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Illusions  (1982)

Set in Hollywood during WWII, Illusions tells the story of Mignon Duprée, a studio executive passing for white, and Ester Jeeter, an African American singer hired to dub the voice of a white movie star.  The film is a gripping critique of the power of the movies to shape perception as it explores the multiple illusions created by Hollywood and the very illusion of racial identity.  —Allyson Nadia Field

Producer/Director/Screenwriter: Julie Dash.  Cinematographer: Ahmed El Maanouni.  Editor: Julie Dash, Charles Burnett.  Cast: Lonette McKee, Rosanne Katon, Ned Bellamy, Jack Radar, Fernando Lundi Faust.

16mm, b/w, 36 min.