies that really are just great for self-reflection.

Jennie, Screen Cares Co-Host: And Buddy Screen. 

Sarah, Screen Cares Co-Host: And Buddy Screen. How did I forget Buddy Screen? 

Jennie, Screen Cares Co-Host: Right. Buddy Screen would be watching with a friend.

Lagueria Davis, Writer and Director of "Black Barbie: A Documentary: ": Man, I mean, can you choose more than one? 

Sarah, Screen Cares Co-Host: We usually do. Yes, do it. We cheat. 

Jennie, Screen Cares Co-Host: We cheat all the time.

Lagueria Davis, Writer and Director of "Black Barbie: A Documentary: ": It's an everyone film for the most part, you know, I think in the industry, they use the term kind of like four quadrants. I don't know if that's something that's still used, but, that's, that means it's for everyone like little to old, since it's an intergenerational story.

I feel like we're Buddy and we're professional, it's educational as well, you know, so there's that component. And then. You said Buddy, Little, Family, Work.

Sarah, Screen Cares Co-Host: and Love Screen. That was the last one.

Lagueria Davis, Writer and Director of "Black Barbie: A Documentary: Love Screen. There's not too much. Oh, wait. It's not about being a romance. 

Sarah, Screen Cares Co-Host: No, just like if you, you know, those movies where you're just like, “Oh, I really want my partner to be here with me or somebody that I want to be my partner to watch this thing with me.”

Lagueria Davis, Writer and Director of "Black Barbie: A Documentary: Yeah, I think so. I think it falls into that as well. I've seen just in Trinidad recently when a woman, she wanted to come. She brought her husband and he's standing there like, “And tell her about your Black Barbie story!” And then, “she brought me out to this, but I'm so glad I came, and it was great. Great, good job!” So, I feel like that's an example of the Love rating. Yeah. 

Sarah, Screen Cares Co-Host: One more question I want to sneak in here, because I heard you say originally that you weren't necessarily thinking of yourself as a documentarian and I watched your film, Light in Dark Places. And I can see that romantic side that you were talking about earlier. So now that you've got this incredible accomplishment out there in the world, and now that you've really done both sides, do you think that you'll want to continue down the documentary path? Or are you interested in going back to the sort of scripted narrative or, or something else entirely?

Lagueria Davis, Writer and Director of "Black Barbie: A Documentary: No, I would love to be able to dance in both lanes. So, this was hard. It's definitely a different beast to wrangle story-wise for documentary. And it took me a minute to really get my brain to be like, “Yo. And I'm like, well, okay, that makes sense.” Electrical engineering, computer science, my brain, I can have both sensibilities and play logical and creative and all of that good stuff.

But this was definitely a challenge. And I welcome that challenge again. And I'm excited about telling little-known stories about Black women. So I think that's the lane I'd like to dance in. So I have some research and stuff that I've been doing about some topics that I'm hoping to be able to springboard off the ground in the doc space.

And then, of course, my first love is writing, scripted and narrative. And thank you for watching Light in Dark Places, that was one of my last shorts, and, another accomplishment that I was,I feel very proud, like it's a beautiful, visually beautiful film. It really speaks to my sensibilities of just the kind of films. And, that I'd like to make in the sense of it'll be somewhat off the beaten path, I don't do straight drama, as I say it pun intended, you know, like, I don't do straight anything, (laughs) so yeah, I'm excited, and hope, you know, that I'm able to continue along the creative path.

Jennie, Screen Cares Co-Host: Okay, so, when you're not making films, let's pretend for a moment that you had a chance to make a new children's toy. What would it be? 

Lagueria Davis, Writer and Director of "Black Barbie: A Documentary: Oh, man. And maybe, like, a little baby filmmaker kit toy? Like, I'm thinking, that would have been something little Lagueria would have loved. As that engineering thing is definitely there. I love to take things apart and put it back together. And like little, one of my favorite toys was given to me by my uncle, which was this like quiz thing. It came like a little book and it was a computerized quiz game. I'm such a nerd. I would carry that thing around and play quiz and answer the questions and try to beat my highest score. So yeah, I think I would have loved and would think that other little girls, or kids in general all would love a little filmmaker, kit where they can make little films, 

Jennie, Screen Cares Co-Host: Oh my gosh, I love that. I appreciate all that you've opened up with this conversation about Black Barbie: A Documentary and hearing about your journey to get this amazing documentary out into the world and sharing it with us. And it does sound like it's a film for everyone, like you said, and I can't wait for it to be a film for me at the Nashville Film Festival soon.

Lagueria Davis, Writer and Director of "Black Barbie: A Documentary: Yay! I look forward to meeting you, meeting you both, in Nashville in a couple of days. 

Sarah, Screen Cares Co-Host: Yeah! I'm going to ask you if you've had that, if you've tried that, uh, catfish, that hot catfish. 

Lagueria Davis, Writer and Director of "Black Barbie: A Documentary: It is on my radar, and I'm down to eat all the good foods, so. 

Sarah, Screen Cares Co-Host: Congratulations. Obviously a huge accomplishment, and we're just so excited to see this. We're so excited that so many other people are going to get to see this and are just so grateful for getting to talk to you today.

Lagueria Davis, Writer and Director of "Black Barbie: A Documentary: Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. This has been a lovely conversation.

Jennie, Screen Cares Co-Host: Thank you. 

Outro 

(music) Thank you for letting us share our screens with you this week. We hope that you keep watching for the meeting behind the screen. Don't forget to like and subscribe to Screen Cares wherever you listen to your podcasts, check out our show notes for great info and to visit our website www.screencares.com or check out our social media pages for great resources.