‘Black Barbie’ Doc Lands at Netflix, Shondaland

Black Barbie: A Documentary, which particulars Mattel’s introduction of a Black doll to its Barbie assortment and the ladies that introduced it to life, has landed at Netflix and Shonda Rhimes‘ Shondaland.

Lagueria Davis directs the doc and produces alongside Aaliyah Williams.

The logline for the challenge reads: “Black Barbie celebrates the momentous affect three Black girls at Mattel had on the evolution of the Barbie model as we all know it. Via these charismatic insiders’ tales, the documentary tells the story of how the primary Black Barbie got here to be in 1980, analyzing the significance of illustration and the way dolls may be essential to the formation of identification and creativeness.”

A piece-in-progress reduce of the movie premiered at SXSW 2023. The Hollywood Reporter‘s overview out of that pageant reads: “Matters of dialog embody the Barbie vlogs on racism through the peak of the 2020 protests and feeble makes an attempt to present Black Barbie her personal tales. Fascinating as these topics are, there’s a breathless high quality to their unfolding right here — an comprehensible effort to say as a lot as attainable inside a restricted operating time.”

Rhimes and Betsy Beers act as govt producers on the doc, which was acquired beneath Shondaland’s cope with Netflix.

Grace Lay and Sumalee Montano for LinLay Productions, Camilla Corridor for Girl & Hen Movies, Milan Chakraborty, and Jyoti Sarda additionally govt produce.

Netflix and Shondaland have landed Black Barbie as the long-lasting toy model stays within the zeitgeist with the discharge of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. That film, which stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, is the highest-grossing movie of the yr, incomes over $1.4 billion on the field workplace.