Naomi Campbell, Kimora Lee Simmons, Tyra Banks, Tyson Beckford were dazzling, barrier-breaking supermodels of color in the ’90s. But two decades earlier, Bethann Hardison burst onto French and American runways with a defiant strut and sui generis personality. The first Black woman to own a racially diverse modeling agency, Hardison called out fashion houses around the world (including Prada and Calvin Klein) for the lack of models of color in their shows and the exclusionary casting calls that had become rampant in the industry (“No Blacks, no ethnics”), while profiting from Black consumers. Co-directed by Hardison and Frédéric Tcheng (DIOR AND I), the film is part memoir, warts and all (with candid accounts from her son, actor Kadeem Hardison from A Different World), and part paean to an unsung hero.

Presented with support from the Richard Brick, Geri Ashur, and Sara Bershtel Fund for Social Justice Documentaries

Tickets are available at https://filmforum.org/film/invisible-beauty?gad=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoPLE8sbkgAMVgvKUCR0qaARLEAAYASAAEgJ_GfD_BwE.