So you saw the woman came?

Yes.

Did you connect to the movie in any particular way?

As a mother, I have a kid and that part really inspired me because a mother's bond is

never to people in CISEDA.

It was really nice to see people that looked like me doing cool stuff in movies, like not

just like a background role.

Did you feel represented by the film?

As a West African person, like being able to see what our culture looked like.

It was rendered so vividly and a movie that had such a big budget was just like so fulfilling

and so exciting.

The vulnerability aspect, like I definitely feel things but I don't really show them because

like it's hard to as a government so I definitely identified with that.

It gave me goosebumps.

I'm just like wow, all of these women sticking together, coming to one common cause.

It's Notes from America, I'm Kai Wright and welcome to the show.

The Oscars are next week and as happens almost every year, this year's Academy Awards

have forced yet another conversation about whether that institution actually values

the work of black people of women and of others who have had to make space for themselves

in the cultural economy.

The Academy has never even nominated a black woman for Best Director and has only nominated

two women period.

...