Naked Acts depicts conflicts surrounding the expectations of bodies in intimate settings on screen, in real life, and in the mind. Writer/director Bridgett M. Davis sets out to examine the impact on self-image of “the dominant film portrayals of Black women in this country’s cinematic history” and “to get beyond the limitations placed on our bodies by our racialized past.” Celebrated as a key film in the canon of independent cinema by African Americans in the 1990s, the film was included in the seminal anthology The 50 Most Influential Black Films by S. Torriano Berry.