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.

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