SIGNIFY, a Black-led online streaming platform that started the night as HUeMAN TV, held SIGNIFest last Thursday at the Gathering Spot, where they announced the name change along with a new focus of the platform: uplifting Black women creatives.
The night featured a number of short films that celebrated independent filmmakers, with a focus on lifting productions that were written, directed, produced, or starred Black women.
“HUeMAN TV has always stood for marginalized creatives, and we are now making steps to prioritize Black women who are above-the-line in filmmaking,” said programming director of SIGNIFY Alahna Lark.
The night was a celebration of work accomplished and work they plan to be doing with the new focused approach. “Above-the-line” is a film industry term meaning those behind the creative direction of a project, like producers, directors, actors and writers. The majority of the films played had at least one Black woman behind one of the aforementioned roles.
The event also had an authentic Atlanta feel to it.
“I love the saying “Atlanta influences everything.” I mean, you can look at the [Usher] Superbowl performance not too long ago and see that our influence as artists is spreading all over the world, and it’s amazing to see,” Lark said.
The films shown at the event encapsulated that Atlanta-identity, from the iconic landmarks and places they were filmed to the characters themselves.
“It’s a direct response to the know-all-be-all of our industry; Atlanta has a lot to say, and so here you have these artists that are greenlighting their own projects, saying you’re not going to create space for me on the airwaves, how about this,” Lark said. “They’re taking it upon themselves to make things that represent them and their city.”
Lark said her experience is familiar to many Black filmmakers — part of the reason SIGNIFY aims to empower those who try to produce independently.
“I remember personally, as a creative, feeling like I was being ostracized in the industry. I had a show that was very driven by Black Lives Matter, and it got canceled after two episodes, and this other project that has a similar storyline but was led by a White man did not get canceled,” said Lark, adding that it was the same network for both shows.
Within independent filmmaking, budget and access to equipment tend to be barriers to producing content deemed satisfactory for more mainstream platforms. It’s precisely the reason why Lark says SIGNIFY looks more for a good story rather than focusing on the technical aspects that may be lacking due simply to a lack of resources for independent creatives.
“The hope is that we’re creating a platform behind the work you created, whether you used a cell phone to create it or you made it virtually through Zoom during the pandemic,” Lark said. “We see the value in the creativity and the resilience of marginalized people who want to tell stories but potentially don’t have access to what the Hollywood standard would consider enough to get the job done.”
Lark and her team said they wanted to make the event feel like going to the movies, and the audiences seemed to be enjoying the collection of films and TV series shown at the event. Proceeds from the event went towards the creatives featured throughout the night.
