00:00We all have a responsibility. And I want to take that responsibility on so that the correct stories, the right stories that should be told, like this one, are in the right hands. And it needs to be in our hands in order for it to be done properly. You know, I don't want other people to be speaking over our things. I want us to be able to take it into our hands and say, actually, now this is the way it needs to be done. We're going to have to fight hard in order to keep it all and keep it authentic and keep it in there.
00:25But I'm really glad we had a leader in Gina and in Viola who were able to fight for us and make sure the world is learning correct and true representation of these women who were actual real people.
00:46Thank you all so much for taking the time to speak with me today. And thank you two ladies for being on our beautiful cover that just released yesterday.
00:53I did have a question to pose to all three of you, really.
00:59So many movies that are, well, American-made movies that are focused in this particular time frame kind of focus on the struggles Black people have been through and like some of the things that we've survived.
01:10But I feel like your film kind of shows things from the other side and more of our dealings with each other more so than with opposing forces for each of you and in whichever order you prefer.
01:19What does it feel to be part of a project like this that kind of falls outside of that whole, you know, struggle movie stereotype that so many people are, you know, kind of done with these days?
01:28I think one of the really beautiful things about this film is that it is set on the continent, was made on the continent and features so many different people from all over the Black diaspora around the world.
01:42And, you know, we said earlier today, like, there are so many opportunities to tell stories about us.
01:52There's so many of us in the world and we're all, you know, we're all similar and bound in one sense, but we're all very different as well.
01:59We're culturally and, you know, our heritages have kind of spread from this kind of epicenter of the continent of Africa around the world and through the ages.
02:09And I think it's really important for us to not restrict ourselves, to keep on pushing, to keep on reminding ourselves that all the different aspects of our histories, plural, are valid.
02:22Have something to teach us, have something to entertain us as well.
02:27You know, we should share some joy in the fact that we all now are in different places, but can still find each other again and collaborate and, you know, share with each other.
02:38So, yeah, I think it's a wonderful thing and I hope that we keep on pushing that envelope to, you know, keep on being as far reaching as we can when it comes to telling our own stories.
02:48Hmm.
02:50Hmm.
02:50Um, I was just thinking about, hmm, I didn't know.
02:55Oh, okay, I mean, let's discuss first.
02:58Yeah, yeah, after.
02:59No, just, it's really incredible to be able to be a part of something that pushes against the white gaze that we are so used to adhering to in the industry and just in the world and in media.
03:11Um, and it takes a black cast and an incredible director, Gina Prince-Bythewood, who is a black woman who is fighting for her black actors.
03:20You know, to, you know, to remember that it's a collaboration, it takes all of us to put our minds together to make sure that everything is authentic, everything is as we need it to be, everything is fought for, everything is represented in the way we want.
03:35Not the way that we've been trying to get all these years, but the way that we we've deserved to get.
03:40Um, and it really takes all of us and I enjoyed it being a complete collaboration between all of the departments in production because it reminds you that we're all artists and we all have a responsibility.
03:52And I want to take that responsibility on so that the, the correct stories of right stories that should be told like this one are in the right hands and it needs to be in our hands in order for it to be done properly.
04:02You know, I don't want other people to be speaking over our things.
04:06I want us to be able to take it into our hands and say, actually, no, this is the way it needs to be done.
04:11We're going to have to fight hard in order to keep it all and keep it authentic and keep it in there.
04:16But I'm really glad we had a leader in Gina and in Viola who were able to fight for us and make sure the world is learning correct and true representation of these women who were actual real people.
04:29Um, so yeah, I look forward to this being a blueprint for the rest of the industry to go by.
04:36Yeah, I second that and support that.
04:38I'd really like to see the industry inspired by such a story, inspired by bringing so many great actresses and actresses together.
04:46And also on top of that, just to just continue this continue exploring the continent for more stories and then and then collaborating with with the right people to get it done.
04:56And that's something just been special for all of us to be a part of something that just adds to that conversation and hopefully adds to the momentum because the next 10 years, I'm not going to be an industry that's the same and how it was before.
05:08That's not happening.
05:09So in terms of that, and in terms of how everybody's been inspired as individuals, I hope that the the, you know, the power the to a certain extent and the grace that we're given for being a part of something like this, we then can continue and go and make our own and do that.
05:24Thank you all so much for that amazing answer.
05:27I appreciate it.
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