A Black Queer Filmmaker Seeks Intersectional Acceptance in ‘black enuf*’

By Sameer Rao Jun 15, 2017

Filmmaker, animator and video journalist Carrie Hawks tackles the implications of peers questioning their* racial and sexual identity in "black enuf*," their animated short documentary that premiered in April.

"My Blackness doesn’t have to look like yours," Hawks says in the above trailer, after disclosing in two preceding clips that they don’t love hot sauce and likes to ski. "Neither does my queerness," they continue. "It took me a long time to accept that."

Hawks says on the project’s website that "black enuf*" "interweaves stories from [their] great-grandmother’s autobiography, interviews of family and friends and [their] hand-drawn memories" of moments where peers, both White and Black, tried to qualify their identity. 

New Yorkers interested in "black enuf*" can check out a screening and Q&A tonight (June 15) at The Brooklyn Museum as part of its "Black Queer Brooklyn on Film" series. Hawks told Colorlines that the film will air at several festivals this summer, including Philadelphia’s BlackStar Film Festival in early August.

*Post has been updated since publication to reflect the artists’ correct gender-neutral pronouns.