U People Nominated for a GLAAD Media Award
January 13, 2010
U People has been nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary. This is exciting news in addition to the past 3 years of hard work and community building both online and off. We are very appreciative of the nomination and are crossing our fingers for whatever comes next.
The 21st GLAAD Media Award will be March 13, 2010 at the Marriott Marquis in NYC.
More information at : http://www.glaad.org
U People Visible Voices Tour Hits Memphis!
October 4, 2009
The U People Visible Voices Tour visits Memphis Tennessee where politics, history, the church and gay rights meet at a crossroad. U People screened at the National Civil Rights Museum a panel making it the first LGBT focused film to be screened at this historic location. Afterward an equally historical panel discussion ensued. The panel discussion focused on the current political environment circling the city of Memphis as it pertains to gay rights and acceptance.
Panelists:
U People filmmakers Hanifah Walidah and Olive Demetrius
Commissioner Steve Mulroy (Shelby County -District 5) Passed the first anti-LGBT discrimination initiative in Tennessee.
Dr. Sharon Horne
Moderator: Memphis U People Organizer and Jennifer. L.
Memphis Press
Click Image to read article.
Video Archive of Panel Broadcast
NOTICE: The pixelated video is purposeful. We want to recognize that the 120+ people who attended The U People Visible Voices Forum in Memphis participated for many reasons. And we understand the sensitivity that some who live and work in the city of Memphis may have issue with their image being viewed. We at U People would like to recognize everyone’s right to privacy, process and participation.
Audio Archive of Panel (free download and listen)
Part 1: Director Q and A [14:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup Part 2: Commissioner Mulroy retells his journey with passing a LGBT rights bill in Memphis [14:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup Part 3: African American Community in the South [5:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup Part 3: Dr. Horne LGBT Facts and the power of writing it down [3:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup PArt 4: Audience Engagement and Solutions [25:33m]: Play Now | Play in PopupDownload Full Audio here.
Transcript is forthcoming
Feedback
U People Collectors Edition is for the true U People Fan
October 1, 2009
This latest collectors edition U People DVD is packed with all a U People fan could appreciate:
- Over an hour of deleted scenes
- Intimate and hilarious interview with Director/Producers Hanifah Walidah and Olive Demetrius
- Music Videos
and more…
BUY YOUR COPY HERE!
Next Live with U People: Prepare for a Future
September 28, 2009
Neo-jazz artist Valerie Troutt from the Bay Area visits the U People studios with a special performance. This performance will prepare us for our journey Memphis on Oct. 3rd. Watch it here or on http://thebigtoe.iloveupeople.com, Thursday, Oct.1 @9pm EST
Press Release: LGBT film breaks ground in the South
September 21, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LGBT FILM MAKES HISTORY IN THE SOUTH
New York, NY – On October 3rd 2009 the U People Visible Voices Tour kicks off with a screening of the award-winning documentary, U People at the National Civil Rights Museum at 450 Mulberry Street in Memphis, TN. The film screening will begin at 7:30pm CST and will be followed by a talkback panel at 9pm featuring the film’s directors along with several key academics and elected officials, discussing the progression and further development of LGBT rights and understanding within the south. A schedule of the tour may be accessed at www.iloveupeople.com.
The launch of this film is also the launch of a partnership with U People (iloveupeople.com) and Glam Media (glammedia.com). Glam Media’s technology along with its sister company Tinker.com are making it possible to track discussion across Twitter around this historic event. In addition a college coalition including NYU, Syracuse, University of Memphis, UCLA and upwards of 16 other universities across the nation will log on and join the talk-back discussion in real time. To be apart of the live simulcast and discussion go to http://memphis.com/iloveupeople.com
The Civil Rights Museum Executive Director Beverly Robertson commented, “The Civil Rights movement was based on ensuring the rights for all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or religion. We certainly encourage the open and honest dialogue this film will promote and hope it serves to enlighten, educate and dispel myths.”
Hanifah Walidah, Co-Producer/Co-Director of the film added, “When I told my mother that U People would be filming at the Civil Rights Museum, she was brought to tears. She understood the history and significance of bringing our film and the issues surround LGBT rights to the home of the civil rights movement. It’s been a long journey for a film that was initially deemed an accident. U People has become a unique voice in the understanding of gay culture. We look forward to U People becoming an agent for change in states that are ironically less accepting of this generations fight for civil rights.”
About the U People Film
Winner of the Jury Award at the IMAGE+NATION LGBT Film Festival in Canada, U People is an incidental yet timely documentary. The first Rockumentary of its kind presents an entire cast and crew of 30 gay, straight women and trans folks of color were caught on camera behind the scenes of a not so typical music video shoot. What the camera caught will introduces a hilarious, candid and very human voice into the discussion of gay and straight within the black community. From this premise a thriving community at www.iloveupeople.com was born which reflects a more diverse image of queer people of color and finds new ways to promote our connectedness as oppose to differences within the larger society.
About the National Civil Rights Museum
The National Civil Rights Museum, located at the Lorraine Motel, the assassination site of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., chronicles key episodes of the American civil rights movement and the legacy of this movement to inspire participation in civil and human rights efforts globally, through our collections, exhibitions, and educational programs.
Prior to the formal adoption of this mission statement, the Museum was founded with the purpose of not only preserving the place where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spent his last hours, but also to preserve his legacy and that of the civil rights movement as a whole.
Contact: { Nicole Breeds press@iloveupeople.com}
Episode 64: Chris and Rihanna Remixed
August 28, 2009
Olive and Hanifah and their guest Liani Greaves talk about domestic abuse in all kinds of relationships. They also talk about an amazing organization called Women’s Prison Association.
Collegiate Voices Simulcast
July 20, 2009
Click here for College Simulcast Registration
Go to Official Simulcast Viewing Page
THE U PEOPLE VISIBLE VOICES TOUR – FALL 2009
In October 2009; in response to the current right to marriage movement; the creators of U People alongside a small team of performers and activists will embark on a month long tour of the southern states of America in celebration of National Coming Out Month. This pilgrimage will target a sampling of the larger unheard queer voice in this country in hopes to shine a light on the continuing struggle around a myriad of issues that challenge queer equality today. There will be a series of screenings and companion talk-back sessions associated with the film to take place in both public and private institutions in addition to a lecture series on multiple college campuses. More information can be found here.
COLLEGIATE VOICES SIMULCAST
Oct 3rd, 2009, we are inviting colleges from around the country to simulcast what will be an important event within the growing history of LGBT rights in this country. On this date U People will be the first LGBT focused film screened at the Civil Right Museum in Memphis, TN. This institution stands at same spot in which Martin Luther King lost his life. We are organizing a panel of distinguished academic, political and religious pundits, including the U People directors to discuss the progression and further development of LGBT rights and understanding within the south.
To offer your students and staff access to this broadcast via your own school’s website the process is simple and as follows:
Please register your school here. After you register you will be sent an email explaining how to include the simulcast on your school’s site and suggestions on how to engage in further discussion online.
Find out more about the U People Visible Voices Tour here.
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Visible Voices Tour
July 14, 2009
Click image to go to broadcast
The Memphis U People screening and panel is FREE but YOU MUST RSVP by clicking HERE
U People is an award-winning documentary produced and directed by Olive Demetrius and Hanifah Walidah. (currently in high-rotation on the LOGO network) U People is a film about what happened in a brownstone in Brooklyn one spring weekend where 30 gay, straight women and trans folks of color came together to shoot a not so typical music video. From this premise a thriving community was born that reflects a more diverse image of queer people of color and finds new ways to promote our connectedness as oppose to differences within the larger society. So to promote the film we began producing the very – popular and high-syndicated U People podcast and found there is a community out there that not only supports the film but its message.
WHAT IS A U PEOPLE STORY?
Inspired by the film, in the Fall of 2007, www.iloveupeople.com U People Stories are stories from regular everyday people, gay, straight, black, white and with varied beliefs who have had been made to feel like the “other”. These stories are humorous, moving and timeless. Individually, the stories are a testament of how discrimination and the emotions that result can connect, effect and change us all.
With the launch of www.iloveupeople.com this burgeoning community was provided with a necessary outlet to be kept in informed re: upcoming projects as well as communicate with each other through their popular online community THE BIG TOE. U People has evolved to become more than just a movie; but has been embraced as a movement with this site as the hub.
THE U PEOPLE VISIBLE VOICES TOUR – FALL 2009
In October 2009; in response to the current right to marriage movement; the creators of U People alongside a small team of performers and activists will embark on a month long tour of the southern states of America in celebration of National Coming Out Month. This pilgrimage will target a sampling of the larger unheard queer voice in this country in hopes to shine a light on the continuing struggle around a myriad of issues that challenge queer equality today. there will be a series of screenings and companion talk-back sessions associated with the film to take place in both public and private institutions in addition to a lecture series on multiple college campuses.
TOUR OVERVIEW
Why the southern states of America?
In 2008 supporters of marriage rights had been met with a challenge. With the
victory of Barack Obama on one side and the unfortunate defeat of California’s Prop 8
on the other, a clear disparity and emotional riff has developed between gay and black
America. And if you are both black and gay America you are caught in the middle.
This is where U People steps in with an idea.
There are stories to be told….and new history to be made.
California is the new battleground of modern day civil rights regarding marriage equality.
The South is the motherland of civil rights struggles and is also home to the largest
Black Gay population in America. The south is the bible belt while California symbolizes
a more progressive America. But is either assumption true? And where can these two
worlds find common ground and history?
The answer is not in bridging politics but the personal stories of people.
IT BEGINS WHERE IT BEGAN
The tour will begin in Memphis, TN with the first screening ever of a gay focused film at the Civil Rights Museum located at the Lorraine Hotel and the place where Martin Luther King Jr. lost his life. The screening will be followed by a town hall meeting between the directors, people featured in the film, religious and political leaders. The town hall meeting will be broadcast live over the internet with the global community witness to a changing America.
AND ENDS WITH CANDLELIGHT AND LINCOLN
After traveling from Memphis to Birmingham, Atlanta, and Nashville archiving the stories and existence of gay people of color in the south. The U People Visible Voices Tour will end in DC with a candlelight vigil at the Lincoln Memorial. This will be a coming out vigil for those voices made visible and those who remain silent.
U People in Memphis
June 20, 2009
In anticipation of the U People Visible Voices tour this fall in the south, U People filmmakers Olive Demetrius and Hanifah Walidah visited Memphis Tennesse for Mid-South Gay Pride.
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While there we met with Beverley Robertson at the National Civil Right Museum who has embraced the idea of screening U People at the museum this Fall October 3rd. U people will be the first LGBT centered film screened at the museum.
We also met with community activists, progressive reporters, the University of Memphis, MGLCC, progressive religious leaders, organizers in the nearby Nasheville area and many of the beautiful everyday folks who make up the Memphis LGBT community. These meetings were set to develop support around what will be a historic event that potentially can bring further understanding, equality and rights to the LGBT community in the south and nationwide.
Memphis is considered by some to be behind other southern states in LGBT education, social acceptance and progressive thought around legal rights. REcently an ordinane was passed to protect LGBT city workers from being harrassed and/or fired if found out that they were gay. Though this is a step in the right direction the ordinance does not specify “sexual orientation” or specifically “lesbian, gay or trangender peoples”. Many feel that this is so because it will affirm political support of these communities or simply folks are uncomfortable with these terms. And many expressed during our visit th efear of the church and society and their reaction to U People being screened at the Civil Rights Museum. But the majority of those we spoke too despite these feelings felt that regardless it is time. And are on board to make sure this event happens and is successful.
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Below is a clip of Olive and Hanifah speaking at teh Memphis Pride Homesexuality and the Black Commuity Forum. Please fast forward the recorded broadcast around 15 minutes to reach the tak given by the filmmakers.
Live from Brooklyn Pride (click for info)
June 8, 2009
Join us Friday, June 12 for a special Brooklyn Pride Live with U People broadcast! You can join us live at the party or from the comforts of your home from where ever you are!
RSVP TO THE PARTY OR JOIN THE U PEOPLE PAGE ON FACEBOOK!
We will be broadcasting live to you from the Ubiquita Worldwide event 3 THE HARD WAY where we will laugh and chat it up with our special guests:
Poet, Staceyann Chin
Comedian Gloria Bigelow
Shelley Nicole’s Blakbushe
Playwright, Comedian Micia Mosely
Ubiquita DJs Rimarkable, Selly and Lynee Denise
Bed-Stuy Councilwoman candidate Tremaine Wright
Baron Artist
Watch 2 and 1/2 hour broadcast below.
