BEST DOCUMENTARY JURY AWARD - 2022 Portland Film Festival | Screened at Smithsonian American Art Museum
Female Street Artists • Latino / Latina Studies • Female Solidarity • Artistic Expressions • Urban Studies • Spanish Language • Women, Gender & Sexuality StudiesDate of Completion: 2021 | Run Time: 71 minutes | Language: English, Spanish, & Portuguese with French, Spanish, & Brazilian Portuguese subtitles | Captions: Yes | Includes: Transcript | Director: Alexandra Henry | Producers: Alexandra Henry, Jordan Noël Hawkes & Valiant Pictures | Executive Producer: Zahra Sherzad | Associate Producer: Some Serious Business | Editor: Simone Cassas
STREET HEROINES is an award-winning feature-length documentary celebrating the courage and creativity of women who despite their lack of recognition have been an integral part of the graffiti and street art movement since the beginning. With authentic vérité storytelling woven between an interview-driven narrative, STREET HEROINES juxtaposes the personal experiences of three emerging Latina artists from New York City, Mexico City, and São Paulo as they navigate a male-dominated subculture to establish artistic identities within chaotic urban landscapes.
Toofly, born in Ecuador and raised in Queens, NY, is determined to use her art to help others and embarks on a journey that leads her back to Ecuador after establishing a unique friendship with the first female of graffiti, Lady Pink. Fusca, a talented painter who moved to Mexico City inspired by its embrace of muralism, becomes dismayed by the machinations behind the urban art scene and is forced to reanalyze her passion. In the concrete jungle of São Paulo, Brazil Magrela expresses her feelings on the complexities of being a woman through vibrant colors and radical imagery painted across city walls only to one day be confronted by the very authorities that make her feel unwanted in the public space. Combined with historical anecdotes from pioneering artists including Lady Pink, Swoon, Lady Aiko, Nina Pandolfo and iconic graffiti photographer Martha Cooper, among others, Street Heroines is the first-of-its-kind documentary to capture the collective outcry of female street artists.
Educational Media Reviews Online | Reviewed by Jennifer Dean, Film Editor, Filmmaker, Film Curator
"Henry deftly touches on issues of politics, art and commercialization without being explicit or didactic."
Journal of International Women's Studies | Reviewed by Aditi Magotra
"[T]he documentary challenges the prevalent presumption that female graffiti artists produce soft, non-provocative art."
Santa Fe Reporter | Alex De Vore
“It should be shown to kids and in schools immediately.”
BUST
“This Documentary About Female Graffiti Artists will Ignite Your Creativity”
Film Threat (8/10)
“Street Heroines is an example of how fearless artists create opportunities to close the gender gap and celebrate cultural identity.”
Portland Tribune | Darleen Ortega
“The art dazzles and challenges, and so do the artists.”
AWARDS
Best Documentary Jury Award | Portland Film Festival
FILM FESTIVALS
Ljubljana Street Art Festival
Delas Fest
San Francisco Documentary Festival
Festival Ull Nu
Chicago Latino Film Festival
Sun Valley Film Festival
Filmfort @TreeFort Music Festival
Le Festival International Du Film Sur L’art
DART Film Festival Barcelona
In Latino
Bushwick Film Festival
Santa Fe Independent Film Festival
O+ Festival
Montana International Film Festival
Grenoble Street Art Film Festival
FECI Bogotá
SCREENINGS
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Museum of Graffiti Miami
STRAAT Museum