Here at That Grape Juice we are keen to celebrate all of the diverse power and beauty entertainment has to offer.

Just as beautiful and diverse?

You. For, the last decade has seen this platform’s comment section hosts thoughts, facts and feelings from all over the globe.

Only right then that we return to the favour.

So, as part of our exploration into World Cinema (which has already taken us to Nigeria and Japan) we spotlight not one but two films for cinephiles in search of movies which explore blackness through the eyes of young girls and women.

The first? The powerful ‘Daughters of the Dust’.

The second? ‘Mossane.’

Watch below…

Julie Dash’s ‘Daughters‘ tells the tale of a family living on Ibo Island (off the Georgia Coast) whose African ancestors were taken there as enslaved people years earlier.

Isolated from other enslaved Africans, the Gullah islanders form their own language and culture from the shards of their stolen heritage.

I didn’t want to tell a historical drama about African-American women in the same way that I had seen other dramas. I decided to work with a different type of narrative structure…[and] that the typical male-oriented western-narrative structure was not appropriate for this particular film. So I let the story unravel and reveal itself in a way in which an African Gullah would tell the story, because that’s part of our tradition. The story unfolds throughout this day-and-a-half in various vignettes. It unfolds and comes back. It’s a different way of telling a story. It’s totally different, new.

Watch the full movie on Netflix now.

‘Mossane’ is Senegalese film released by Safi Faye in 1996 and tells the story of an ambitious 14-year-old girl who wants more than the life her parents and community has to offer her.

Beauty and tragedy stand side by side when she decides to take matters into her own hands.

What’s your favourite movie?