Nudity & Me

I finally got to talk about it

Jake-ann Jones put her trust in me as the director when she appeared nude in Naked Acts.

First, the naked truth: I’ve been away from Substack for two months because, well, life has been lifing. But also, this: I’ve been in deep development on a new, exciting project: I’m making another film! It’s a short that I’ll be directing this summer. Stay tuned in the weeks ahead for more on that…

Meanwhile, thanks to the rediscovery of my first film, Naked Acts, I’ve done a few press interviews for sites like Harper’s Bazaar, RogerEbert.com and The Moveable Fest.

But no one has really asked me to talk in-depth about the most naked part of Naked Acts: the nudity.

Luckily, artist Renee Cox was comfortable appearing nude in this sauna scene, while other actresses I auditioned said they couldn’t do it.

That is, not until the British came around asking! I was recently interviewed for the BBC Radio 4 show Screenshot. Co-host Ellen E. Jones framed my film as being ahead of its time in the ways it explores nudity on screen. She asked me some thought-provoking questions: what my inspiration was for exploring the topic; what it was like trying to cast Black actresses afraid to appear nude; and why it has always pissed me off that white actresses can do nude scenes without repercussions but the same isn’t true for Black actresses.

My segment begins around 15:30 minutes in; you can listen to it here.

It’s a fascinating episode overall that “lays bare the long, controversial history of nudity in film and TV, from shocking moments to those that reveal deeper truths about our vulnerabilities and desires.” Ellen’s co-host Mark Kermode talks to film critic Pamela Hutchinson and director Tim Mielants, whose film takes place in a nudist camp.

Black women’s nudity in film involves “such an interesting and complicated set of ideas,” Ellen noted during our discussion. “It’s strange to me that yours is one of the few films to tackle it.”

I agree.