Queen Latifah launched her passion project, The Queen Collective — a program developed in partnership with Procter & Gamble and Tribeca Studios—which aims to promote gender and racial equality among filmmakers.
The initiative works to shorten the gap between multicultural female directors and their male counterparts, through mentoring, production support and by offering equal distribution opportunities.
This past weekend, the inaugural short films If There Is Light directed by Haley Elizabeth Anderson and Ballet After Dark directed B. Monet, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
According to the film synopsis, "14-year-old Janiyah Blackmon wrestles with her new life in New York City as her mom tries to move her family out of the shelter system and into a stable home," in Anderson's short.
Monet's film project "tells the story a young woman who found the strength to survive after an attack. She created an organization that is helping sexual abuse and domestic violence survivors find healing after trauma through dance therapy."
Along with ushering in new female talent, Latifah is giving back to her hometown of Newark, New Jersey, by building affordable housing in the city. She invested $14 million into the housing project.
Both films are now exclusively streaming on Hulu.
