Girls on Film: Gina Prince-Bythewood's ongoing struggle for racial diversity in romantic films

Director Gina Prince-Bythewood has spent her career making movies that push beyond Hollywood's typical definition of "diversity"

Beyond the Lights

"Why you wanna fly Blackbird, you ain't ever gonna fly," sings Gugu Mbatha-Raw, as Noni, in the terrific new romantic drama Beyond the Lights. Noni is an aspiring singer whose label demands she belt out other people's lyrics and embrace a highly sexualized persona she hates. Over and over Noni returns to Nina Simone's "Blackbird" — her first musical inspiration, and the all-too-true anthem for her struggle to find agency and shed the pressures of others. It's a theme that could double as the lament of writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood, who has worked under difficult filmmaking constraints from the beginning of her career.

Prince-Bythewood hit Hollywood during the Black Hollywood Renaissance of the '90s, and like many of the era, her initial success didn't lead to continued work. Prince-Bythewood started as a writer on the NBC sitcom A Different World. Within three years, she gained immediate success as a director when she earned two Emmy nominations for her first job on a CBS Schoolbreak Special. Five years later, her debut feature Love & Basketball in 2000 was winning Independent Spirit and Black Reel Awards.

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Monika Bartyzel

Monika Bartyzel is a freelance writer and creator of Girls on Film, a weekly look at femme-centric film news and concerns, now appearing at TheWeek.com. Her work has been published on sites including The Atlantic, Movies.com, Moviefone, Collider, and the now-defunct Cinematical, where she was a lead writer and assignment editor.