Experiencing Interruptions?

#WhereIsBeauty

#WhereIsBeauty follows the journey of NINA, a visual artist dealing with the pressures of social media and self-identity. Frustrated by homogeneous selfies and false depictions of beauty, she searches for beauty in it's most raw and natural form and captures the experience with her mobile phone. Inspiration turns into transformation when NINA meets LEA, her latest muse, creating the final chapter in her voyage to self-discovery.

  • Angela McCrae
    Director
  • April Mabry
    Writer
  • Angela White
    Producer
  • Goapele Mohlabane
    Key Cast
  • Melody C. Miller
    Cinematographer
  • Project Type:
    Experimental
  • Runtime:
    10 minutes 55 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    October 1, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    5,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Angela McCrae

Angela McCrae is a filmmaker and creative strategist with over 15 years of experience in television/film, journalism, and philanthropy. Currently, her career sits at the intersection of content development and events marketing. She currently serves as the Events and Marketing Director for the DTLA Film Festival. Angela leverages her twenty years of media experience to engage diverse audiences with impactful storytelling and innovative experiences. A graduate of Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD, Angela values mentorship and has taught television & video production at the Baltimore School for the Arts and Connecticut School of Broadcasting. During her 6+ years at NBCUniversal, she's won the Gem Award for excellence and leadership, as an advocate for diversity and inclusion launching the company's first Young Professionals Network in Los Angeles. She was selected to participate in MSNBC’s Know Your Value conference and the company’s D&I Impact leadership accelerator for her work developing programming for the company’s Women’s Network.

Angela’s pivot from broadcast news to entertainment began with director Marcus Raboy, working on projects with Carlos Santana, Shakira, McDonald’s, Miller Lite and others. She later began producing branded content and activations for automotive campaigns, which includes the 2013 LA Auto Show debut event for Lincoln Motors MKC hosted by Nia Long and digital video campaigns for BMW and Lexus. She’s been a long supporter and volunteer with Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY, representing the grassroots arm of the organization at events in Los Angeles and New York to promote independent film releases.

As a creative strategies, she's developed communications and digital campaigns for award-winning documentarian Stanley Nelson’s Firelight Media, for the EMMY-nominated documentary "Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities," and the GRAMMY-nominated feature film "Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool." A graduate of Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD, Angela values mentorship and has taught television & video production at the Baltimore School for the Arts and Connecticut School of Broadcasting. She was the co-producer and co-writer for the web-series "The BFF Chronicles," starring Erika Alexander and Kim Coles of "Living Single" fame. Her directorial debut short film #WhereIsBeauty, starring soul-singer Goapele, has been nominated for two awards opened the 2017 Cannes Pan African International Film Festival in France, and has screened in Nairobi, Kenya, at the Milwaukee Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, BronzeLens Film Festival and others cities around the world.

Most recently, Angela launched the wine and culture brand, Uncorked & Cultured, from her New York apartment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lifestyle brand is a marketing and engagement solution to the inequitable relationship between the white-dominated wine industry and Black (BIPOC) consumers.

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Director Statement

Throughout my life I battled with being too loud, too big, too poor and a myriad of other things that created deep-rooted insecurities affecting my adolescent life. However, these crippling feelings did not break me because of my strong support system of diverse women who taught me to have thick skin, pay attention to detail and always be grateful. Unfortunately, this new generation of young women instead have a thicker magnifying glass spreading beyond their local town that vastly crosses state lines and country borders - all within a simple click on social media.

#WhereIsBeauty is a story to remind young women from all backgrounds to value their individuality while appreciating and experiencing the world with all five senses, all while not comparing themselves to what's being curated by unlimited filtering and people just "doing it for the 'Gram." We decided to make this film silent because music is the universal language and touches each of us instinctively and deeper than words. I believe creating a black and white palette gave me a canvas to pull the audience in while the colorful social media integration shows the superficiality and unnatural role it serves in our culture.

As a woman dedicated to serving others through volunteerism and empowering women to know their value, this project holds a special place, not only because it's my first film and directorial debut, but it's also a film that I hope will touch at least one woman to make an intentional decision to step outside her comfort zone to truly be her beautiful self.