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Catching
up with the director of the best Black film of the year
By
Kam Williams
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Independent filmmaker Dennis Leroy Moore (D.L.M.) was born in
Flushing, New York in 1976 and raised there by his parents, who
hail from Port of Spain, Trinidad. With a background in
classical theatre, Moore worked actively as a theatre director
after leaving the Juilliard Conservatory in 1997.
A member of LaLutta Media Collective, he is a proponent of a New
Black Cinema that is at once personal and political, and which
seeks to challenge the status quo in terms of the representation
of Black people in movies.
His first feature film, As an Act of Protest, is a
baroque and scathing epic about the psychological effects of
racism and the insanity it creates. It first premiered in Los
Angeles at the 2002 Pan African Film Festival, and he is
currently waiting to hear back from the FESPACO Film Festival
(Africa’s largest and most important film festival, held in
Burkina Faso).
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K.W.:
How did you come up with the idea for the movie?
D.L.M.: The killing of Amadou Diallo in 1998 had a major
impact on me as did Guiliani’s entire reign of terror in NY. I
was severely depressed because it seemed to me that racism was
more accepted now than it had ever been and to deny that would
be to deny reality.
I wanted to create a film that was a missile from the angry,
confused, and alienated Black youth in America and declare
“Yes, we are angry. We have a right to be and this is why.”
I basically wanted to make a film that was as bold as a Public
Enemy record and as layered as a John Coltrane solo.
K.W.:
How hard was it getting this movie made? What was involved?
D.L.M.: It wasn’t hard, but it was stressful. Anytime
you’re dealing with a dense script, seldom-seen emotions and
ideas concerning Black people, and the dynamics of racism,
you’re going to have problems.
But I had a wonderful producer, Melissa Dymock, and she trusted
me and felt that we could easily raise at least half the budget
and then max out credit cards for the other half. Where things
got complicated was with hiring a crew. It took a lot of coaxing
to get some of these film school brats to try different methods
of filmmaking and adhere to my vision.
K.W.:
How many other Black writers are there creating complex
characters to tell as sophisticated stories?
D.L.M.: In America there are only a few I know, but the
problem is that most of them are unknown because they are not
mainstream, Hollywood players. The ones that first come to mind
are: Kasi Lemmons, Cauleen Smith, Wendell B. Harris, Julie Dash,
Haile Gerima, and Charles Burnett obviously.
However, if Bill Gunn had lived and had been allowed to make the
types of movies he wanted, he would have created an impressive
body of work. His radical first feature, Ganja & Hess,
is amazing. One of the most complex works of film.
K.W.:
Why wasn’t Hollywood interested in producing or distributing your
film? D.L.M.: Because the film was perceived as being ‘too
Black’ and ‘anti-white’ and the script was so dense and
full of all these obscure Black theatre references. Also,
there’s no way anyone in Hollywood is going to support the
“murder of a white boy” by a Black man at the end of a movie
and have him get away with it. The ending was way too open-ended
for Hollywood types.
K.W.: What message are you trying to deliver with this film?
D.L.M.: If you oppress and push people to the edge, they
will be forced to retaliate. The film is an expressionistic
tableaux of Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth. And, if you
take away the artist’s materials or ability to express himself
positively and creatively, he will have no choice but to
destroy.
K.W.:
Do you see yourself a writer, actor or director first?
D.L.M.: I have a singer-songwriter approach to the art of
filmmaking.
I’m a director first, but I think I write well also. I think
it is important for the director to create his own material. As
an actor, I’m just an extension of what I envision as a
director. Some roles you realize you have to portray yourself
because no else can do it as well as you.
K.W.:
Where do you see yourself heading from here? To Hollywood to act in
a typical TV sitcom? D.L.M.: Oh no, I would never be able to go to Hollywood
and act. Especially in a sitcom. I don’t think I’d know how
to market myself and I don’t think they’d keep me around for
my looks.
Don’t get me wrong, I want to make money like anyone else, but
I never felt comfortable in those settings. I’ve been hired to
be the cinematographer for playwright Marvin X’s first feature
film, Sgt. Santa, about a manic depressive Vietnam Vet,
and I’m still trying to interest some producers in a
commercially-viable gangster screenplay, Goin’ a Buffalo,
about a bunch of Black conmen, which is based on Ed Bullins’
original play.
I also have just finished a script intended to be my next film
called The Desperate Ones, about love, family, war, and
suicide.
K.W.:
Would you make another movie that might receive critical acclaim
but can’t get distributed?
D.L.M.: Yes. I have to express myself and the minute you
give up, they’ve won. In a year, we hope to be selling and
distributing copies of the film ourselves over the Internet and
on the street. If I can incur some interest from the guys with
long money that’s great, but I can’t wait around for Miramax
to help me.
K.W.:
Do you think Black people would support a movie like yours, if
they knew it existed? D.L.M.: Yes. Some may not necessarily like it, of course,
but I do believe the people will always take some interest in
new works of art and different ways of representation.
K.W.:
What
do you think of most Black-oriented movies?
D.L.M.: Obviously, the ones that Hollywood promotes as
being ‘Black’ movies are terrible. Insulting and backward on
nearly every level. But, if you are patient and seek out work
among the avant-garde and the independents, every now and then
you’ll find a gem.
What is very important is that this new wave of Black filmmakers
emerging really stretch their minds and cultivate dialogues
regarding aesthetics of Black art. What this has meant
historically is that they study everything under the sun from
Oscar Micheaux to Melvin Van Peebles to Djibril Diop Mambety.
For more information about As an Act of Protest, visit www.asanactofprotest.com.
Moore and John Brown X Productions, LLC distribute the film,
which is available for $30 for individuals and much less for
media, arts, or educational organizations.
If you like this interview consider making a donation
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update 1
July 2008 |
