I've always been a fan of the movies, but my interest and appreciation of cinema deepened after I took a Freshman Seminar on Film Studies in 1996. I learned that there is a lot more going on in a film than what the average viewer usually perceives. Movies move beyond entertainment and become educational treatises, whether they necessarily intend to or not.
Movies reflect visions of the world.
I began thinking about films specifically made by black filmmakers after two of my very dear friends told me about their experiences with racial discrimination. Living in the northern Virginia suburbs and visiting a friend who lived past Southeast DC, I realized that although I was so close to the inner city, I had never really thought about what it was like to live there. These factors came together in my interest of doing a Monroe Project. I wanted to discover how inner cities and black stories are depicted in film by members of the black community themselves, and I also wanted to keep in mind any possible social relevance. Secondly, I began reading material from local libraries to give me a general background on black and white race relations and on black issues.