A Different Image is a 1982 film directed, written, and edited by

Alile Sharon Larkin Alile Sharon Larkin (born May 6, 1953) is an American film producer, writer and director. She is associated with the L.A. Rebellion (also known as the Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers), which is said to have "collectively imagined and cre ...

that explores body image and societal beauty standards through the eyes of a young Black woman on a journey towards self-worth.

Summary

Alana (Margot Saxton-Federlla), an art student, explores sexuality, Western ideals of beauty, and her own self-worth in 1980's Los Angeles. Vincent (Adisa Anderson), her long-time friend, feels pressure to turn their platonic relationship into a sexual one which further sparks Alana's frustration with western, patriarchal beauty standards and gender norms.

Cast

*Margòt Saxton-Federella as Alana * Michael Adisa Anderson as Vincent

Production

''Creating a Different Image: Portrait of Alile Sharon Larkin'' is a 1989 documentary about the making of ''A Different Image''

Reception

The film is considered as a groundbreaking foray into a realistic character portrait of a young Black woman. Kevin Thomas of the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

heralded it as "...extraordinary, a fresh and clear expression of an acute sensibility."

Awards and recognition

* First Prize, Black American Cinema Society Award * Official Selection, London Black Film Festival * Best Production of 1981, Black Filmmaker Foundation * Runner Up, Best Short Film, Filmex * Official Selection, the 2011 L. A. Rebellion: Creating New Cinema

Screenings

* UCLA's L.A. Rebellion Film Series,

UCLA Hammer Museum The Hammer Museum, which is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. Founded in 1990 by the entrepreneur- ...

, 2011 * Madeline Anderson Shorts,

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...

, 2013 * Afterimage: Madeline Anderson, Berkeley Art Museum, 2016 * One Way or Another: Black Women's Cinema, 1970–1991,

, 2017

Preservation

The Black Film Center/Archive preserved A Different Image, which included 16mm original color reversal A/B rolls and full-coat magnetic track elements. They produced a 16mm color

internegative An internegative is a motion picture film duplicate. It is the color counterpart to an interpositive, in which a low-contrast color image is used as the positive between an original camera negative and a duplicate negative. After a film is shot, ...

, a soundtrack negative, and two new 16mm projection prints. The script of the film was published in a 1991 compilation of collected works called ''Screenplays of the African American Experience''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Different Image African-American drama films 1982 films American independent films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films