The year 1896 marked the birth of the film industry. Yet, it was not until 93 years later that a major Hollywood film company produced a feature-length film by an African American woman. It took another two years for a film by an African American woman to be nationally distributed. To honor these often overlooked filmmakers, the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) presents Sisters in Cinema— a yearlong film series, celebrating the work of African American women.

The Sisters in Cinema series centers around Yvonne Welbon’s documentary of the same name. To kick off the monthly series, Welbon will attend her documentary screening on Thursday, February 23 at 7 p.m., 1250 New York Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. After noticing the absence of African American women filmmakers in the Hollywood film industry, Welbon sought out her sisters in cinema elsewhere. Her quest traces African American women filmmakers from the early 20th century to the present.

NMWA Film and Media Arts Programmer KJ Mohr explained, “I was really surprised and kind of alarmed the first time I saw Yvonne’s Sisters in Cinema. This is such an important documentary and it’s so exciting to have Yvonne Welbon with us to kick off this one-of-a-kind series.”

After the screening of Sisters in Cinema the museum will follow Welbon’s path back to the beginning of African American women’s film. Recently discovered and restored footage of ethnographic films by Zora Neale Hurston will be shown on Wednesday, March 8. The featured footage, which has been restored by the Library of Congress and dates from 1927-1928, focuses on African American life in the rural South and religious trances in the Sanctified Church of Beaufort, South Carolina. The program is made possible thanks to the donation of prints by the Library of Congress and will be presented by film preservationist Arlene Balkansky.

Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust 1991 feature film, screening on Wednesday, May 31, is the first film by an African American woman to be nationally distributed. From the perspective of an unborn child, this film centers around the Peasant family living on islands off the coast of Georgia. Set at the turn of the century, the community maintains its traditional language and religion.

On Wednesday, June 21, NMWA presents Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. by Leslie Harris, the first film by an African American woman to be distributed by a major company. The story focuses on high school student Chantel Mitchell who wants to overcome her impoverished upbringing as she copes with teenage pregnancy.

Directing Down in the Delta fulfilled one of Maya Angelou’s lifelong dreams. It is the sixth film in the Sister in Cinema series, screening on Wednesday, July 26. Despite running a girls’ film school several decades earlier, Angelou’s first opportunity to direct a major Hollywood film did not come until 1998; she was 70 years old. Down in the Delta tells the story of a down-and-out Chicago mom who takes her family to the South where they learn their family history.

The Stranger Inside directed by Cheryl Dunye intelligently looks at life within a women’s prison. It tells the story of Treasure, a young girl searching for her incarcerated mother and will be screened on Wednesday, August 30. Filmmaker Coquie Hughes, the only African American woman to direct four feature films, will attend the screening of her film If I Wuz Yo Gyrl on Thursday, September 27. The film examines domestic abuse in both heterosexual and homosexual relationships.

Jessie Maple’s Will signifies the first post-civil rights era film directed by a black woman. Released in 1981, NMWA will present it on Wednesday, October 18. To close the series, NMWA hosts Zeinabu Irene Davis on Wednesday, November 29 as she debuts her film Trumpetistically, Clora Bryant. This documentary follows the life of jazz trumpet player Clora Bryant, active in the Los Angeles jazz scene during the 1940s and 1950s.

Tickets are $5 general admission and $4 for students, visitors 60 and over and NMWA members. Reservations are recommended and can be obtained by calling 202-783-7370 or emailing reservations@nmwa.org.