MGM continues to surprise us with its programming, with Hollywood Black.
Inspired by historian Donald Bogle’s book, Hollywood Black, director Justin Simien tells the history of cinema from a point of view little known before. Simien sits down with film personalities, from actors, screenwriters, administrators and manufacturers to critics and academics, to explore the essentials. They have the role that black culture has played in cinema.
After causing quite a stir with his film Dear White People, which spawned the Netflix series of the same name, Simien recently directed Disney’s feature film Haunted Mansion. Despite this great experience, Simien says directing Hollywood Black is an absolutely different animal. .
“It’s chaotic, it’s scary, but it’s also fueled by genuine passion, anger,” Simien told BOSSIP. “I’m honest that anger is a very vital component of my career. If I’m not angry about something, paintings are rarely that good.
“There were a lot of discoveries and it was a task I had to give up, again and again,” Simien continued. “There were so many times that the task was dead and it wasn’t going to come to fruition and I just had to get through it. There were so many times that I didn’t know how something was going to happen, who we were going to have for the interview, how the narrative was going to take shape. Are we going to come back with the strike? Over and over again. There have been so many moments of general surrender and I couldn’t be prouder of this series. I couldn’t be more grateful to my collaborators and honestly, I feel a bit like a midwife. for anything that was bigger than me and that just needed to go global and I’m glad I was able to get it there. “
In addition to Simien, who leads the verbal exchange that drives the entire series, Hollywood Black also features W. Kamau Bell, Steven Caple, Jr. , Ryan Coogler, Ava DuVernay, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Issa Rae, LaKeith Stanfield, Gabrielle Union. , Lena Waithe, Forest Whitaker, plus critics, journalists, costume designers, and more. Verbal exchanges are never rigid or forced, but Simien’s relationships with his peers result in very genuine discussions and leave room for some debatable takes.
“I was trying to make other people feel like a fly on the wall,” Simien told BOSSIP. “I knew, especially from my podcast, but just from my life, that the type of verbal exchanges that I have with my peers about those topics are not the type of verbal exchanges that most people hear or have access to. Especially when it comes to history, it can easily become a passive viewing experience. It can take a long time to figure out what this has to do with your current life, and first of all, I wanted to say, “No, it’s about now. ” You talk about the beyond, but I talk about the beyond with the offer and the future. I need people to understand why this is vitally important today and I want them to hear the struggles we go through. I tried to get us to have a verbal exchange that wasn’t just about selling whatever we did, or being beautiful, or fabulous, or all the glorious things that we are, but about being genuine, about being really genuine about what we felt. I love being a black artist right now.
While Hollywood Black revisits many hallowed films of Black culture, the project also sheds light on creators and projects that haven’t been celebrated enough. Simien shows that he discovered some of the key characters discussed in the project during the making of the documentary series.
“There were so many!” Bert Williams has become deeply vital to me as an ancient figure. I think we blacks don’t know how to communicate about him, because he was a black minstrel.
“Charles Lane, this incredible filmmaker that we don’t talk about or hype his career about as much as some of his peers, but in 1989, when Spike Lee went to Cannes with Do the Right Thing, Spike was on the podium speaking through Charles Lane. . This is the user we want to communicate about,” Simien added.
“I think in a way we perceive Blaxploitation, but I don’t think even someone like Melvin Van Peebles, we would necessarily contextualize it in the offering in the way that we could,” Simien continued. “And then William Greaves, that was very important to me. He is a documentary filmmaker, he is a filmmaker. He’s done all kinds of things, but Symbiopsychotoxiplasm, a film he made in 1968, can be spelled or pronounced slightly, but it’s very sharp, one of the most recent I’ve seen. This is the black genie exposed. I would be very angry if no one told me about this film. This is very relevant. They are only a few, but yes, they are full of other people that I had not heard of or been interested in their work before doing this.
Hollywood Black Episode 1 debuted on Sunday, August 11, 2024 on MGM+ and is streaming recently.
Check out the episode descriptions below:
Episode 1: Built on Our Backs – August 11, 2024
From the silent film era to the late 1960s, an emboldened generation of black actors and directors made films that countered derogatory photographs of black people and replaced Hollywood’s belief in black storytellers.
Episode 2: The Challengers – August 18, 2024
After the turmoil of the 1960s, black filmmakers sought to celebrate black culture on screen. As Hollywood begins to see dollar signs, black actors and directors are looking to maintain their dignity by promoting.
Episode 3: The Entrance Fee – August 25, 2024
In the 1990s, the studio system welcomed a new generation of black filmmakers and megastars. However, independent and female filmmakers who deviate from classic representations of black life still struggle to be recognized.
Episode 4: Dear Black People – September 1, 2024
After the election of President Barack Obama, Hollywood offers more opportunities than ever to black filmmakers. From Selma to Get Out to Black Panther, Black filmmakers are embracing new genres and achieving critical and publicity success.