Kinyarwanda interweaves six different tales that together form one grand narrative that provides the most complex and real depiction yet presented of human resilience and life during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
Grace Gipson (Medium Rare/ Black Savant Cinema) spoke with filmmaker Alrick Brown about the reasons behind bringing this kind of story to the big screen and his role in the film industry.
Grace Gipson: I noticed that you have a background in English and Education and was curious on what made you decide to become a filmmaker?
Alrick Brown: I wanted to have a bigger classroom and film was a way to reach more people. But I have always admired film, I have always loved it and I am always going to be a teacher and an activist and film is just the way for me right now. I am a writer, I’m a bunch of things, so yeah I guess film is the medium.
GG: How were you able to make sure that each of the tales had an equal voice to form the overall narrative?
AB: I didn’t think about it in a sense of equal voice because your always going, when your watching a film you have to know whose perspective it is, whose story it is. And I knew it was the young girl’s story basically and the young boy’s story and all the other stories/elements gave you perspectives on this historical event. However the even weight that you are speaking of is just making sure that the audience cares about all of the characters. You either fall in love with them, listen to them, respect them, or just care what happens to them.
GG: Being a filmmaker of color do you feel obligated to bring such stories as Kinyarwanda to the big screen?
AB: Well it’s an interesting question because I’m Jamaican born grew up in Jersey, I’ve lived in France, lived in Africa and this film isn’t essentially an African film. I was working with Rwandans to make it, so it happens to be black characters, African characters and an African American lead actress Cassandra Freeman (who plays Lt. Rose), but otherwise you know it’s a strong story. As a filmmaker I try to tell good strong stories to humanize and I’m always going try to make sure to portray African American people in the best light to kind of counter the history of negative portrayals, but I just want to tell good stories. As an African American filmmaker I do have a responsibility since I do have a camera and the voice, I do have a responsibility that I make sure that I am doing something meaningful when putting our people on screen.
GG: Do you see any obstacles as an African American filmmaker?
AB: There are tons of obstacles. Hollywood is a sexist, racist place and it won’t admit to that openly. You can see examples of certain black people who have excelled and you look at the numbers and you look at the statistics, it is still a very low number of us who participate. A young white filmmaker can get an easier deal sometimes. Filmmaking is a tough business for anyone black or white but you know just like the Depression hits an entire economy, it still hits the black people and poor people harder. So if it’s tough already, then just imagine what it is for a black filmmaker or female filmmaker. Our European counterparts can make a bad film here and bad film there and over the years have gotten more chances and so they can still take that risk.
GG: So with Kinyarwanda being considered an indie film by mainstream Hollywood standards, if you had the chance to make bigger budget films, for example, The Help, would you and why or why not?
AB: I’m a filmmaker and I look for any opportunities where I can tell good stories and I try to bring my own personal humanity and my level of craft to any project that I do, irrespective of what the project is or whether it’s a studio or not. The real question is will they let me be myself, will they let me tell the story in a way that I’d like to tell it? I haven’t see The Help, I heard it’s a good movie, but again it’s another example of how we have to be, we can’t just tell a story about black people where we need a white character to mediate the experience. So the black characters are caught up in the Hollywood system and they get comfortable and they say that otherwise people will not see the movie and it’s true the way people have been socialized in this culture. When you don’t have the white character to help along the journey it’s harder to sell it. I just want to tell good stories, whether it’s in the studio, whether it’s independent or a short film. And if I have a short film in mind I’m going to grab my camera and I’m going to make it. I’m not going to be a slave to the system because the system dictates me to be a certain way.
GG: What do want viewers to gain or take away after watching Kinyarwanda?
AB: You know, there’s a couple of things. Rarely do you get a film of this… and I will say caliber because we are often criticized for not having quality on the screen, when we do political things, when we deal with African Americans or African American subject matter. I think the quality is there and that’s a testament to my cast and crew and all the work we put in to it. It’s easier to get a film made but it’s harder to get them seen. So you know people are getting what they asked for, and I wish our numbers were higher and I wish more people are going out to theaters because they can’t complain now about not giving them what they want. Its there…it’s an alternative to Tyler Perry, it’s an alternative to other things. On a purely human and spiritual level this film deals with religion and the whole positive portrayal of black people, positive portrayal of Islam. It does so many things, it infuses the idea of forgiveness as opposed to vengeance. So I would hope that this film does something that makes forgiveness a part of the dialogue.
GG: What do have to look forward to in new and upcoming projects?
AB: I just wrapped on an ABC episode of a new series out early next year called Final Witness that’s going to be airing on prime time. And then I’m gearing up to start work on a new film called Somebody to Love. It’s a quaint little piece set in the US. It’s a little bit more relaxed. It’s a love story and soul music is at the heart of it.
GG: I thank you and wish you success with this film and your future endeavors.
AB: Thank you very much. I very much appreciate it.
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