Black Women Directors Monthly November 2025

Taking a pause till 2026

Filmmaker Vanessa Beletic | Photo: provided

Notes from the Editor

Happy November, dear readers. 2025 has been, in many ways, a very exciting year for me in terms of professional and personal growth, and also a very troubling year in terms of literally everything else. This has also been a year of constant movement, with me moving pretty much non-stop since January.

I don’t often discuss my W-2 work, but I left one job in February, started another in April, and then began yet another this week¹.

I won two Webby Awards (!). I was featured in Marie Claire.

I hosted not one, not two, but three film screening events between late August and early November (shout out to everyone who attended a File Under: Horror event or the Chicago Film Symposium).

I participated in a leadership training class through the Poynter Institute. I volunteered as a screener for the Midwest Film Festival and the Woodstock Film Festival. I also volunteered in my friend’s community garden over the summer.

I celebrated a milestone birthday in June with old and new friends². I am part of a web archiving fellowship that started this spring and has already deepened my understanding of being a responsible and ethical steward of an archive.

The number of people reading and subscribing to this newsletter has grown by almost 700 since the beginning of this year, and I must say it absolutely warms my heart to know that people are deriving value from this corner of the Internet and are taking the time to read my thoughts on film and culture and occasionally music.

Words cannot describe how grateful I am for the opportunities that have come my way this year.

And words cannot describe how deeply tired I am.

A dear friend of mine sent me an Instagram post a few weeks ago with words of wisdom I needed:

“Your best is what you can do without harming your physical or mental health. Not what you can accomplish when you disregard it.” — credited to @suegainz

I have a tendency to pile a lot on my plate. Blame it on me being a Gemini, a mutable air sign with an almost insatiable curiosity about life. (Or maybe blame it on me picking up somewhere along the way that accomplishment = love.³)

Whatever the case may be, I have had to learn many lessons from focusing on achieving at the expense of my physical and emotional health, which can (and has) led to burnout, physical breakdowns, and the feeling of simultaneously being under a great grey cloud and trying to move through quicksand. It’s no fun.

The phrase “intentional pause” has been bouncing around in my head for the past few weeks, and I think that is exactly what I need to do as the year winds down and we gear up for what 2026 has to bring us. Rather than run into the next year at full speed, I’m pausing to rest, recharge, and also reevaluate how I’m spending my time.

As much as I love putting together this newsletter once a month (and seriously shoutout to people who maintain a weekly —or almost daily! — newsletter, I don’t know how you do it), it is a lot of work. Lots of research: compiling lists of grants and opportunities from a variety of national and international organizations, following film festivals and film centers and museums and theaters to create the events listings for Black women-directed films, viewing films for the BWD Recommends section, and then there’s the actual act of writing.

Additionally, I manage the digital library, updating streaming links, film stills, and adding new directors as individual pages to the site (which I know has a backlog; my apologies). Additionally, as I mentioned earlier, I hold a full-time job and participate in an archiving fellowship that meets once a week.

I never want this newsletter or the BWD library to feel like a chore; it’s given me a great deal of joy to research filmmakers and have the opportunity to interview them, as well as build a living, breathing digital archive of work by Black women and nonbinary artists in a world that is constantly trying to diminish us or erase us altogether. This again brings me to taking an intentional pause. I’m not stopping the work, but I recognize that I am exactly one person —a person who needs time to rest and recharge, not a superhuman automaton who can keep going without taking the time for self-care.

I also recognize I need to do something I don’t usually do, and that is ask for help.

I have been a one-woman show pretty much since 2015, when I first started BWD as a humble Tumblr. (Save for this summer, when I had a wonderful intern help me with event planning and social media posting.) That’s not sustainable. So I am putting out a call for volunteers.

If you’re interested in being a guest editor or writer for the newsletter or would like to help me dive into the backlog of directors to add to the library, please feel free to reach out at blackwomendirectors@gmail.com. Please put in the subject line whether you’re interested in the newsletter, the digital library updates, or both. To set expectations and keep in line with taking an intentional pause, I will respond to these queries in January 2026. Feel free to share this graphic with your friends who are interested in helping preserve a slice of film history or writing about film for the newsletter.

In the meantime, this will be the last newsletter I send out until the first Friday of February in 2026. I will also address the backlog of directors to be added to the digital library at that time.

I will also pause monthly subscriptions after this month, as it’s not fair to charge you while the newsletter is on pause. I’ll resume them again in February.

Thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy note and for your ongoing support of the BWD project. I’m so grateful that you’re here.

With gratitude,

Danielle

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BWD News

Hulu has picked up a pilot for Southern Bastards, which Nia DaCosta will direct. “Based on the graphic novel series of the same name, the pilot centers on a tenacious military vet who heads into Craw County, Alabama, in search of her estranged father,” according to The Wrap.

Garrett Bradley, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker behind the documentary "Time," has recently become a MacArthur Genius Grant fellow. (As did Tonika Lewis Johnson, a brilliant photographer and director from Chicago I’ve worked with before!)

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BWD Recommended Events

Black Harvest Film Festival Nov. 7-16 | Siskel Film Center | Chicago, IL
Black Harvest, now in its 31st year, will showcase a diverse range of work by Black women and non-binary filmmakers in their feature presentations and short film programs, including WILL, the film debut of the late, great Jessie Maple. Visit the official website for details on specific tickets and film information.

Atlantics dir: Mati Diop | Nov. 9-29 | BFI | London, UK

Losing Ground dir: Kathleen Collins | Nov. 18 + 23 | Siskel Film Center | Chicago, IL

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project dir: Michèle Stephenson | Nov. 19 | BAM Brooklyn | Brooklyn, NY

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Grants and Opportunities

• Sundance Episodic Lab | Deadline: Nov. 9

• WAVE Filmmaking Grant | $5K grant | Deadline: Nov. 16

• ATX TV Pitch Competition | Deadline: Nov. 23

• Justice For My Sister BIPOC Sci-Fi Screenwriting Lab | Deadline: Nov. 24

• Resisting Narratives of Erasure Fellowship | $3500 grant | Deadline: Nov. 25

• Chicago Onscreen Local Film Showcase | Deadline: Dec. 8

• Sloan Distribution Grant | $50K grant | Deadline: rolling

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BWD Recommended Viewing

Catching Spirits (2022), dir: Vanessa Beletic
Stream on Vimeo

I’ve been struggling to put into words why I found this short film about a dancer who experiences seizures (or something else?) when she performs so moving. Perhaps that is because this is a story about spirituality and self-discovery that needs to be seen and felt, rather than analyzed. View it on Vimeo and learn more about Beletic here.

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Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think of this month’s issue in the comments! I’m also a fan of email: blackwomendirectors@gmail.com.

1. In general, I’m loath to talk about my work, but this was a case where an opportunity came my way that was too interesting to pass up.

2. I’m also loath to share my age, but just know I am truly an Elder Millennial.

3. I’m still unpacking this. I’m sure I’m my therapist’s favorite client because of this, lol.