Cannes Lions
PARKWOOD ENTERTAINMENT, New York / PARKWOOD ENTERTAINMENT / 2021
Overview
Entries
Credits
Background
This film began as a music video and became part of a series released on Disney +. Jenn Nkiru, Kwasi Fourdjour and Beyonce dreamed up the creative for this video together and brought it to life shooting in London and Los Angeles over 4 days.
Idea
Brown Skin Girl is a music video that aims to capture the mosaic of faces and souls that fall under the category of its very name. Across boarders, socio-economic classes, celebrity, and anonymity this film attempts to capture a multitude of personas and character set to the wonderful and entertaining music of Beyoncé. This concept becomes doubly entertaining and relevant as it engages the present day conversation about representations of race, ethnicity and the celebration of these subject’s empowered humanity.
Strategy
The filmmakers sought to capture a wider array of faces and ethnicities than was previously understood by mass media. The portrait directed by Beyonce and Jenn Nkiru was intended to be personal and touch on the mother daughter relationship as an inversion of the classic father son narrative of the Lion King.
Execution
The films were released on Disney + in order to bridge a gap to a new audience in two ways - invite the Beyonce fan into the Disney + realm and then secondly to invite the Disney + viewer into a more complex and artistic presentation of ethnicity.
Outcome
The outcome is rather unquantifiable, however the filmmakers feel that showing various brown skin people on such a large stage is an effort, however big or small, at creating greater unity and understanding. Brown Skin Girl did win best music video at the 2021 Grammy’s as well which is a great recognition and outcome.
Alongside the grammy win it has also won:
CICLOPE 2020: GRANDS PRIX AWARD 2020
https://www.ciclopefestival.com/2020-winners-2020/
Soul Train Award – Best Video of the Year 2020
https://www.etonline.com/2020-bet-soul-train-awards-the-complete-winners-list-156959
NAACP Image Award – Outstanding Music Video/Visual Album 2021
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Skin_Girl#Awards_and_nominations