Los Angeles, California
Narrative Film, Documentary Film

This feature-length documentary is the history of Black Barbie, told through the charismatic protagonist and the filmmaker’s aunt who helped introduce the first Black Barbie, Beulah Mae Mitchell. The film explores what the 1980 release of Black Barbie meant to those growing up with no representation and its impact on Generation X. As a litmus test, the film will reimagine the doll test of the 1940s to see how increased representation could impact future generations. The project started with a simple question— why not make a Barbie that looks like me?—and the message: be the person in the room who asks the question, you never know the difference it could make.

Lagueria Davis graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2007 with a BFA in Media Art. Since graduating, Davis has established herself as an award-winning filmmaker. She co-wrote the feature, Maid of Dishonor, which was a 2016 Nicholls Fellowship Quarter-Finalist. In addition, Davis has had four scripts placed in the Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition. Her most recent short, Light in Dark Places, is streaming on Amazon and she is presently in pre-production on her feature Black Barbie: A Documentary. Currently, Davis resides in LA where she’s on the Emeritus Board of the Alliance of Women Directors.