'The Call-In' with Black Filmmakers [AUDIO]

AFFRM continues to expand on its services/offerings, launching its very first podcast series, which will feature conversations between AFFRM founder (and a filmmaker in her own right) Ava DuVernay, and black filmmakers from the diaspora.
Titled The Call-In, listen to DuVernay interview black filmmakers in what AFFRM describes as "casual, candid conversations focused on the craft," focusing especially on, not only the "why" questions of the filmmaking process, but also the "how."
Expect conversations that will cover almost every key stage of the production process, from writing to editing, going beyond questions of race and identity into the technical and creative process behind each filmmaker's work. —Shadow & Act

As of this publishing I've listened to all six of their podcasts and they're chock full of filmmaking knowledge. Ava asks questions about the filmmaking process that reporters just don't ask. She always gets to the essence of the filmmaking involved.

My favorite part of the podcast is when Ava asks the filmmaker about their physical presence on the set (like behind the monitors or near the actors). Every filmmaker gives a great and unique answer and makes it exciting listening.

You can check them out below.



Additional Links
I have written about AFFRM extensively on this blog since its inception. See all the posts here

Baltimore Shot Film '25 Years'

I had the pleasure to be at the Baltimore premiere of 25 Years.

The film, shot in Baltimore and Prince Georges County Maryland, was written and directed by Maryland filmmaker Derek L. Gray

About the film:

Mark and Drew Anderson weren't born brothers but, for two boys who had lost so much, so young, their parents union meant that they would have the unbreakable bond of brotherhood, love and support through each other for the rest of their lives. Well, at least for 25 Years...

Diagnosed with cancer and losing the battle, Mark struggles to hold everything together as his family begins to fall apart. 

The film is a clever blend of two narratives as it tells the story of how these two brothers...became brothers and also shows you what their lives are now.

Of course there's a lot of family drama and almost none of it is because one of the brothers Mark is dying. There’s good performances from the cast Phillip A. Stamp as Drew and Paul R. Sieber as their father Edward, but it’s the main couple Mark and his wife Reid who as you can imagine carry the weight of the picture. Monica Smothers as Reid does a good job at playing the wife who is supporting her husband as she knows he’s dying, but as you can imagine the Lead in the film Napoleon Rogers as Mark gives the most substantial performance. Rogers couldn't be at the Baltimore Premiere because he is now living in Los Angeles pursuing his acting career and I think that’s a good choice. He has the talent and should pursue it.

I really enjoyed this locally produced film and will be looking forward to more from Derek L. Gray.

You can read more about the film at http://www.dereklgray.com/

Why I Donated to AFFRM

I donated to AFFRM because I wholeheartedly believe in what they’re doing.

Founded in 2011, African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement a.k.a. AFFRM is a theatrical distribution entity powered by the nation’s finest black film festival organizations. The collective theatrically releases quality independent African-American films through simultaneous limited engagements in select cities.

Our mission at ‘Nother Brother Entertainment has always been to further propagate diverse images through development of films, and that means supporting others who do the same. The film reviews on this blog are here to highlight good black films and AFFRM is committed to doing the same.

They believe like I do that film should be seen on the BIG SCREEN and that means theatrically. Not just theatrically through staggered release around the country, but through simultaneous release. Their films open all around the country on the same day.

As you can imagine doing something like this isn’t free and it isn’t cheap. I’ve followed AFFRM online since its inception and they do a great job at promoting their films in a grassroots manner, so when it came time for them to raise money to further their mission I had to donate.

In reality, any film that makes it to the marketplace through “straight to DVD” and or VOD (Video on Demand) (digitally on televisions and other mobile devices) is great, but films were made for the cinema, the “silver screen” and AFFRM values that. I’ve also been trying online to get them to add a regular theatrical stop in Baltimore. I’ve been to many successful black indie film premieres here and I feel that there’s a market.

Anyway, I’m proud to join the other, so far over 600, AFFRM Rebels to help propagate black film!

Watch their video about becoming a Rebel below.

Click the graphic below to see the Rebel Wall of proud AFFRM Rebels

Additional Links
I have written about AFFRM extensively on this blog since its inception. See all the posts here

John Singleton on Hollywood's 'Slavery Zeitgeist'

GUEST COLUMN by John Singleton
The Hollywood Reporter, December 18, 2013

The acclaimed director on how Ryan Coogler's "Fruitvale Station," "Lee Daniels' The Butler" and Steve McQueen's "12 Years a Slave" were made outside the studio system, and what's next for African-American movies: "The chains on what can be made and what can't in Hollywood have been unshackled."

Director John Singleton on how 2013 has changed Hollywood's idea of commercial viability for African American-themed movies.

When Ryan Coogler, a newly minted USC film school grad, took his screenplay about the police killing of Oscar Grant to the Sundance Screenwriters Lab in January 2012, he had no idea what the next year would bring. Within six months, the work was in production in his native Oakland with seed money from a Chinese investor and other producers, including co-star Octavia Spencer. A year later, the picture won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance and went on a worldwide tour, garnering kudos at Cannes, Deauville and from the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Board of Review and the Independent Spirit Awards.

Not bad for a movie that cost less than a million dollars. The plain truth is, Fruitvale Station was made totally outside the Hollywood studio system and every ounce of the picture feels authentic. The lives of the people involved in the movie will never be the same.

This year has seen a number of films helmed by African-American directors that raise the bar and also many questions concerning the industry's historical outlook on what is commercial and what isn't. In a town where many executives hold six-figure positions and are basically hired to say no ad infinitum, several projects have been made outside the system and are finding commercial and critical success.

Legendary producer Laura Ziskin initially developed Lee Daniels' The Butler. The picture eventually found life with a phalanx of producers and financiers that included NBA ballplayer Michael Finley; Sheila Johnson, the ex-wife of BET's Bob Johnson; and producer Cassian Elwes. Golden Globes snubs aside, this picture will be the stuff of legend for all the success it has attained despite industry rules. What are those rules? It's black-themed, a period film and concerns the civil rights movement -- so it can't make money. Yet the $30 million movie has grossed close to $150 million worldwide with room to grow. Whatever the awards season outcome, The Butler will have changed the landscape of the industry in a positive way.

The clear awards frontrunner 12 Years a Slave never could have been made by a major Hollywood film studio. With all respect, it isn't the first to have been attempted on this subject matter. Several filmmakers over time have made slavery-based projects, albeit with fewer resources, to spotty results. What makes Steve McQueen's picture distinctive is its all-encompassing organic feel. Everything came together with this movie: the acting, by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong'o, among others; writing; McQueen's direction; Hans Zimmer's delicate, haunting score. It will be interesting to see how the "slavery zeitgeist" created by this picture plays out in the next year. One thing is for certain: The chains on what can be made and what can't in Hollywood have been unshackled.

RELATED

See other John Singleton Guest Columns on Hollywood here

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You can CLICK the graphic below to see all of our blog posts about diversity

The Best Man Holiday — Review

The Best Man Holiday 

Written & Directed by Malcolm D. Lee

Produced by Malcolm D. Lee, Sean Daniel and Spike Lee

Starring
Taye Diggs
Sanaa Lathan
Nia Long
Morris Chestnut
Monica Calhoun
Harold Perrineau
Regina Hall
Terrence Howard


Cinematography by Rogier Stoffers

Release date: November 15, 2013 (USA)

SYNOPSIS
After fifteen years, college friends reunite over the holidays and learn that not all their lives have gone in the directions they had hope.

REVIEW 
The sequel The Best Man Holiday is all about the performances and the performances across the board are fantastic! The actors in the ensemble return and have grown in the fourteen years since the last film, 1999’s The Best Man.

DVD cover for The Best Man (1999)

They were good actors then, but like their characters you can really see how they have matured. It is those actors that elevate the story into what could have been an average story of personal turmoil into a really heart tugging film. This film is more drama than comedy and thus the dramatic moments are really heartbreaking.  Yes the film is a real tear jerker.

Each actor of the ensemble gets their opportunity to shine and it all ties together in the main motifs of the film. What I liked about the film was its motifs of family, friendship, brotherhood and most importantly religion. There have been many other films with a religious component, but they often come off as heavy handed. Holiday dealt with it in a manner that was organic to the story, to the characters and tied into the first picture. A really great balance.

What may have led to the equilibrium of the dramatic and religious components was the comedy! Yes it’s “more drama than comedy”, but the comedy is really great and comes at just the right moments. The writer/director Malcolm D. Lee did a great job at making sure that as down as you may get by the dramatic elements, some comedy is coming to lift your spirits.

The Best Man Holiday is a really good picture that reunites a group of friends that we liked last time, but really grow to love and empathize with this time and perhaps look forward to seeing again.

SYD FIELD, screenwriting guru passes away.

I’m sad to hear about the passing of Syd Field (pictured left) who died yesterday Sunday, November 17th.

Field was one of my first entrees into REAL screenwriting. I was writing “scripts” before, but none lacked the proper screenwriting format.

I first heard about Field while studying screenwriting at Morgan State University. Field wrote eight best selling books on screenwriting and SEVERAL of his books were required text in several of my screenwriting classes.

In fact when anyone asks me about screenwriting I tell them get his book Screenplay, considered the bible of screenwriting.

3rd Edition of Screenplay

Many people think they know how to write a screenplay (for short or feature films) or a teleplay (for television series), but they don’t. It’s kind of a regimented format that should be mastered BEFORE trying to alter it with new storytelling techniques.

Syd Field broke down what it took to make a successful screenplay (in format at least, if not content) and for that I and millions of other screenwriters Thank Him. May he Rest in Peace.

                          DISSOLVE TO:

RELATED

You can read more about Syd Field's life in The Hollywood Reporter here

November 20, 2013
I took this picture of my bookshelf in honor of Syd Field. You can see my copy of Screenplay amongst my other screenwriting texts.

Al Pacino, Interviews — Book Review

Al Pacino by Lawrence Grobel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As Pacino himself writes in the Foreward “I had not yet said yes to our first interview, but when I read his interview with Marlon Brando on Brando’s island in Tahiti, I was impressed.” Since that day in 1979 when he agreed to the interview, the two have become good friends and over the years they did many casual interviews.

Through these nine interviews, all the way up to 2005, you can see what kind of friendship they have and what kind of love and dedication Pacino has for acting.

I personally became impressed, before reading this book, when I read several bits of trivia* about his role in Dog Day Afternoon.

"Although he had initially agreed to play the part of Sonny [In Dog Day Afternoon], Al Pacino told Sidney Lumet near the start of production that he couldn't play it. Pacino had just completed production on The Godfather: Part II and was physically exhausted and depressed after the shoot. With his reliance on the Method, Pacino didn't relish the thought of working himself up to a state of near hysteria every day."

I’ve seen The Godfather films dozens of times, but had only recently seen Dog Day Afternoon and I could not believe he did what I personally thought were his most phenomenal and disparate acting performances—back to back!

Even though he eventually accepted the role in Dog Day Afternoon "halfway through the production, Al Pacino collapsed from exhaustion and had to be hospitalized for a short time. After production was completed, he decided to stop doing films for a while and return to stage work."

I knew then that the man was acutely dedicated to his craft and that was one of the reasons he was so good at it.

Throughout the interviews in this book you get to witness more about his dedication to the craft and his express love of theater especially “The Bard of Avon” William Shakespeare. You could tell that even though he has made millions off of movie roles he could easily be just as happy touring the country doing theater. A fact his now old friend and writer stated as he wrote in the final chapter of the book. I have only quoted several passages below.

And yet, Pacino is different. He still can’t wrap himself around the idea of doing something strictly for the money…He can’t take the millions and run when the script doesn’t capture his imagination. He’s a throwback to a time when artists did what pleased them, what inspired them, and if anyone liked what they did, fine with them. But if they didn’t, it shouldn’t matter…Because it’s not about money. It’s never been about money, with Pacino. It’s about how he feels inside his body and his head. It’s about his art. And in age of commerce, Al Pacino just may be the last artist standing.

That pretty much sums up what I thought of Alfredo James Pacino after reading his interviews in this book. He is a dedicated an artisan as I ever seen.

COMMENTARY
I have to state that I WAS NOT looking for a book about Al Pacino, but when I saw this title and read a little more about it I just had to read about whom I think is the world’s greatest actor. I came to that conclusion after reading headlines about an October 2012 Time magazine article naming Daniel Day Lewis the “world’s greatest actor”. After some thought I thought “Did Al Pacino die?”.

Left to Right: Al Pacino in The Godther, Part II (1974)  and Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

I’m sorry, as I stated above his most phenomenal and disparate acting performances (in The Godfather, Part II and Dog Day Afternoon) were just that, phenomenal and disparate—back to back! Never have I seen such acting.    
     
*Trivia from IMDb, the Internet Movie Database.

View all my BOOK reviews