Netflix and Shondaland announced today that the two have acquired the rights to Black Barbie: A Documentary. The film premiered during SXSW earlier this year.
Black Barbie was directed by Lagueria Davis. The film explores the journey that three Black women at Mattel had in order to bring the first Black Barbie to shelves. The three women had a large impact as well on the growth of the Barbie brand throughout the years.
With commentary from several industry experts, the documentary tells the story of Mattel in 1980, and “examined the importance of representation and how dolls can be crucial to the formation of identity and imagination,” the logline reads.
“Telling Black Barbie’s story has been such a personal journey and it warms my heart to celebrate the legacy of my aunt Beulah Mae Mitchell, Kitty Black Perkins, and Stacey McBride Irby in our film,” Davis said in a statement. “We couldn’t have asked for better collaborators than Shondaland and Netflix to bring this story to the world.”
Black Barbie: A Documentary is executive produced by Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers for Shondaland, Grace Lay and Sumalee Montano for LinLay Productions, Camilla Hall for Lady & Bird Films, along with Milan Chakraborty and Jyoti Sarda. Producers also include Aaliyah Williams for Just A Rebel, Lagueria Davis for Lovely Day Films.