A Different Image

A Different Image is a 1982 film directed, written, and edited by Alile Sharon Larkin that explores body image and societal beauty standards through the eyes of a young Black woman on a journey towards self-worth.

Summary[]

Alana (Margot Saxton-Federlla), an art student, explores sexuality, Western ideals of beauty, and her own self-worth in 1980's Los Angeles.^[1] Vincent (Adisa Anderson), her long-time friend, feels pressure to turn their platonic relationship into a sexual one which further sparks Alana's frustration with western, patriarchal beauty standards and gender norms.^[2]

Cast[]

• Margot Saxton-Federlla as Alana
• Adisa Anderson as Vincent

Production[]

Creating a Different Image: Portrait of Alile Sharon Larkin is a 1989 documentary about the making of A Different Image^[3]

Reception[]

The film is considered as a groundbreaking foray into a realistic character portrait of a young Black woman. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times heralded it as "...extraordinary, a fresh and clear expression of an acute sensibility.^[4]"

Awards and Recognition[]

• First Prize, Black American Cinema Society Award
• Official Selection, London Black Film Festival
• Best Production of 1981, Black Filmmaker Foundation
• Runner up, Best Short Film, Filmex^[5]
• Official Selection, the 2011 L. A. Rebellion: Creating New Cinema^[6]

Screenings[]

• UCLA's L.A. Rebellion Film Series, UCLA Hammer Museum, 2011^[7]
• Madeline Anderson Shorts, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 2013^[8]
• Afterimage: Madeline Anderson, Berkeley Art Museum, 2016^[9]
• One Way or Another: Black Women's Cinema, 1970–1991, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 2017^[10]

Preservation[]

The Black Film Center/Archive preserved A Different Image, which included 16mm original color reversal A/B rolls and full-coat magnetic track elements. They produced a 16mm color internegative, a soundtrack negative, and two new 16mm projection prints.^[11]

The script of the film was published in a 1991 compilation of collected works called Screenplays of the African American Experience.^{[citation needed]}

See also[]

• L.A. Rebellion
• Black Women Filmmakers

References[]

External links[]

• A Different Image at IMDb