Alile Sharon Larkin is a multifaceted artist-educator and award-winning independent film and video maker, with a career spanning over four decades.
Larkin's extensive teaching experience has taken her to various educational institutions, including 32nd Street/USC Visual and Performing Arts Magnet School, where she taught for over 20 years. Her teaching expertise ranges from pre-K to college level, and she has successfully integrated filmmaking into her interdisciplinary curriculum.
Throughout her career, Larkin has received numerous accolades for her teacher-produced films, which document students learning about various subjects, including textile arts, storytelling, yoga, jazz, women's history, Kwanzaa, and African-American dance. She has earned a total of 10 Video in the Classroom Awards for her outstanding work.
Larkin's feature film, "Your Children Come Back To You" (1979),presents a child's perspective on wealth and social inequality, and has been screened in the United States and Europe. Her critically acclaimed film, "A Different Image" (1982),explores the themes of self-identity, heritage, and perception through the eyes of an African-American woman. The film received widespread critical acclaim, earning her several awards, including first prize from the Black American Cinema Society, Best Production of 1981 from the Black Filmmaker Foundation, and runner-up for best short film at FILMEX. The screenplay of "A Different Image" was later published in "Screenplays of the African American Experience" (Indiana University Press, 1991).
Larkin's work has also been featured in several publications, including "Female Spectators" (Verso Editions, London),where her critical essay "Black Women Filmmakers Defining Ourselves" appears. She has also written the prologue for "Charles Burnett: A Troublesome Filmmaker" (Play-Doc Books, 2016),titled "Who Will Protect and Respect, Inspire and Nurture This Black Woman Filmmaker (For Charles and All the Brothers)".
In addition to her filmmaking endeavors, Larkin is the founder of Dreadlocks and the Three Bears Productions, a production company that creates Afrocentric and global multimedia and arts experiences for children and families. She has recently resumed production on her film "Tie-Dye" after a 26-year hiatus, featuring a multigenerational crew, including her son and granddaughter. The film celebrates everyday life through global black music genres, and the music is available on iTunes. Larkin hopes to complete the DVD for release in 2017.
