Illusions (1982)

From the director of Daughters of the Dust and Four Women comes an award-winning drama about the reality behind the facade of WWII-era Hollywood. The film follows the story of a fictitious production studio and two African-American women in the film industry: Ester Jeeter, a singer who lends her voice to a white actress, and Mignon Dupree, a studio executive who appears to be white. Dash's film explores the struggles of these women to be recognized for who they are in the white-dominated Hollywood studio system of 1942, an industry that thrives on the art of illusion in every respect. Marcia Pally of the Village Voice praises, "[Illusions] cleverly uses film itself as a metaphor for the myths fostered by whites and men about Blacks and women." ~ Carrie Downes, Rovi