Julie Dash’s Illusions was filmed while she was a student at UCLA with a grant from Woman Make Movies. In post-World War II Hollywood, African American Mignon Dupreé passes as white to work as an executive assistant, a position she struggles to use to steer the studio towards stories about real people. Meanwhile at the same studio, African American singer Ester Jeeter is hired to dub the voice of a white actress. Duprée’s fascination with Hollywood’s power to rewrite history, is echoed in Dash’s sharp critique of that power to keep diversity out of the spotlight. —Trisha Lendo
Producer: Julie Dash. Director: Julie Dash. Screenwriter: Julie Dash. Cinematographer: Ahmed E Maanouni. Music: Eugene Bohlmann. Film Editors: Julie Dash, Charles Burnett. Cast: Lonette McKee, Rosanne Katon, Ned Bellamy, Jack Radar, Fernando Lundi Faust. DCP, b/w, 36 min.
Preserved from the original 16mm b/w reversal a/b rolls and from the original 35mm magnetic soundtrack. Laboratory services by Fotokem, Audio Mechanics, and Endpoint Audio Labs. Special thanks to: Julie Dash, Maurice Schechter.
