To Listen Is to Learn: A Conversation With Bethann Hardison

[Above: A still from Invisible Beauty]

By Stephanie Ornelas

Just get to know someone that doesn't look like you.

This was the response Invisible Beauty co-director Bethann Hardison gave to a teenage audience member who asked, What could you leave with us that you want us to hold on to?

The audience member was one of several young viewers who had burning questions for Hardison - the first Black high-profile fashion model and a trailblazing human rights advocate - at a special screening during the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

The zealous young audience made Hardison proud, she says in a Zoom interview. As someone who has worked for decades advocating for models of color - and championing diversity both on and off the runway - seeing the next generation so captivated by her film meant everything to her.

It told us everything. It was true to this moment. No matter how many festivals [we] go to and how many audiences, that was our favorite, says Hardison.

The 2023 Festival experience seems to have been a full-circle moment for Hardison, who's been a strong advocate for Black representation and who grew up in the rural South where segregation was the norm. When Sundance Institute organized a special screening in Salt Lake City for Utah high school students as part of its Utah Community Program just days after Invisible Beauty's world premiere, Hardison recalls stepping into the theater, fearing that an audience of teens wouldn't engage with a documentary about her life and career as a fashion industry pioneer and mentor to young people of color. She was afraid that they would find themselves wondering why they were even there in the first place.

Tessa Thompson, Bethann Hardison, and co-director Fr d ric Tcheng share a moment together on the Invisible Beauty press line. Photographer: Rachael Galipo But it was just the opposite, she explains. We went into the theater about 10 minutes before [the film] ended, and as soon as it was over, they started cheering. And then they all gasped when they heard the filmmakers were present in the theater for a Q&A.

It was such a sound, marvels Hardison. It was the most amazing sound. And when we got up there, they gave the longest standing ovation. I had to tell them, Okay, sit down now,' she laughs.

Audience members immediately lined up to have the chance to ask Hardison questions.

It just meant a great deal for us to know that there's an audience out there like that. We already had four or five screenings, and we had great responses. It was a very mixed audience, she says of the Festgoers who attended her premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. That was very interesting to us. But I think the teenage [audience] was the one that made us feel like we really had something.

If there's one thing Hardison wants viewers of her film to understand, it's that Invisible Beauty is not a fashion film.

There's no doubt about that. It's fashion-related, but many people have told me that it's also a civil rights movie, it's a women's movie, it's a parenting movie. It speaks to something in everyone.

The film features intimate interviews with Hardison and other well-known figures like Naomi Campbell, Zendaya, and Whoopi Goldberg, who talk about Hardison's cultural impact beyond the fashion industry. Using powerful archival footage, the film addresses racism not just on the runway, but across all industries throughout the U.S.

LINK:	https://www.sundance.org/blogs/to-listen-is-to-learn-a-conversation-wi...
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