Little White Lie

Filmmaker Lacey Schwartz was raised by white Jewish parents in Woodstock, NY, who claimed she resembled a dark-skinned Jewish ancestor. As a college freshman, Schwartz learned that her biological father was an African-American man (her mother had an affair). Schwartz talks about the impact of this denial on her childhood self-image, even as her mother's silence ensured that no one in her extended family would publicly question her parentage. In high school, she was confronted by African-American girls whose confusion matched her own: “I wasn't trying to be white; I was white.” Not until Schwartz entered college—admitted as a black student based on the photograph submitted with her application—did she identify as black and learn how other black students experienced race in ways that she never had. Schwartz confronted her mother, now divorced from her dad, who admitted to the affair with an African-American man whom Schwartz had known all her life. Schwartz spent years recording her efforts to figure out who she was and why, keeping her white and black worlds separate throughout her 20s. She speaks directly to the camera and talks with friends and family who struggle to explain how they either failed to understand, or ignored, the obvious. With college friends, Schwartz discusses why she identifies as black despite being half white. Schwartz is a compelling on-camera presence and she has made a remarkably honest film about her quest to come to terms with her racial identity. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (M. Puffer-Rothenberg)