even if you don't know this woman's name you certainly know her work her TV credits include Soul Food the fresh pabir moisha and Family Matters and that's just to name a few of her Productions now she's breaking new ground in the film industry with her new film The Rebel girls joining me is director writer and producer Felicia D Henderson Felicia so thank you so much for uh joining us here on black newvo uh first off let me just ask you just talk about this film The Rebel girls and what inspired you to make it thank you so much for having me first of all I appreciate this time with you um and thank you um so the rebel girls I call it my heart work because it is um the first time I've done work that I love you know I've done I've been privileged to do things that I really care about um and have been fulfilling and fun but the rebel girls is a whole new level for me because it's the first time I'm like I have to tell this story um meeting the real women I think uh from the first time I read the first article because I didn't know about the story before uh my friend Sarah finny Johnson introduced me to the story and I didn't know it and so I was inspired by the story as I was inspired by how many hours I found myself you know doing a deep dive to learn more about these women and to uh say you know why don't I know this story and everybody should know this story and by the time I met some of the survivors in person and spent time with them and my heart was so full I knew that I would do anything I had to to to get this story told so talk about what you want people to take from this story yeah you know what I really want it's very much contemporary in that way yes it's said in 1963 but the goal is not for you to take like a historical look back the goal is for you to sit with it right now the goal is for anybody who watches it to go wow if those girls could do that I can do anything if those girls can um that you know whoever you are male female black white for everyone if you have a dream if you have a goal if you don't know your own strength hopefully watching these girls will remind you that you know it's not so much about where you find yourself right now you can go anywhere that you let you and your big brain decide that you can go so that's really what it is about and it's also to tell you know hidden his history that um we are missing we often get to tell the stories or hear the stories or watch the stories of the great men of history but rarely do we tell enough stories about the great girls and the great women and the children of the Civil Rights Movement their story hasn't been told in film and television and arguably they helped um reinvigorate a movement that was whining before the children started to March children as young as 10 years old you know by the thousands are the reason that n national attention came back to the movement so we've talked a little bit about the work you've done given some of your titles and your credits where does this sit among what you've done what else makes it special and unique uh compared to everything else that you've done in some way I feel like everything I've done has led me to this moment um because I started in sitcoms right you named some of them um even on a serious drama I always am going to find some comedy it is just in my bones there's always going to be some comedy so that led me to this doing a show like soul food because these girls become very much a family when they're locked up so that has led me to this you know I've done more recently Empire The Punisher my last show on Netflix which was first kill all of these things whether they be action or complicated characters um they've led to this and of course I also directed this this is my you know film directorial debut it's the first one so all of it is led to this and so where this sits is probably even though it's a short film of 22 minutes it's my biggest accomplishment yet so what's next after this big accomplishment well now we've got to find a home for the bigger accomplishment um again this is a 22-minute film and yes um it is a standalone thing that works on its own but it's not the end it was never the goal for it to be the end the next step rather that be a limited a series on television or a feature film we're starting to get interest in both so we have to decide but the goal is to tell the full story of these girls that we just start the story with in the short film uh while we have a minute left is there anything else you want to share about the film or uh this work in particular um I would say I'm very very proud of this film um we have done so well we have won like seven of the nine festivals that we have been in we've been nominated for a humanitas award we're now in Oscar contention um so I would love people to just share the word about it um to um see it when it IT screens in your town um and just to know that it really is for everyone it really is contemporary it really is so that I can Inspire even you you watch it and I want you to know God like this is where I am and it's pretty cool but I can go anywhere I want to go from here Amen to that Felicia thank you so much for joining us here on black newvo thank you for having me I appreciate it and happy holidays to you happy holidays he