Lip

Directed by Tracey Moffatt and Gary Hillberg
US
1999
10 mins
Video
Colour

It is Hollywood's favourite role for black women: the maid. Sassy or sweet, snickeringly attentive or flippantly dismissive, the performers who play them steal every scene they are in, and Tracy Moffatt¹s entertaining video
collage reveals the narrow margin Hollywood has allowed black actresses to shine in. But shine they do.

Giving lip is proven an art form in these scenes from 1930s cinema to present-day movies featuring a remarkable roster of undervalued actresses and their more celebrated white co-stars.

Moffatt and Hillberg¹s rough, no-budget assembly effectively highlights with familiarity and humour the disturbing realisation of how black characters and white characters still interact on screen, under Hollywood's eternally
backward eye.