Portland Black Film Festival

The Portland Black Film Festival begins its third year at the Hollywood Theatre with six movies by and about women.

The focus on women directors couldn't be timelier after the uproar that followed the announcement of this year's Academy Award nominations. No women were nominated in direction or the two writing categories (original and adapted screenplay) and everyone in the four acting categories is white.

For this year's Portland Black Film Festival, founder David Walker, an expert on blaxploitation, and Ariella Tai have chosen an interesting mix of classic and contemporary, documentary and feature, political and pure entertainment.

The first movie is a rare treat: a new 35mm of "Daughters of the Dust," Julie Dash's breathtaking feature about a family preparing to move north from the Sea Islands of Georgia in 1902. "Daughters of the Dust" is an intricate, moving family drama and an amazing re-creation of the Gullah culture at a time of transition. It is a landmark of independent cinema and an important American film that was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2004.

Dash said in 2011 that she never received an offer for a feature in the 20 years after "Daughters of the Dust" was released. "Dash is one of the heroines of the modern cinema," Richard Brody wrote on The New Yorker's website, and "the closed doors that she, as a black woman, has faced should resound with reproach to the industry and should be pointed to whenever nostalgists for the studio-backed midrange drama start their laments." 7:30 p.m. Feb. 5.

"Eve's Bayou" is a 1997 drama starring Samuel L. Jackson as a doctor whose infidelity is witnessed by his daughter (Jurnee Smollett), an event that sets off a violent chain of events in a small Southern town. It was the first feature from writer-director Kasi Lemmons, who appeared in "The Silence of the Lambs" as an actor and whose other directing credits include "Black Nativity" and the underrated "Talk to Me." 7:30 p.m. Feb. 7.

"Free Angela and All Political Prisoners" is a 2012 documentary about Angela Davis, the activist whose long, eventful life is explored by director Shola Lynch. 7:30 p.m. Feb. 8.

"Just Another Girl on the I.R.T." is another great pick by curators Walker and Tai. The 1992 indie by writer-director Leslie Harris is about a high-school girl named Chantel Mitchell (Ariyan A. Johnson) with big dreams of becoming a doctor who becomes pregnant and faces a life-changing series of decisions. 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15.

"Soul Train Express: The Sisters" is 90 minutes of some of the finest music ever seen on TV. Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Donna Summer and Chaka Khan brought their amazing selves to "Soul Train" during the 1970s and '80s and left a trail of burning love and melted hearts. 7:30 p.m. Feb. 18.

"Black Girl in Suburbia" is a new documentary by Melissa Lowery, who grew up in West Linn. Her movie examines the issues black girls have in relating to suburban culture. Lowery will be at the screening at 2 p.m. Feb. 21.

-- Jeff Baker