Julie Dash is a filmmaker best known for her 1991 classic and influential film Daughters of the Dust. She was part of the L.A. Rebellion, a group of UCLA filmmakers including Dash, Haile Gerima, and Charles Burnett who made iconoclastic independent films in the late 70s and 80s. Dash’s short film Diary of an African Nun, based on an Alice Walker story, won a student award from the Directors Guild of America. Dash also directed Funny Valentines and the Rosa Parks Story. She was also part of the all-women directing roster of Ava DuVernay's drama series Queen Sugar on OWN.