Bring it On: Fight to the Finish

Universal Pictures Presents… Bring It On: Fight to the Finish.  Available now on DVD.

Lina Cruz (Christina Milian) and her gal pals Treyvonetta (Gabrielle Dennis) and Gloria (Vanessa Born) are looking forward to winning the Spirit Championships, but when Lina’s mom remarries, her world takes a tailspin when her family leaves her comfy East L.A. neighborhood for Malibu. Lina’s faces new challenges with a team that’s no where near as good as her former high school squad, but it’s up to her to give the Malibu Vista High Sea Lions a sultry cheer squad makeover and turn them into a top quality, championship team. Lina meets her nemesis, Avery (Rachele Smith), captain of the Jaguar cheer squad,  but the plot thickens as Lina’s feelings Avery’s brother, Evan,  start to escalate.

Fused with a hot soundtrack with some of today’s hottest artists, an amazing cast, and all the fixings that make a great teen romance flick, see how Lina takes on the challenge to defeat Avery’s Jaguar squad as she works her magic to try to bring the Sea Lions to a championship victory.

One on One with Gabrielle Dennis

Gabrielle Dennis has been on her grind! You’ve seen her as “Janay” on CW’s The Game, and she now stars with Christina Milian as Lina Cruz’s humorous and spunky  best friend, “Treyvonetta, in the  the popular teen film, Bring it On: Fight to the Finish. Gabrielle took a moment to kick it one on one with SIL’s Alia Williams about being on the set of her latest film, cheerleading, and acting.

Alia: What was it like growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio and how did you transition from there to Hollywood?

Gabrielle Dennis: Cincinnati is a very conservative city, so there’s not too much to do there. It’s a great place to raise kids though, so I felt like I had a good balance between right and wrong, in that I went to a performing arts high school and that kind of kept me busy with rehearsals and doing plays. My family is there too, but I didn’t realize how boring it was until I got to experience a real, major city.

Adjusting to Hollywood was fairly easy because right before that I lived in Washington, D.C., which I absolutely adore. I was debating between New York and Los Angeles to pursue my career full time, but L.A. won out because of the weather. Plus, I did the east coast thing and knew nobody in New York, so it kind of intimidated me.

Alia: How long have you been pursuing a career in acting, and what inspired you to start?

GD: I’ve always been a ham, actually. At my older cousins birthday parties or slumber parties, they would always have me singing or performing because I was so much younger. I wasn’t supposed to be there, but the only way that I could stay was if I performed for free [laughs]. I started out in the 4^th grade and I started dancing when I was four, so I was always introduced to that. My mom used to sing and was involved in local plays, so it was always around me. I had a lot of older cousins that went to the same performing arts high school I went to. Watching movies like the Wizard of Oz and The Wiz inspired me to do it. I thought Diana Ross was the BOMB in The Wiz, and I kind of looked up to those triple threats that could do everything; that’s how we were trained in my high school. Technically, as a full time career, I guess you could say that I’ve been pursuing being a professional actress for like four years, as long as I’ve been in Hollywood, but prior to that it was between being in school and trying to do it on the side. Now that’s all I do.

Alia: …and you like it.

GD: I love it! I mean it has its ups and downs, just like everything else that you would do, but whenever you have a passion for something, that’s really what it boils down to. Being able to work and do something that you love, it really doesn’t matter what it is. I feel blessed that I found something that I really like to do and can make a living out of it.

Alia: How did you enjoy working on the set of Bring it On: Fight to the Finish?

GD: Let me tell you, this was probably one of the more exciting experiences that I’ve had. It was all girls, so I got to be really girly. So many of us had birthdays within the same month. There were like four birthdays when we were shooting including myself, and Christina Milian. There were cute things that we would do like surprise each other, and decorate each other’s dressing rooms. We did a cheer for Christina for her birthday. We did all kinds of stuff, and it was great to be around a group of females who really supported each other. It was a really great mix of personalities where we all really liked each other and had a lot of fun together. It was like high school, in a sense, all over again and when I went to my performing arts high school. Then there was the dancing, and the amount of dancers that were on set. Dancers just have their own great energy and a great vibe. Everyone from the choreographer and the director was just really fun. I enjoyed that experience.

Alia: What made you choose the role of “Treyvonetta”?

GD: It was interesting because I was supposed to do another film before this one, but because I was doing CW’s The Game, there was a problem with my schedule and I couldn’t do this other film. This opportunity came along and it actually happened to work out where the shooting was between a break for The Game. I just like to stay busy and it was a good opportunity for me to do something different. I’ve never done a movie like this before, so I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to test a different side of my acting skills, as well as try to beef up my dancing that I haven’t done in a few years. I just wanted to challenge myself and I had a really great time. The character that I got to play was really fun and sassy. She was definitely a lot of fun to play.

Alia: Do you have any similarities to the character that you play in the movie?

GD: I would say that our closest similarity, I mean we’re nothing alike, but I would say that she’s very supportive and protective of her friends, and that would be me. If something were to go down, or if somebody needed my advice or needed my help with something, I would be there without question and without thinking about it twice to kind of help my friends. She loves her friends and would do pretty much anything for them and I think we definitely have that in common.

Alia: What made you choose the role of “Treyvonetta”?

GD: It was interesting because I was supposed to do another film before this one, but because I was doing CW’s The Game, there was a problem with my schedule and I couldn’t do this other film. This opportunity came along and it actually happened to work out where the shooting was between a break for The Game. I just like to stay busy and it was a good opportunity for me to do something different. I’ve never done a movie like this before, so I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to test a different side of my acting skills, as well as try to beef up my dancing that I haven’t done in a few years. I just wanted to challenge myself and I had a really great time. The character that I got to play was really fun and sassy. She was definitely a lot of fun to play.

Alia: Do you have any similarities to the character that you play in the movie?

GD: I would say that our closest similarity, I mean we’re nothing alike, but I would say that she’s very supportive and protective of her friends, and that would be me. If something were to go down, or if somebody needed my advice or needed my help with something, I would be there without question and without thinking about it twice to kind of help my friends. She loves her friends and would do pretty much anything for them and I think we definitely have that in common.

Alia: Have you ever been a cheerleader before?

GD: Yes! I was a cheerleader at Hughes High School, for the Hughes Big Red. I only cheered for about two years. We didn’t win very much, but it was fun. Not near the level of the experience, and talent, of the Bring it On franchise. The level of the different cheer teams that were in the movie, I mean these kids are amazing. The stunts they do, the energy that they had. I was just amazed by them. My school was just a little more downscale from that. We didn’t do a lot of stunts. I mean we cheered and some of us would do a few cartwheels, some round offs, and maybe a pyramid. In college I tried out and made it, but I didn’t have time to deal with that and school.

Alia: What kind of movies and actors did you look up to growing up, and what kind of actor do you aspire to become?

GD: Growing up I watched a lot of television and I liked over the top shows like Living Color and Martin, but then I’m a little bit of a dork and I love Little Mermaid. You know it’s funny, because a lot of actors who I looked up to were men. Jamie Fox because he did a little bit of everything that I’ve done, that I want to do, or that I kind of want to get better at because he’s done the whole sketch comedy thing, he’s done stand-up, blockbuster movies. His spectrum and his body of work is so diverse. He gets to sing, he has an album out, and he’s really good at everything that he’s done. The same with Will Smith, who started off with his music career and then had his own TV show, and then went on to being in blockbusters. I’ve done sketch shows and stand up comedies, but my goal is to have my own T.V. show and then from there start doing more movies and heavy roles, like documentary pieces. I would love to play Diana Ross or do something very interesting like that, and something that’s challenging and groundbreaking.

Alia: Would you do another movie similar to Bring it On, or would you branch off and do a different genre?

GD: I would like to keep my momentum going in as many different directions as possible so I don’t get typecast or pinned down. I try and go out and do different things in that it’s not the same exact type of character, or same type of energy and feel of this movie, just because it introduces you to different audiences and it introduces you, as an actor, to the different processes of getting that character and making that character believable. The same process and technique that I would use to make the “Treyvonetta” character in bring it on, would be a totally different process that I would do for maybe a very serious role in another type of film, depending on the director or the genre. I always like to challenge myself.

Alia: So will we be seeing you in any other movies this year?

GD: Ice Cube has a new movie coming out that I’m in called Janky Promoters, and I’m shooting a new show that will be coming out on Spike TV called Blue Mountain State. You can also catch me on The Game in syndication on BET.

Alia: Thanks for your time Gabrielle, and good luck to you.

GD: Thank you!

One on One with American Violet’s Nicole Beharie

American Violet

In Theaters – April 17, 2009

Set across the landscape of a small Texas town, and on the eve of the 2000 presidential election, American Violet is the compelling story of Dee Roberts, a 24 year old single mother of four, who is wrongly accused and incarcerated during the Hearne Drug Raids.    Roberts  risks loosing it all, including her four young daughters, as her determination to clear her name from behind bars leads her to go against the norm by taking on the town’s district attorney, and the criminal justice system. With a strong cast that includes Academy Award® nominee, Alfre Woodard, and Xzibit, American Violet is a must see film.

SIL! had a chance to kick it one on one with American Violet’s leading lady, Nicole Behari, who gave us the 411 about discovering acting, and her experience with working on this phenomenal film.

SIL:   Where are you originally from, and what inspired you to become an actress?

Nicole Beharie:  I was born in West Palm Beach, Florida.  My father was in the foreign service, so I did a lot of moving to West Africa, Nigeria, Panama, London, and up and down the east coast.  After my parents divorced, I spent a great deal of time in Orangeburg, South Carolina, a really small town similar to the one in the film.  I was also in Atlanta and Maryland.  I don’t really have a home, so I’m going to say that Brooklyn is my home.  Home is whereever the family is.

SIL:  With moving around so frequently as a youth, what inspired you to become an actress?

NB: You kind of hit in on the head, because I think the moving around and the adaptations that happen with that has a lot to do with my choice to become an actor.  I also have an ear for different accents.  Every time I moved, which was like every three years,  I had to understand what it was like to be there, and just sort of fit in without getting beat up – bottom line!  With all of that moving around and  just to keep myself company, as a child, my little brother,  my neighbors and I would put on plays in the living room.

When I was in elementary school and middle school, I always thought that I would do something along the lines of my parents, either in mass communications or working in foreign affairs because that’s what my family did.  Ultimately along the way, everything that happened to me kept pushing me into this field.  Every time I shied away from it, things would happen.  I’d get a scholarship, or I auditioned for every theater school in high school, every theater school in the country, and I got into quite a few of them.  When I got into Juilliard, I was like you know what?  Maybe I can do this.  Maybe this can work out for me.   From there, things just started falling into place.  I feel that somebody upstairs is really  looking out for me.

SIL:  How did you land the role of Dee Roberts in American Violet?

NB: Well, my agency sent me a stack of scripts when I first joined them, and I think they were just sending them to me to give me an idea of what’s up the pike, just really keeping me busy and not really thinking this girl is going to go after anything.  I read them, but none of them were really that interesting, but this one stuck with me.  I read the script again and then I had a dream about it.  When you start dreaming about things, in my mind that means something.  I read the script and I was like I can’t be this woman.  She has four kids and she’s older than me, so I don’t have that life experience.  I called my agent and I asked where the audition was cast, so I said well let me just go in.  I went in for that part, and when I went back in for the call back, I met with the writer and the director and they told me about their involvement, and the fact that this was a real story.  When you actually meet the people who have met the people, you actually hear what they say and what they’ve seen; the hardships and the real courage it took.  I was like even with the least part, I just want to have some involvement in this, because I believe in it and I think it’s an important story. I will play the baby mama or play anyone else.    A few days later, I got a phone call while I was painting my apartment and it was one of the happiest phone calls that I’ve gotten, ever.

SIL:  This is a true story and you have to play a real character, someone who is present and existing now.  What kind of preparations did you have to make as an actor to portray this role?

NB: Bill Haney, the writer, did a documentary with the ACLU about the real Dee Roberts, the one who the story is written after.  I just saw footage of Dee and her family, the people in the town, the D.A., her daughters, as well as her brothers and all of the people who didn’t make it to the film who were involved.  I feel like that was the story,  and what made it real for me.  It made it undeniable and it made it a real responsibility that you can’t play around here.   It’s not like I’m doing a film about someone who can’t possibly show up one day.  This woman can show up one day.

The first time I saw the film was at a festival. I was seeing it for the first time with the audience, and the real Dee calls me over. She’s like, “Nicole, come sit besides me! You’ve got to watch this with me girl! Sit beside me!” I’m like look, I’ve  never had such a large part in a movie and  I hadn’t seen my face yet in this concept, so I was freaking out. I was afraid to see myself, and the little issues that you have with your face, or what you say, or your quirks. I love Dee, because we had been talking throughout the film.  When we were in New Orleans shooting, we actually hung out a few times and just kind of talked beyond work.  She was really excited about the movie, but when she called me over there I was like No!, No!, No!  Bill looked at me like, Nicole you’ve  got to go over there.  I sat down beside her and she held my hand throughout the whole entire film.  It was an experience that took me beyond myself.   I was like this woman is reliving something that I can only imagine and I got close to, but I don’t have the smell.  I don’t have the taste, or the other hours that aren’t captured in the film that she lived.  She was holding my hand and she was crying.    She seemed really pleased with the whole thing.

SIL:  How would you describe Dee Roberts?

NB: Brilliant, she has resilience, she has faith,  and a real sense of purpose.  One thing that she told me was that this situation changed her.  Before this happened, she was doing hair shows.  She’s a waitress, and  was just kind of enjoying life, but from there she ended up working with the ACLU, and just saw the world differently and this just broadened everything for her.  During the Jena Six trial, she drove out there during that whole thing.  That’s just the woman that she is.  She supports her four daughters, takes care of everything, and is still part of her community.  I don’t know if I could stay in a town where people are questioning my character all the time, especially in a small town.  Dee is resilient and she has faith and a real sense of purpose.  Working with the ACLU, she just started to see the world differently.

SIL:  How was the role for you emotionally, not only as an artist, but as a female?  On what levels were you able to connect to her character.  How much of that did you take on?

NB:  I felt that to be the best of my ability, the first thing I had to do was deal with her actual experience before she was falsely accused of selling drugs, and before the raid happened.  To actually get into the place where I actually have these four children, and to really love and understand what that means.  To have the family, have the community that she had with her church, with her mother, and the relationship that she had with her boyfriend, which was an abusive one, and then what it means to have four daughters that you’re raising on your own with the help of your family.  Going from there, just having that experience and then having an experience that takes you out of the civilian mentality, and understanding what that means, and how that checks you as an individual, as a citizen, as a young Black woman, as a mother, and what it means to be all of those things.

Seeing the real Dee and hearing her talk about the loss of trust, her environment, and what it meant to be isolated, not just by the white people, but the Black people, and also feeling like she isolated her children.  She had to make these decisions.  We make decisions that we don’t necessarily love,  but they’re not to the same degree.  We make decisions all day, and this really forced me to think about what I would have done.  Would I have taken the plea bargain? Or, would I have thought it out having these daughters, especially knowing what my babies father was like.  When I think about her, and her choices, that alone gave me the ammunition to get the experience and have the emotion.  It’s really not about the emotion, it’s about the situation.  Once you are in that dire situation, you’re just kind of calm and you’re not working for it.  What if that was me?  It could be, and that’s the thing that blows my mind about this story.  You look at it and it may seem isolated, but it’s not. It happens everywhere.

SIL:  I read that 2 million American’s are incarcerated, but 90% of the people just go ahead and take the plea bargain, even if they are innocent.  So the baic synopsis of the story is that you have Dee Roberts, single mother of four, and she’s set up during a drug raid?

NB: Well, the government has these raids, especially in this town, that they do periodically.  The raids are really there to fill a quota system, so that the government makes money.  It’s sort of like a war on drugs thing; you get a certain amount of people, you get a stipend for your budget.  Dee was just one of the people that the informant, who was by no means a legit informant, had given up and here she is in prison.  Of course she would be someone that people  would question because she has four kids, and the question would be how are you supporting these four children.  The same question arises in the community.

SIL:  Since this was around the time of the 2000 election, how much of this  do you think was based on politics, as opposed to 30 people being sent to jail?

NB: I think it’s mostly politics and the way that people are accustomed to seeing things run.  This man [Calvin Beckett] was still the D.A. after this trial happened, which says something about the community and about the power, even after everyone knows what happened.  I think the politics is that he’s looking for re-election and the people who are voting. This is what I think is one of the amazing things that happened in our recent election, because we have people voting who have never voted before, so maybe he won’t be re-elected in the elections coming up.  People will be energized getting out there, realizing that it does count.  But the people who were voting at that time where the people who felt protected by the status quo.  People felt that him putting young black people who live in the projects in jail, was the right way to do it.  That’s nothing but politic and him trying to make state power, which he’s been very successful at doing, unfortunately.

SIL:  What were your original thoughts about the script, and how did they change after you completed the film?

NB: I know more now about the case, and I also got to shoot in New Orleans, post Katrina.  I could also relate because I was raised by a single mother, so there are some connections there.  Sadly, this is a reality in the community.  I think the awareness of the idea that there are paths in our system that are in place in schools, life, politics, and in the confines of our neighborhoods, that push us to act against the norm.  Be aware!  Awareness is key!  I want people to know that there are options out there.  She [Dee Roberts] didn’t have much, but she had choices.

SIL:  You had the opportunity to work with a wonderful cast including Alfre Woodward and Xzibit.  What was that experience like?

NB: I loved working with Xzibit.  He just made it a lot of fun, but when it was time for us to do our scenes, he just got into it.  Working with Alfre Woodard is no small thing. She was great.  She would send me flowers and check in on me by writing me notes.

SIL:  What would you like to say to our SIL audience?

NB: Continue to be honest with yourself.  It’s a constant struggle, but always make sure that you are close to yourself and that you are working on developing who you are.

*Nicole Behari is currently working on a one woman show in Brooklyn, N.Y.

For more info about American Violet, visit www.americanviolet.com

Shorts for Tots…films for the youngest viewers…

On Sunday March 1st, I traveled  into the city with two of our youngest film critics Kofi Buford and Judah Brathwaite.  The four year olds were excited to take on the role of film critics for a day.  We sat in the spacious, kid friendly Scholastic theater and watched twelve short films in the Shorts For Tots series. With an approximate 3:1 kid to adult ratio, this was definitely and event for the little ones.    Kofi and Judah along with about a hundred or so adorable youngsters, marked their pink ballot cards as they rated each film with either a “loved it,” “like it,” “so-so,” or “hated it.”

On the way to the theater we read the award winning book, “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs,” by Jon Scieszka.  This boosted our anticipation for the film version being featured in the series.

After each film, I asked our little critics what they thought, and I got answers like, “now that was excellent” from Judah, and “I loved it” from Kofi.  Out of the twelve films Judah and Kofi did have their favorites.  “I really liked the one with the ants!” Said Judah.  “Me too, that one was funny.” Said Kofi.  I agreed with them.  This film was titled, The Bridge on the River ZZZeee.“  It is a humorous, 3D animated film from France about a group of leaf-cutter ants who struggle to carry a stick on a path across high cliffs and running rivers.   The ants caused everyone in the theater to giggle, as they found inventive ways to solve their problem.  This five minute film, created by Thomas Szabo, features beautiful nature shots, amazing camera angles, and incredible animation.  It is truly a work of art.

Judah and Kofi both agreed on the Latvia film, The New Species by Evalds Lacis, as a top pick.  The New Species tells the story of bugs who rescue their parents from an entomologist who captures them during a picnic.  This colorful and sweet suspense animation, maintained the viewers curiousity, as we all wondered what would happen next.

Of course we all loved The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. In this hilarious and witty film, Mr. Alexander T. Wolf tells his side of the classic fairy tale “The Three Little Pigs.”  We find out that there is always more than one side to every story.

Check out the gkids.com website for more great films from the NYC International Childrens Film Festival.  The festival will run through March 15, 2009.

By Delphine Fawundu Buford, Judah Brathwaite, Kofi Buford

The NYC Children’s Film Festival is Back Again.

Parents are you looking for something to do with your kids of all ages?  Teens are you looking of cool weekend hangout with friends?  Check out the New York International Children’s Film Festival for young people ages 3 -18.

The New York International Film Festival’s short films are my favorite and the heart of the festival.  The short films are the best new works from around the world geared specifically for kids ages 3-18.  You can find these films playing at several theaters around the city: 

Cantor Film Ctr – 36 E 8th St DGA Theater – 110 W 57th St IFC Center – 323 6th Ave Scholastic – 557 Broadway Symph Space – 2537 B’way

Just at taste of what is in store:

Heart of Fire

NY PREMIERE
Heart of Fire is the powerful new film from the award winning director of The Story of the Weeping Camel. The story centers on ten year old Awet, who is taken from an orphanage run by Italian nuns to live with the washed up rebel father she has never met. Awet and her older sister are soon recruited, along with other children, to become soldiers for the Eritrean Liberation Front, engaged in desperate guerrilla fighting with a rival rebel group. At the rebel camp, young Awet finds a role model in the powerful and independent female guerrilla leader, Ma’azza, a charismatic revolutionary and newfound parental figure. But when the war takes a turn for the worse and the children are given rifl es and sent to fight, Awet becomes disillusioned by the hypocrisy and pointlessness she sees, and she lashes out with a pacifistic action both courageous and dangerous. Inspired by the controversial memoir by Senait G. Mehari, Heart of Fire is elevated by the expressive debut performance of Letekidan Micael as Awet, whose commanding presence conveys an undiluted sense of justice, and whose eyes never fail to reflect her chronic disappointment in the adults around her.
NOTE: Film contains realistic battle scenes, including violence and bloodshed.

Presented as part of the special series CHILDREN AND WAR.

Check out    http://www.gkids.tv/intheaters.cfm for more information.

A Must See When The Levees Broke: A Requium in Four Acts

By Kayinde Harris

“Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us” 

Lift Every Voice and Sing James Weldon Johnson

After watching the devastating events resulting from Hurricane Katrina, many of us were baffled, yet not surprised, at the mishandling and complete negligence from federal, state and  local officials towards the hurricane victims – many who were residents of the town’s predominantly black neighborhood, the 9th Ward. This national crisis was a staunch reminder that our long and arduous journey on the plight towards equal rights, is a road that still needs traveling. However, to be afforded the opportunity to lift your voice and say what you need to say – loud and clear – can serve as a remedy for coping in a traumatic situation. Debuting on HBO this past August and scheduled for release on DVD in December, Spike’s Lee’s compelling documentary, When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, captures the voices of the “Big Easy,” the unsung heroes and victims of Katrina.

Though the soil of the 9th ward may seem drenched and consumed with horrific memories and images, watered down further by those seeking any and every opportunity to steal from the poor and give to the rich, the faces of Katrina comprise of a diversity of folk; from lawyers to blue collar workers, actors to musicians, mothers, grandparents, and we can’t forget the children. When the Levees Broke provides us with a scope into the heart and soul of this town, where the life lines and history of these survivors extend far beyond the events that occured on August 29th, 2005.

Contrary to what some would lead us to believe, the citizens of New Orleans are not defunct of soul and all vital signs. Almost completely forgotten in a tug of war in “the blame game,”  they are soldiers, fighting their own war caused by this natural disaster and its aftermath. Armed solely with the power of belief and faith, these voices and faces of New Orleans are the seeds of hope and the essence of the cultural richness that permeates throughout the city.

When the Levees Broke is a must add to your DVD collection. For more info about this documentary, visit www.hbo.com.

Spike Lee 20 Years and Rising…

By Kesed Ragin

Brooklyn’s got Spike, and Spike’s ‘got film! When you come from the borough of Brooklyn, you develop your own unique swagger, a style that can’t be replicated. When it comes to originality, Brooklyn’s very own Spike Lee fits the bill. For the past two decades, Spike has been making waves, reinventing the wheel, and ‘doin’ his own thing’ when it comes to making films – and it works! In 2006, Spike and film company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks can proudly boast in celebration of twenty years in the film biz. From his mind to our eyes, Spike has delivered the “real to reel” with movies that include School Daze, Do The Right Thing, Clockers, Crooklyn, and Malcolm X, the astounding, autobiographic film about the slain civil rights activist. Earlier this year, Spike added two more films to his repertoire with the releases of the blockbuster hit, Inside Man, starring Academy award winners, Denzel Washington and Jodi Foster, and the dynamic, yet truth be told HBO documentary about When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, about Hurricane Katrina.

Spike spent some time with SIL reporter, Kesid, to talk about his craft as a filmmaker, growing up in Brooklyn, and to drop some knowledge and insight for our SIL readers.

Kesed: First thing, I’d like to congratulate you as this year’s releases of the Inside Man and When The Levees Broke marked the 20th year anniversary that you’ve been making movies. It’s been a long time, man. I’d just like to say, for black people really, that it’s great to have somebody out there like you really setting the standard. What initially inspired you to direct movies? When you were young, what movies did you see that made you say, “I want to do that!”

Spike: Thanks. It was notone particular movie and it wasn’t when I was a kid. I was in Morehouse College and it was the summer between my sophomore and junior year. That’s when I decided that I wanted to be a filmmaker.

Kesed: In a class discussion on the Harlem Renaissance, we came across the movie Birth of a Nation. My teacher told us that you made a movie in response to that film.

Spike: When I graduated from Morehouse, I went to NYU’s graduate film school. The first film that I did was called, The Answer, which was in response to Birth of a Nation. In the film, we included some scenes from the original film; you know the scenes where congress and the senate were black folks and they have their feet up on the desk, eating chicken, and that type of stuff.

Kesed: All the black actors and actresses out there right now, a good majority of them, have stared in your movies.

Spike: I wouldn’t say the majority of them, but there are some that have filed through the ranks. There are people who came through 40 Acres who were able to do their own thing.

Kesed: Yeah, like Ernest Dickerson who directed Juice with Omar Epps and Tupac Shakur.

Spike: Ernest and I went to film school together. Since hecame out of Howard, and I out of Morehouse, we had the two historically black schools behind us. There were two other black people in the whole class at NYU. Ernest shot all my films at NYU, then he shot She’s Gotta’ Have It, School Daze, Do The Right Thing, Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle Fever, and Malcolm X. We also recently worked together on Miracle Boys, a film based on a book written by a very good children’s author, Jacqueline Woodson.

Kesed: Did you find it hard to achieve things growing up in Brooklyn?

Spike: I was born in Atlanta, so before we moved to Brooklyn, we went from Atlanta to Chicago, then to New York. The first neighborhood that I moved to in
Brooklyn was Crown Heights, then we moved to Cobble Hill, and then my mother bought a brownstone in Fort Greene in 1968. Fort Greene was much different then. There weren’t any restaurants with white linen cloth tables on Myrtle Avenue. I mean, it’s really been gentrified so it’s much different now. I went to Rothschild, which is now the Ronald Edmonds Learning Center, from 7th to 9th grade. I was lucky to get into a very good high school, John Dewey High School in Coney Island, and that’s when the school was a great school. It was a like a college campus and you could pick your own courses. You learned at your own pace. Again, it’s a different time, when talking about education.

Kesid: How much of your personal life is reflected in your films?

Spike: A lot of personal stuff gets reflected in the films. Even the scripts that I don’t write. Like Inside Man.

Kesed: Was Crooklyn basically about your life growing up?

Spike: Crooklyn was a semi-autobiographical film. My brother Cinqué and my sister, Joie, came up with the idea and we co-wrote it together, so really it was about the Lee family growing up in Fort. Greene, Brooklyn in the mid to late seventies.

Kesed: Many of my friends have never seen a Spike Lee movie, it’s shocking to me. I’m like, this is the foundation, are you kidding?
Spike: They haven’t read the Autobiography of Malcolm X. They don’t really know who Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. really is, but they know we got the “I Have a Dream Speech”. The history is much deeper than not knowing Do the Right Thing and it’s sad. But, we live in a time and place where education has been devalued. To be able to speak in one sentence without one word being profane, people think your acting like a sell out or a “white boy” or “white girl” or an “Oreo”. Education has always been a part of us as a people. At one time, it was against the law for slaves to learn how to read and write. If you wanted to learn or knew how to read and write, you knew that you might get whipped, hung, or castrated… and on a bad day, the master might do all three to you. Our ancestors are probably turning in their graves to see how we let this emphasis of education pass us by. I was speaking to the school chancellor, Joel Klein, and like 85% of the students in public school here are people of color and that must tell you something. The white folks have money, their sending their kids to private school or catholic school. So, if you could barely afford to pay the rent, how are you going to pay $20,000 to send your child to get a quality education? There was a point where even if you didn’t have money, you could still live in New York. It ain’t like that anymore. Here we are in American, 2006, and there are more black men in jails than enrolled in college.

Kesed: It’s not the ideal situation, but a lot of brothers don’t pick up a book until they are incarcerated.
Spike: You’ve got a lot of time on your hands, and again, people realize they can turn their lives around. The biggest example is with Malcolm X. That’s the reason why he wrote that book. He wanted to show that it was possible that someone could drag themselves up from the depths. Malcolm was a pimp, he sold drugs,  coke, weed, was robbing people, but you know he saw the light and first through the Nation of Islam and then from what’s so called “true Islam”. It is possible.

Kesed: We’ve come so far, but yet we’re nowhere. To get back to you, as you mentioned Malcolm X, what made you say “I want to make this a movie!” “I want to do this!” Malcolm X should be a required film to watch when growing up.
S p i k e : W e l l , t h e Autobiography of Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley was the most important book I’ve read. It was in junior high school and it was required
reading at Rothschild, JHS 294.

Kesed: Did you always know that you wanted Denzel to play that role?
Spike: Denzel was a part of that picture before I was. Denzel had played Malcolm X in a Broadway play called “When the Chickens Come Home to Roost” and he was signed to do the film. They found a director, Norman Jewison, and that’s when I became very vocal about what I wanted to do by directing the film and that Norman Jewison should gracefully bow out.

Kesed: I felt real hurt that the film didn’t receive any nods at the Academy Awards in 1993. I mean, Denzel was nominated for best actor, right?
Spike: We got two nominations. Denzel was nominated as Best Actor in a leading role and Ruth Carter got one for costume design. Those were the only two. Denzel lost to Al Pacino for “Scent of a Woman.”

Kesed: What makes you want to direct a movie? When you get a script, what makes you decide, ‘I know I gotta’ do this one.’
Spike: It has to be the story. Whether it’s something I wrote myself, or a script I didn’t write – I didn’t write 25th Hour, Girl 6, and I didn’t write Inside Man. Every film is different and it’s about me wanting to take a year out of my life to work on these projects.

Kesed: When She’s Gotta’ Have It came out you were like one of the only black filmmakers out there.
Spike: Nah, I wasn’t the only one out there. This past May, She’s Gotta’ Have It made twenty years since the film first debuted at the Cannes Film Festival. It was
She’s Gotta’ Have It and a little later, Robert Townsend’s Hollywood Shuffle that brought about the so called, “new wave” Black Renaissance of film.

Kesed: So, would you say you started a movement, ‘cause after that came a lot of black directors.
Spike: Well, I don’t know if you want to call it a movement or not. That’s left up to interpretation. I will say that many directors, young African American directors, are working and directing films more than before, so that’s good.

Kesed: I watched School Daze and it looked like it was real fun filming that movie. Out of all the movies that you directed or have been a part of, what do you think was the most fun making?
Spike: School Daze and Do the Right Thing were fun and the Inside Man was a lot of fun. I think that when you see Inside Man, it’s evident that everyone was having a lot of fun. You have this cat and mouse game played by Denzel Washington and Clive Owen’s characters, as they try to outwit each other. It was a pleasure working with Denzel, it was my fourth time. The first time was Mo Better Blues, then Malcolm X, He Got Game, and now Inside Man.

Kesed: So the whole process has been fun for you.
Spike: Well, Denzel and I, when we work we really develop a shorthand and it’s almost a telepathy. We know what needs to be done. A lot of times, there’s no need for lengthy discussions. We just go out there and I let him do his thing. I love sports, so it’s like the same thing – like I’m Phil Jackson and he’s Michael
Jordan. Then you build everything around that, same way they built the Bulls around Michael, you cast around Denzel.

Kesed: Is he one of the easiest actors you’ve ever worked with?
Spike: Not only one of the easiest, I think he’s one of the greatest actors working today, that’s my opinion.

Kesed: There are a lot of youth out there who aspire to be actors and directors and do what you do and just more than that, just to be something or just to make it, what would your advice be for them?
Spike: Well, I think that…whatever you choose to do let it be something that you love to do. It takes more than just like, “I want to be famous!” or “I want
to make a lot of money!” That can only go so far, because when times get rough, that’s not a foundation. When you’re starving, eating Spaghettio’s and you’re ready to turn it around, it’s that burning feeling you have inside that keeps you going.

Kesed: So your message to the youth is if you’re going to do something, do something that you love?
Spike: Well, when you’re young, that’s the time to find out because it might not be revealed to you what it is that you love, so you have to try to get exposure to as many things as possible and find out. Very rarely does somebody just wake up and say, “This is what I love!” You’ve got to be exposed to stuff.

Twenty Years in the Makin’ A SPIKE LEE Filmography

Inside Man (2006)
When The Levees Broke:
A Requiem in Four Acts (2006)
Jesus Children of America (2005)
“Miracle’s Boys” (2005)
(mini) TV Series
(episodes 1 and 6)
She Hate Me (2004)
25th Hour (2002)
Jim Brown: All American (TV) (2002)
A Huey P. Newton Story (TV) (2001)
Bamboozled (2000)
The Original Kings of Comedy (2000)
Summer of Sam (1999)
He Got Game (1998)
4 Little Girls (1997)
Get on the Bus (1996)
Girl 6 (1996)
Clockers (1995)
Crooklyn (1994)
Malcolm X (1992)
Jungle Fever (1991)
Mo’ Better Blues (1990)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
School Daze (1988)
She’s Gotta Have It (1986)

The Hip Hop Project

Word is sound and sound is power! If you are a firm believer in this rule of life, than you will understand how hip-hop artist/innovator, Chris “Kazi” Rolle, has manifested his vision and his words into a powerful reality. Scheduled for release in Spring 2007, The Hip Hop Project is a documentary that highlights the journey and development of an outreach program for New York City teens that uses hip hop as the source and the mic as the cipher. Under the roof of Art Start, the organization that houses the project, Kazi, founder of the program, works diligently as mentor and father figure to these young sisters and brothers who are working through their own tribulations en route to reaching their goal of creating a collaborative hip hop album. However, through the progression of this program, these kids aren’t the only ones who are transformed, as Kazi is taken on his own personal journey of self-discovery. With support from celebs including music mogul, Russell Simmons, and the films executive producer, Bruce Willis, this full feature documentary is guaranteed to prove how vital hip hop is to youth culture. A must see film, The Hip Hop Project is a clear example of what happens when community, determination, trust, and a love of hip hop are used as a catalyst to create a positive transformation. The power of flipping words into dynamic sounds creates a powerful project that’s worth talking about. Want to know more about The Hip Hop Project? Check out what Kazi had to say when he kicked it one on one with SIL:

SIL: How do you feel about the success of The Hip Hop Project based on your efforts, as well as the kids who were involved?
KAZI: I feel fulfilled to some degree, because I have a lot of things I want to accomplish before I leave this earth, and this type of project is one of them. I know that if today was the day that the grim reaper came to get me, something while I was here. I am especially proud of myself for doing it in a way that it can go on without me. So many great ideas die with the leader. Thanks to this movie, album and curriculum guide, my work will live on long after I am dead and gone.
As far as the kids who joined Hip Hop Project initially, I felt honored that they believed in the vision enough to stick with my program for four years and stay on years after to now teach the curriculum and mentor other kids.
SIL: What was going through your mind when you finally got your group of kids who were ready to be in the program?
Kazi: I was just excited to be making a difference and to be doing something I loved. Plus I knew I had an innovative idea and that young people every where were going to respond. I had been working on this program for over a year before launching on October 16th, 1999. I recruited kids through a party type flyer that read, “Do you wanna’ write, produce and market your own hip hop album? Politic one on one with your favorite celebs? Learn the inside scoop from music industry execs?” This was something I would have wanted to be apart of when I was in high school!
SIL: Was keeping yourself, as well as the team together as family, harder than your own personal battle?
Kazi: No. Actually, I think it got me through and taught me a lot. Personal battles don’t have to be fought alone. I had created a space where listening to young people’s triumphs and defeats taught me a lot about how to fight through my own challenges. There is a great power in listening. As adults, we can learn a lot from our young people. Also, by giving to others you get so much in return.
SIL: Is there anything that you would change in regards to the program?
Kazi: I think that any movement should and will change with time, technology and new leadership. Every year we evolve the program. What we have added through the years are: 1).Incorporating all the elements of hip hop besides the emcee. For a culture to survive elders have to make sure young people really know and understand the full scope of their legacy. 2). Using the internet for recruiting and distribution of the album. 3). Creating partnerships with other agencies
who specialize in the issues that the kids are going through.

SIL: What were some of the best and worse experiences that you can remember during the process of putting the Hip Hop Project together?

Kazi: Oh, wow! There were a ton of really great experiences, but the most memorable was having my kids kick it with Jay Z. They were so shocked and at the same time so professional based on the training they received in the program. Another is when Russell and Bruce Willis came to the program and brought a million and one cameras with them. Over the years, I feel the best experiences for me, overall, were those little moments that a teacher has with a student that lets you know that you are making a serious impact on their lives. I think two of the worst experiences was being let down by industry volunteers who said that they would come to talk to the kids and never showed up. I hate disappointing young people. The second is not having the resources to do programs because funders don’t understand the power of hip hop culture.
SIL: Who and what inspired you to create this life changing opportunity for young adults out there today?
Kazi: A few people. First would be Catherine Brown, my foster mother. She went above and beyond for me. I show my gratitude by starting this program and doing the same things she did for me for other people. I was also inspired by Alaine Roberson who introduced me to acting and recording music. Another source of inspiration was Scott Rosenberg, founder of Art Start and the umbrella organization that houses The Hip Hop Project. As a teacher, mentor and father figure, he gave me the support and opportunity to make my vision manifest. The last person is someone who is not actually real. His name is Professor X and he is a cartoon character. He is the leader of a group of heroes called, the XMen. He recruits talented young people who are shunned in their communities because they are different.
For more information about The Hip Hop Project, check out www.hiphopproject.com