SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio – As The Color Purple premieres nationwide, here in Cleveland there is a group of organizers who have thought outside the box to provide viewers with a lasting memory.
The event took place Tuesday night at Atlas Cinemas Shaker Square Six, where the likes of Bette Bell-Beasley were in attendance.
“I have never seen The Color Purple and that is more than a privilege,” said Bette Bell-Beasley.
Bell-Beasley is one of many sitting in that crowd who tells News 5 she's not just showing up to see “The Color Purple” for the first time.
She says she was also there to support her niece, Honey Bell-Bey.
“I wanted to do more than just watch the film. Anyone can come and watch the film. “I wanted to have a venue where women in Cleveland could see the film for free with purple gift bags and make it a big conversation about trauma, recovery and healing,” Bell-Bey said.
Within what Bell-Bey calls a safe space, the goal of this event is to give women like these three panelists the opportunity to relax while providing better tools to help others like Wanda Coleman cope with traumatic events in to help their lives.
“I think it's important for women in general, but for black women in particular, to know that we are there for each other,” Wanda Coleman said.
“When it comes to health inequalities, we are still at the top. We are at the forefront of the things that are killing us because we don't talk about them. But can we come together and say, yes, we are breaking, but we are also healing,” Bell-Bey said.
Recent reports show that the remake of The Color Purple is set to have the biggest Christmas premiere of a film since 2009 since its premiere on Monday.
The film also made a name for itself as the second-biggest Christmas premiere of all time.
This makes Bell-Bey excited, but also asks himself the following question:
“What do we do after this moment? If women can come together for a film, they can come together for a movement,” Bell-Bey said.
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