Purple Flower Films
Monday, April 21, 2008
9:00 to 10:30p
1.712.432.1699, code: 906980#
Playback: 1.712.432.1286, code: 906980#

Asperger Girls is a documentary which chronicles the lives of two African American women with Asperger's Syndrome (AS), a form of autism. Interwoven through the women's day to day stories are interviews with other black women who have AS. 

Debra Robinson, a Film/Video Artist, sees herself as filling an experiential void in filmmaking. The comments and questions from observer's after screenings have been charged with the excitement of experiencing a new voice as she realizes a new artistic level and feels the confidence of her passion and art as a perfect path for her. 

Debra processes her life experiences through art with art expressing as an indelible passion in her life. Her first film was an entertainment documentary about African American women comedians. During the time she developed the idea, she was working out her path as an African-American woman filmmaker. The road seemed to be one of pioneering and invention. Through the documentary, she was able to find her own voice as the comediennes collectively expressed her perceptions when they spoke about their lives. 

The second film, "Kiss Grandmama Goodbye" is a narrative about a young black girl growing up in the Midwest during the sixties and her first experience with death.  It is based on a short story in which Debra identified with the character of the girl living in the Midwest. The film allowed her to circle back to her childhood and see it in an idealistic vision.  

Her most recent production picks up again on memory and how it manifests in the present.  She chooses to explore memory (individual and race) and how it alters lives.  From a personal perspective, Debra wants to look back, find a path and a beginning for processing her current and future life expereinces. "BRAIDS, TWISTS & LOCS" is both narrative and documentary.  As a Film/Video Artist, she uses subjective perception to search the reason for recurring episodes in  life situations. The documentary segments are guidestones that make the eperience more accessible. 

Now Debra finds herself coming full circle and planning a new documentary project where she can express her current experiences as a video artist. She uses what she has learned working in the medium to develop a personal style.  She senses it as going to the beginning and working through the creative cycle again. As she repeats this cycle a new clarity is unearthed and the expressions simplified. 

"My palette of interests focuses on subjects that involve African women throughout the Diaspora. This includes Hispanic, Caribbean, and African women from the continent. I believe our understanding of ourselves as women and our universal purpose has a direct relationship to healing as a people. Through my work I want to explore ordinary lives and find threads of commonality that create our history, politics, culture and art.  To broaden my scope I am exploring every vehicle available to find niches and the most viable presentation for my work. This includes traditional venues in the theater as well as broadcast to all the outlets for video (installation, Internet, CD, DVD and whatever is to come). 

Learn more at: purpleflowerfilms.com. Please support this project by purchasing the DVD as a fundraiser to ensure the production of this documentary. 

Debra Robinson is our guest speaker Monday, April 21.She will tell us more about the African American women who experience life through Asperger Syndrome and her passion.  

Join us:

Monday, April 21, 20o8
9:00 to 10:30p
Call-in number 1.712.432.1699, code 906980#

We thank you beyond words for your support of our work in collaborating and advancing theworks of others. 

"Adanna" Gloria, Principal Facilitator
Restoration Teleconference
678.468.8417