00:00Frank represents so many of us today that are living in a time and era where we don't feel free, where it's so hard to remind ourselves to activate, you know, freedom really is existing as you are, even in a space that tells you that you're not allowed to be.
00:20Hi, Kiki and Comet, how are you doing today?
00:23Good, good, how are you?
00:24How are you?
00:25I'm doing well, Rube Ruff with Essence.
00:28Just wanted to ask really quickly, I guess just starting off, this movie deals in the subject matter that a lot of people are kind of shying away from now, at least audiences.
00:37You know, a lot of people are saying they don't want to see slave narratives or, you know, they're calling it trauma porn, things of that nature.
00:43What is it about this project in particular that drew you to it and made you know that this was not necessarily more of the same?
00:51Well, I don't want to disrespect those other films because I do feel like everything has its space.
00:55And I specifically believe that it's more so people tired of seeing the same kind of telling of this history, because I think it's important that we actually look at history.
01:05I think it's important, especially for Black people, that they feel safe, that they can explore history in a way that's not going to make them feel bogged down and victimized.
01:14I think that the way that history or Black American history as it pertains to slavery is even told, I think that's a part of making us not want to talk about it.
01:22But it's important that we do feel interested because knowing history is how we get the power to make sure that those same things don't happen again.
01:29And I felt like Alice was able to tell a different perspective of this narrative and give new information while also being empowering and entertaining.
01:40Yeah. And this movie is not a it's not a movie about slavery in the 1800s.
01:46It's really a movie about being trapped and enslaved in any generation.
01:52And how do you get free from that, like in any time period, because it's people that are enslaved right now.
02:00It was it's people that was enslaved in the 70s and not physically, you know.
02:04So so I think, you know, what Kristen did was take that that situation and turn it into a whole nother perspective by, first of all, showing that this existed during the 70s when somebody thought, you know, didn't even know that slavery was abolished.
02:23But also watching someone discover their freedom is like, yo, how can we discover our freedom now, like right now, like today, what we did with all the things that we've dealt with and even personally, how can we discover our freedom?
02:38I think, you know, she told a story in a in a joyful way, in a way that like you think is one thing.
02:44It's like if somebody starts telling you a story, you're like, OK, I don't want to hear this story.
02:48And then they go somewhere else. You're like, oh, wait, hold on. This is incredible. Wait, I know you're going to go there.
02:53That's what I think, you know, this this film does to a certain degree, especially for those who have felt that way.
03:00And like Kiki said, I want to because I honestly probably fell in part of that category of somebody who's like, man, I don't want to watch slave movies.
03:08Dang, dang, I ain't doing that. And, you know, to be a part of this and see where it went and to read the script, I was like, oh, this is this.
03:15It kind of blew my mind where Alice went to. And I think, you know, it's just one of those things where be patient.
03:22You never know where things may end up, you know, and that's where Alice ended up somewhere great.
03:27And to Common's point, I just want to touch on with his character, Frank, the poetry between his character and Alice to me is obviously it's the main part of the movie.
03:36But Frank represents so many of us today that are living in a time and era where we don't feel free, where it's so hard to remind ourselves to activate.
03:47You know, freedom really is existing as you are, even in the space that tells you that you're not allowed to be.
03:53And that's hard when you keep getting so many subliminal messages that you can't exist as you are, where you need to assimilate, where you can't, you know, where you got.
04:04I mean, the concept of code switching, the concept of not being able to rock your natural hair in the workplace, the concept of, oh, you can go to jail at any moment.
04:12And all of those things are what reminds the black people definitely in America that I'm not allowed to exist in a happy space.
04:20I'm not allowed to truly be at peace.
04:22And so Alice, who actually experienced actual slavery, her once she's heard the words that she's free and she's got the knowledge, Homegirl said, I'm out.
04:33And she's like, Frank, you know what I mean?
04:35Like, don't you get it?
04:36But Frank is representative of, I think, so many of us today.
04:39And so I love the way that she used the time period and the storyline metaphorically to say something to the audience, which is, if your ancestors could do that, you can do this.
04:50That's very, and I know they're going to say time, but I want to tell you one other thing, because, you know, what Kiki said is really important because the black American experience is a whole different experience, right?
05:03It's a different experience.
05:05I'm in London right now, and it's a certain freedom that I see black people walk around with because they haven't dealt with like, and I'm not saying that, look, I mean, you can ask some people in London, they'd be like, listen, we're dealing with some of the stuff, you know, some of the racism.
05:19But it's not to the level of where you feel like your body can be removed from the planet because you are black, you know, it's not to the level of where like they are just like killing, taking you off the planet and like just all type of strategies against holding you down.
05:39There's classism and those things, but we're talking about straight, like hatred and racism that the black American has experienced is so different.
05:47Yeah, the country being built on that.
05:50On that.
05:51The country being put on that.
05:54Systemically, yes.
05:55On that.
05:56So to find freedom from that, it's like, man, it takes a whole lot, but that's the strength that we do have.
06:02And Alice displayed that strength as a black woman.
06:05And so this is something to celebrate, like this, this film is something to celebrate, like as a woman, black women, and just, you know, just finding your own freedom.
06:14I really am inspired by it.
06:16Thank you both so much.
06:17You know, they've cut me off.
06:18So thank you both.
06:19Yeah, sorry.
06:20We were inspired by our questions.
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