I have been resolutely independent in my filmmaking for my entire career. Born in Detroit, where my working-class family had made a secure living in the auto factories, I grew up hearing stories of the union organizing that made America great a reflection of America’s great potential. When my parents divorced, my mother moved us to Ann Arbor where the winds of positive social and political change blew new ideas of empowerment into my life. We lived in a multi-racial housing project on the edge of town and my mom worked as a secretary to support four kids. So going to college was simply not on the agenda for us. Yet when I heard that City College was tuition-free and considered the Harvard of the Proletariat, I moved to New York, established in-state residency and enrolled in CCNY under Open Admissions. There I discovered women’s studies and cinema studies and was selected for the prestigious film production program, The Picker Film Institute.
Every film I have made since then embodies my life’s trajectory. My films have been shot around the world, each one crafted differently, each one using an intersectional approach. My directorial debut Before Stonewall, produced in part with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (PBS), eschews historical experts for first person oral history testimony, contextualized by archival footage. The Man Who Drove With Mandela, also funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, uses a dramatic monologue to portray its central character- a gay white South African theatre director who was arrested along with Nelson Mandela. As a director I immerse myself deeply in the time period and find a style and story structure that both embraces its historical era and makes it relevant to audiences of today.
While I feel I have a directorial signature, it is not a formulaic approach as I believe the hallmark of independent film is one’s directorial vision. Shaping a film to the dictates of a market defined by financiers (even grant-making bodies) has never been of interest to me. My most recent film The Land Of Azaba is a closely observed portrait of Europe’s largest ecological site; rather than include explanation via narration I allow viewers to feel as though they are there on the ground, immersed in this magical world.
The Five Demands uses multiple voices to tell our story. The messy contradictions and tensions among the students, including their gender struggles and pacifist vs. non-pacifist approaches, are explored in the film. Any social change involves a shift in emotional connections. For example, the assassination of Martin Luther King led not only to riots fueled by anger and despair, but to an emotional transformation of our characters. As one of our characters asks, “If a nonviolent preacher can be murdered in broad daylight, what about me?” What can I do to push back against racism?” These life-altering moments of epiphany are central to the film and reflect the style of compelling storytelling that continually inspires me as a director.