Jan 27

Jan 27 'Bad Hair' Premieres at Sundance - For the Culture

Educating the masses on black magic has been his specialty - Justin Simien comes back to Sundance Film Festival with another soon-to-be major hit under his belt. As the program director of Dear White People, his latest film Bad Hair, is a horror satire film created to spark the conversation around just how society relates to the style and appearance primarily in black women.

“I didn’t really want to moralize getting a weave or not. I wanted to question the system that marginalizes and oppresses black women” Simien explained. “I wanted to make us something about the system that sort of gives people just one or two choices in order to move ahead. I wanted to take that system to task and I just, I thought it’d be a really fun way to do that.”

Set in 1989, the film highlights key points and moments in the movement. The film shines light and educates viewers as to the trials and tribulations that black women experience on the day to day. It's hopeful that it will change the view point of many that thought this sort of stereotypes simply "don't exist."

“I hope I can do this genre that I am absolutely in love to interrogate the system that is obsessed with black culture but doesn’t give a fuck about black lives,” he said. “I hope I can use this genre to interrogate a system that mines black women for their culture, ideas, compassion, wisdom and perseverance but does not give them enough options to shine in this light.”

During the premiere at Sundance the celebs stayed for a Q&A Waithe chimed in, “When we watch it, it’s for us. I don’t know a black woman who can watch this and not relate to it. It’s beautiful how it comes together and how we choose to conform or to stand out.”

Bad Hair is a film that is very much needed. It’s an intriguing, liberating, film that’s the marker of Simien's creative evolution and is done simply - for the culture. Check out the video below as the cast and creator of ‘Bad Hair,’ discuss which hair is “haunted.”