EVERY THURSDAY EVENING, we bring you three trailers for films that are out this weekend.

The films might be on streaming services, or on television. This week we have a special edition of Trailer Watch, with a focus on the work of Black female filmmakers.

All of the films can be watched at the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival, which runs from 3 – 14 March online. You can buy your tickets at Diff.ie – and check out the rest of the great programme while you’re there. 

Daughters of the Dust

• Screening: 8 March at 1pm, tickets €8.50

Director Julie Dash’s 1991 film is considered a seminal moment in American independent filmmaking – and was a touchstone for Beyoncé’s movie Lemonade. The film was restored back in 2017. Dash’s film is a story about three generations of women from the Gullah sea islands of South Carolina who decide to migrate North. The film explores slavery, womanhood, and culture. 

Mamans

• Screening: Included in ticket for Daughters of the Dust, will screen beforehand on 8 March

This 2015 short film, directed by Maïmouna Doucouré, is about a little girl called Aida who lives in France. Her father returns from a trip to Senegal with a second wife, to the frustration of Aida and her mother.

Belle 

• Screening: 8 March, 1pm, tickets €8.50

Amma Assante directs this 2013 film that’s based on the real-life story of Dido Elizabeth Belle. She was born to a British admiral and a Black woman, Maria Belle, who was an African slave. Young Dido Belle grew up with her aristocratic family in 18th century England and this film looks at the racism she experienced and how her life progressed.

Welcome II The Terrordome

• Screening: 8 March at 1pm, tickets €8.50

This cult British film, directed by Ngozi Onwurah, was the first film directed by a Black British woman to receive a theatrical release in the UK, back in 1995. What’s remarkable is that it wasn’t until 2004 that another Black British woman (Amma Asante) directed a full-length feature. This film tells the story of a family struggling to survive in the Terrordome, a ghetto in modern-day UK. But it also takes inspiration from the Igbo Landing, where a group of captive Igbo people took their own lives rather than submit to slavery in the US.

Which one would you watch first?

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