Last week, I posted Daye’s thoughts on the process of creating and the role of creator in sharing stories. If you haven’t already, you should definitely read parts one and two! Make sure to head over to the Kickstarter page to view the trailer to Sweet, Sweet Country as well.
Sweet, Sweet Country has a week left on their Kickstarter campaign and it’s not broken the halfway point, yet. So, please support the work of beautiful Brown people telling beautiful Brown stories in anyway you can. Share the link to the Kickstarter page, share the links to these posts, share this story!
And now, the final part of our conversation.
Sweet, Sweet Country Teaser #2 from dehanza rogers on Vimeo.
The entire cast came together to bring this story to life. One of the film’s stars is Gbenga Akinnagbe from The Wire. On how she got him to play the role of Ernesto, Daye said, “He read the script and he liked it. He thought it was a solid story and he wanted to be a part of that story and that, for me, is amazing. I’m happy that I found amazing actors that believed in the story and wanted to be a part of it.”
So where’s this film going?
“This film is a small film. When people saw Gbenga Akinnagbe was attached they were all, “Whoa? How did you get the guy from The Wire?” It’s a pride thing for me to say, “He liked the story.” The first step for me, personally, is to get people attached who believe in the story.”
For Daye, it’s not enough to tell stories, which is one reason I love her. She understands the importance of networks and relationships with other creators, one of the many, many things I’ve learned from watching her work over the past year and a half.
I’m not gonna make big Hollywood films, but I’m going to make good films. I know I don’t fit what they want. The best I can do is continue to make films and support people who are making them. I’ve created a network for myself from the people at UCLA so when it’s time for me to make another film I know I can trust these people will be involved and that money isn’t the biggest factor to them. Now if there’s money involved and I have money, I’m instantly giving my crew money. But part of my goal is to find people in Los Angeles who want to work on stories. People need to support themselves and if you they are an artist you can’t expect them to always work for free. Especially in the community of Black filmmakers, it’s important that we support each other even if there’s no money involved. I’ve crewed for people at outside UCLA without getting paid and I hope when I need help they will be willing to help.
And why film school?
My goal in going to film school is to learn how to make films so I can go and help others learn to tell their own stories. I’m the daughter of immigrants from a small southern town, so I’m close enough to the story that I feel I can give it justice, but there are women who are refugees that can tell the story better than me. I want to give them tools to tell that story. I want to get these skills and go back to the community where I came from or go to another community and say, “Hey, this is how you make a movie, let’s sit down and make something together.”
I hope you’re as excited to see this project as I am! I hope Daye has inspired you to go out and create! Tell your story! And then come back to Afrolicious to tell us all about the stories you’re telling 