Diversifying American Cinema, Part 2
At yesterday's "Diversifying American Cinema" panel, which I moderated at the Tribeca Film Festival, I began by discussing a survey that indieWIRE has published on the topic. (As I mentioned last week here in the blog, I polled a group of indie film community insiders on the subject of ethnic diversity). In talking about the article, I read a comment from an indieWIRE reader who wrote:
I am a 19 year old African American filmaker, and I first contributed to the film world when I was sixteen. It is so sad that as a filmaker of color you have to worry about so much more, which can take away from your creative process.
I asked the panelists if they felt that same sense of 'so much more' to worry about as a person of color witiin the film industry. Their answers to that question, and others, underscored how diverse the viewpoints are within the small network of people of color who work in the movie business. This also comes across loud and clear in the indieWIRE survey on the subject. There is no consensus (and that's ok).
While Lisa Gay Hamilton powefully advocated that we must seek 'revolution' within the industry, Peter Kang advised that talent can and will be recognized no matter what its color, Wayne Wang touted small successes in diversifying even one position on a film crew and Chris Eyre said plainly that he tries not to think the obstacles, focusing his energy on the steps ahead and moving forward.
I've had various responses to the article and panel over the past 24 hours, reminding me that there are no simple solutions. But most agree that its an important topic to be exploring further. My only frustration is that the vast majority of the 75 people I emailed on the topic never bothered to respond at all, not even to say that they were too busy to spend the time to answer the questions.
Pictured at yesterday's panel (left to right next to me): filmmaker Wayne Wang ("The Joy Luck Club", "Maid in Manhattan"),writer/performer Lisa Gay Hamilton ("The Practice", "Beah: A Black Woman Speaks") Fox exec Peter Kang and writer/director Chris Eyre ("Edge of America").
1 Comment
Marlin Adams | May 10, 2004 3:27 AM
Eugene, in discussing the topic of diversity in film, you have touched on a topic that I have been living with over the last 16 years as a film professional that has successfully distributed, produced and represented a number of now classic films, programs and innovative artists of color. I dare say, the fact that you talked to 75 or so industry people but did not know of me, or hear about me or others like me, reflects the simple reality of a racial-cultural affinity business infrastructure that is concerned, rightfully so, with its own images, stories and acendancy. The truth of the matter is that the film business, and certainly the indie film business, was, for the most part driven by the idiosyncratic visions of individual auteurs, and the distributors that emerged to cater to audiences that appreciated those visions. These auteurs were supported by their own network of like-minded friends, family and business associates who understood the ideas and the fact that you have to "pay the cost" to be the boss. Unfortunately, the Black community in America is a completely dependant part of the mainstream American culture. It has NO business infrastructure that can support the creation and dissimination of its goods, services or ideas. Without a business infrastructure, the Black images and stories that do see the light, must conform to the White mainstream's idea of "marketable" and relevant stories that they WANT to tell. This means that stories like "Sankofa", a movie that my company, KJM3 Entertainment Group helped succeed, that tells the story of the "triumph of aggressive resistance to slavery and oppression", can be four-walled to the tune of over $2 million dollars, but be completely ignored by the mainstream business. And certainly the film that made KJM3 an important opportunity in '94, "Daughters Of The Dust", is the best example of a film aesthetic born out of the African-American experience that is concerned with its own historical and cultural imperatives, not with the White money that will have to be wooed in order to be produced. Daughters too grossed close to $2 million dollars because of the work of KJM3. But the absence of a Black business infrastructure is really not a bread-and-butter issue for White men in film; they have their own lives to live, stories to tell and aspirations to live out. The only real reason that White America should be interested in what "others" are doing is for the insight into the human condition that "other" realities provide, if only for the purpose of better preparing the Imperial West to effectively manage the social, political and economic marginalization of the rest of us, so aptly demonstrated in another KJM3 distributed film, Raoul Peck's "Man By The Shore." So, Eugene, the short answer to the question is, "You have to pay the cost to be the boss." Black people, as a completely DEPENDANT people in America, simply don't have the wherewithal to be the Boss.