Isn’t it Ironic?
One is a name, the other is a label.
ABOUT
Why are black women often dismissed as angry when white women express their anger just as loudly? This documentary examines the media origins of this phenomenon in an effort to discover how these harmful tropes were formed and perpetuated. What impact does the ‘angry black woman’ continue to have in today’s world?
YEAR 2023
RUN TIME 9:39 Min
EMAIL brehaley2113@gmail.com Website:
CAST & CREW CREDITS
WRITER-DIRECTOR-PRODUCER Bri Haley
PRODUCERS Kit Scott | Dejarnae Ferrel
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Jiangshan Li
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Crystal Tubman
SOUND MIXER Youcef Menasria
EDITOR Steven Zhu
PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS Devyani Mahadevan
PARTICIPANTS
Karen Bowdre | Karen Hunter | Dr. LaShay Harvey | Mariah Johnson
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
My work has always been interested in questions around identity: what makes a person who they are, and what defines them? People are exceptionally complex, and to understand anyone you have to learn their background, influences, and get to know their habits.
As a filmmaker, I’m also attracted to media and to conversations that might be considered taboo. The idea for Isn’t It Ironic? came to me while scrolling through social media and seeing the influx of videos about “Karens.”
I saw that white women are only just now being labeled as aggressive while black women have carried that stigma for a long time, so I was inspired to make a documentary that asks why such a universal emotion is denigrated in one kind of person but not in the other.
DIRECTOR BIO
Bri Haley is a Baltimore native with a degree in English. She has long been interested in screenwriting and plans to pursue a career in television. She is also passionate about documentary filmmaking and showcased a short doc about her own personal journey to interrogate society’s glorifying a singular idea of pregnancy. She enjoys trying new foods with her family and binge-watching new TV series.
INTERVIEWS
FILM AND PRODUCTION STILLS
AWARDS
FULL FILM
Currently under 2-year embargo (2025)
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Bri Haley is a Baltimore native with a degree in English. She has long been interested in screenwriting and plans to pursue a career in television. She is also passionate about documentary filmmaking and showcased a short doc about her own personal journey to interrogate society’s glorifying a singular idea of pregnancy. She enjoys trying new foods with her family and binge-watching new TV series.
(Update provided in May 2023)