You Can’t Stop Spirit centers the Baby Doll Mardi Gras masking tradition: a group of self-liberated Black women who created an alternative social space where they are encouraged to be free.
“I became intrigued by the dolls while studying at Xavier University of Louisiana, by how this group of women gave themselves permission to be free. They were fierce and unapologetic in their self-liberation, challenging how they were expected to exist in society. Their rich personal stories also contained wisdom about how to thrive and live a life of purpose and about what is possible when people of the African diaspora claim full permission to take on a different identity. Masking traditions like these are a way of setting oneself free in the hope of coming closer to one’s most authentic self.”
-Vashni Korin, Filmmaker
Major funding for POV is provided by PBS, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Wyncote Foundation, Reva & David Logan Foundation, Open Society Foundations and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding comes from Nancy Blachman and David desJardins, Bertha Foundation, The Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Charitable Trust, Park Foundation, Sage Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Chris and Nancy Plaut, Abby Pucker, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee and public television viewers. POV is presented by a consortium of public television stations, including KQED San Francisco, WGBH Boston and THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG.
