ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Diversity

Launchpad – Disney’s Gift of Shorts

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I’m always happy to promote short films as part of the entertainment landscape. Often the only chance people get to see shorts is at film festivals or during the Academy Awards season. But now Disney has created a program of live action shorts streaming on Disney+ called “Launchpad”. Disney describes the goal of “Launchpad” as “to diversify the types of stories that are being told and to give access to those who have historically not had it.” For their inaugural series they have chosen six filmmakers from underrepresented backgrounds. The theme for this set of shorts is “Discovery”. The films included in “Launchpad” range from 14 to 20 minutes.

American Eid, from Aqsa Altaf, tells of a Pakistani family that has recently moved to the US. It is seen through the eyes of the two daughters, one who is trying to fit in, the other seeking to hold on to the traditions that are meaningful to her (like getting out of school for the Eid holiday). This was my favorite of the strong field.

Dinner Is Served, from Hao Zheng, is the story of a Chinese student at a ritzy school who desires to be the dining hall maître d’. He sees it as being recognized for his abilities. But it may not be how others see it.

Growing Fangs, from Ann Marie Pace, is the story of a Mexican-American teen from a mixed marriage—human and vampire. She doesn’t fit in with her human friends and is afraid to let the monsters at her new school know the truth about her parentage. This is the film with the best humor and most imaginative concept.

The Last of the Chupacabras, from Jessica Mendez Siqueiros, is another light-hearted (but not without meaning) story. The last tamales cart vendor in LA discovers a Chupacabra in her yard after an earthquake. It’s not as terrible as legend suggests.

Let’s Be Tigers, from Stefanie Abel Horowitz, is the story of a babysitter who is trying to cover up the grief over the death of her mother. Of course, sometimes it can sneak up on you.

The Little Prince(ss), from Moxie Peng, tells of two Chinese school kids who become friends, but the father of one of the boys is taken aback by his son’s friend’s affinity for dolls, pink, and ballet.

All of these films allow us to see people discovering themselves. Most of them also deal with the tensions of culture and tradition—of holding true to one’s values while trying to fit into a world that may not have those same values. The discoveries that the characters make in these stories show that we can often affirm both worlds if we are willing to be honest with ourselves.

I will confess that I often look at Disney as a behemoth—a cinematic/business empire that takes what it wants and only cares for the bottom line. That allows them to make lots of movies we all love. But it also sometimes makes them seem like they like to throw their weight around. But “Launchpad” certainly does not fit that image. These shorts are a nice gift that Disney has given us. It not only gives us a chance to watch some shorts, it also is giving wonderful opportunities to filmmakers who have a hard time finding ways to tell their stories.

Photos courtesy of Disney

Reporting from Slamdance – “Unstoppable” filmmakers (part 1)

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Diversity is being recognized as an important goal in the film industry. Many voices and many perspectives are needed in every art form, and that is very true of film. This year’s Slamdance Film Festival has made an express effort to bring the idea of ablism and the perspective of people with disabilities (PWD). There is a special section of shorts called “Unstoppable” that focuses on films by or about peoples with disabilities. It has a wide range of styles, tones, and content. There are documentaries, music videos, and narrative films. There are 22 films in the section, so I’m going to divide my comments into two reports. Here’s the first half.

A$$ Level. (4 minutes, directed by Alison Becker). This is a 90’s style rap music video about what life is like in a wheelchair—with attitude. You gotta love the attitude!

Best Friend. (6 minutes, directed by Cory Reeder). This is a story of a family moving from New York to LA. Their daughter is unhappy about leaving her friends, so her mother lets her get a dog. No PWD-specific content, but it does make use of two actors with disabilities (and a disabled dog).

Committed. (6 minutes, directed by Rachel Handler and Chrystal Arnette). When a young man enlists his best friend and his girlfriend’s best friend to help with a marriage proposal, the friends seek to undermine the proposal because they would be moving away. Also no PWD specific content, but actors with disabilities.

Endomic. (10 minutes, directed by Camille Hollett-French and Ipek Ensari). A brief look at the problem many women deal with because of endometriosis. One in ten menstruating women suffer from this painful ailment. The film, made by a researcher, points to the need for more funding to understand, diagnose, and treat this.

Feeling Through.(19 minutes, directed by Doug Roland). A homeless teen helps a blind-deaf man (played by a deaf-blind actor) find his bus to get home. He learns to see the man as more than a problem, and also gets perspective on his own trials. Feeling Through has been shortlisted for Oscar consideration. It is a very moving story.

Flying Eggs. (9 minutes, directed by Sheldon Chau). A man out on his morning run goes by a building where a boy is throwing eggs out the window. He goes up to the apartment in anger, but finds a boy with Down Syndrome. . . and a whole lot more.

Full Picture (12 minutes, directed by Jacob Reed). How do people perceive people who have a disability? When actress and activist Santina Muha had video chats with various people without them seeing her wheelchair, they all had a positive reaction to her. When she meets people for real, the first thing they notice is the chair. She’d prefer they notice her beautiful hair. It reminds us that we all make such assessments of people and need to look deeper than that first thing we notice.

How Much Am I Worth? (6 minutes, directed by Rachel Handler and Catriona Rubenis-Stevens). This serves as an indictment of the US healthcare system. We meet four women with disabilities and hear of the barrier of expense and bureaucracy that they encounter (even with insurance) for the care and equipment they need. When the comparison comes to how one of them is cared for in another country, we know that we should be doing better.

Human Helper. (6 minutes, directed by Shaina Ghuraya). A light sci-fi/comedy in which there are now AI androids (all pretty and females) have been developed to help people. However, they don’t quite know how to react to someone in a wheelchair. A woman in a wheelchair goes attempts to make it work. Many trials follow.

I Wish I Never. (5 minutes, directed by Shaina Ghuraya). The film begins with a note that 40% of women with disabilities experience sexual or physical assault in their life time. This is a music video that reflects on the experience of PWD in abusive relationships.

My Layers.(6 minutes, directed by Susanne Serres). This film uses dance and voice over to reflect the experience of psychosis and using creativity to overcome that separation from reality. It makes for a very visually interesting consideration of that affliction.

Zootopia – Can Diversity Work?

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Zootopia568c69e6a12faI think one of the most impressive things about Zootopia is not its animation quality (which is very good) or its storyline (which is certainly worthy of the Disney trademark), but the prescience of the filmmakers to have this film coming out when it does. Animated films take a long time to make, so in reality the filmmaking team led by directors Byron Howard and Rich Moore couldn’t have known just how timely the film’s release would be, but it seems like just the right time.

Zootopia is a world in which anthropomorphic animals have learned to live in harmony—no more predator/prey dichotomy. It is a place where lions and lambs dwell together in peace. (There’s something biblical about that vision.) Yet, there are still vestiges of mistrust especially between rabbits and foxes. It is also a place that claims “Anyone can be anything.” Young bunny Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) takes that to heart. It is her dream to be a police officer. Her parents counsel against the idea. (Mother (Bonnie Hunt): “It’s good to have dreams.” Father (Don Lake): “Just so you don’t believe in them too much.”) Through an affirmative action program, Judy becomes the first rabbit police officer for Zootopia. All the other cops are large, tough animals. Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) doesn’t want a rabbit on the force and assigns her to parking duty. Soon, though she pushes herself into a missing animal investigation. Bogo gives her 48 hours to solve it or resign. She enlists the help of Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), a con-man fox to help her through the seamier side of Zootopian life. Of course, the mistrust that Judy has learned all through her life makes it hard at times to trust Nick.

ZOOTOPIA – Pictured: Judy Hopps. ©2016 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
©2016 Disney. All Rights Reserved.

It is essentially a police/buddy movie. Judy and Nick are both outsiders, but they are very different in temperament. Judy is an optimist who believes she will make the world a better place as a police officer. Even when she is assigned to parking duty, she writes 200 tickets before noon to prove what a good officer she is. Nick is a cynic. He trusts no one because he understands that animal nature is not as rosy as Judy seems to think it is. But as they work together to solve the mystery, the two come to respect each other and will each be willing to sacrifice to save the other.

One of the key themes of Zootopia is diversity. The film features 64 species of mammals from shrews to elephants, including weasels, otters, a yak, sloths, lions, sheep, rhinos, hippos, wolves and many more. Yet although Judy starts off seeing this world as a utopian society, she learns that some prejudices and biases that are hard to overcome. It also shows how some are willing to use those biases and fears to gain power.

©2015 Disney. All Rights Reserved.

This is what makes Zootopia so timely. In a world in which we proclaim #BlackLivesMatter and had an awards season defined by #OscarsSoWhite, this film celebrates a diverse society as an ideal, but also recognizes that such diversity is not easy to maintain. It sees that we often bring prejudices we don’t recognize. It sees that those fears can be exploited by those who would manipulate people for their own advantage. And it sees that if we are going to live together that we must work hard to know and respect one another. The film creates a world in which we can look at the sin of racism and the possibilities of reconciliation in a non-threatening way.

The commitment to diversity is not limited to the story. One of the things I noted when the credits began was the number of people of color who were part of the cast. Others not already mentioned include Olivia Spencer (Mrs. Otterton), Tommy Chong (Yax the Yak), and Shakira (Gazelle, the hottest singer/dancer in Zootopia). Although we don’t see this diversity onscreen, it is impressive that the filmmakers seem to have been intentional in making this a cast that represented that vision they were trying to convey.

Photos courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures

Oscars, Diversity & All That Jazz Part II

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birthofanationThe last time I offered my $0.02 regarding Oscars 2016 was to defend the Academy and their choices.  Now, it is time to look at the other side of the argument.  But I still don’t think that the Academy in and of itself is the problem.

A fellow film analyst (BTW…that’s my official title.  I’m an analyst – NOT A CRITIC!) posted an article bemoaning the number of “slave” movies getting released.  Another article showed up in The Hollywood Reporter asking why the heck Black films have to be about MLK while White ones can be about mop inventors in order to get Oscar cred?  And lastly, several current Academy members have expressed their opposition to the controversial rules and membership changes designed to reflect more diversity. Here are my thoughts on that:

If Spike and Jada want to complain about anything, it SHOULD BE  the lack of greenlight power by studios for Black dramatic projects. Notice I said BLACK DRAMATIC PROJECTS. They have no issue greenlighting comedies. Heck, there are so many Black comedies pumping out each year that I’ve grown disillusioned with them all.  

Point of reference, see the invasion of Kevin Hart and Tyler Perry upon our movie screens. We get it, Mr. Studio Head!  We shuck.  We jive.  We make y’all laugh with our Ebonics and blah-blah-blah.  But, to quote the motto of my first writing gig “3 Black Chicks” – WE ARE NOT A MONOLITH!  

Best Man HolidayBlack audiences are as diverse as any other.  But you’ll never find that out unless you’re willing to give our diversity a chance.  Yeah, we can make you laugh.  Yeah, our hip-hop flow is cool. Yeah, we look to our icons of the past to remind us of the hope that the dark past has brought us.  You’ll even let us make a rom-com or a few dramedies (i.e. The Best Man Holiday). But where’s the project about Black lawyers?  Where’s the Black cop patrolling the streets trying to stop the next serial killer?  

Heck, we’ve only just got our first crop of Black suspense dramas in the last two years (Addicted, No Good Deed, The Perfect Guy – those last two on the list opened at #1, BTW).  The answer…

In the race for supremacy at the worldwide box office, the mindset is that Black films don’t make money overseas.  Comedies may pick up some loose change.  But dramas don’t stand a chance.  Can Hence the Hart/Madeathon at the multiplex. I’ve been saying this one for twenty years now. Why won’t Denzel and Sam or Sam and Will or Denzel, Will & Don Cheadle collaborate on a drama project? Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp will collab with any star out there. If Denzel did it, it would most certainly put butts in seats! Same goes w/Spike and Tyler. Instead of taking shots at each other in the news, collaborate! Spielberg & Lucas used to do it. Why can’t they?  

Which leads to ANOTHER issue: which one of the major (and minor) studios would be willing to fund such a “super project” featuring a legion of Black superstars?  And should they fund said project, will Oscar voters even give it a chance?  According to the THR articles, several dissenting voices who have the power of the ballot feel that Black films (Straight Outta Compton, Selma) simply aren’t good enough to win Oscar.  By who’s standard?

Selma 3The ruling class of pretentious and older LA/NYC folks who are entitled to judge what films are good or not?  The “inferior” SELMA brought its audience to tears and a tremendous ovation – complete with the gist of the crowd sitting through the entire closing credits – at the theatre I saw it at…which is THE BIGGEST movie theatre in all of Los Angeles.  Same thing happened at the same theatre during SOC.

Meanwhile, a few miles up the road in Burbank, I witnessed two Best Picture nominees – Terrance Malick’s The Tree of Life and The Coen Bros.’ A Serious Man – receive RESOUNDING boos as their credits rolled.  Audiences pondered out loud how those two films even were deemed worthy of Best Picture qualification.

So does the majority get to define the standard of what is good?  Is the anger of those Academy voices and their supporters their way of saying that Black folk have no idea on how to define a quality film?  It’s interesting to note that over the past few years of Sundance, Black cinema has made its presence known at the festival.  This year is no exception with Nate Parker’s The Birth Of A Nation sweeping the top two awards and scoring a $17.5 million dollar buy from Fox Searchlight.  And, yet, the trolls on the interweb took that info and have already deemed next year’s Oscars “The Affirmative Action Awards.”

birthofanation2Which makes me wonder: even if Black directors make films so awesome that their greatness and awards cred can’t be denied, will it even matter?  After all these cries for DIVERSITY, does the ruling class even give a care?  Do they want their cinema representing all facets of the world at large – with a rainbow of colors, layers, textures and diverse experiences on screen?  Or are they perfectly content in their vanity and arrogance?  I posed this same question once in another Christian-based film circle.  My pressing of that question ultimately led to my excommunication with the organization itself.

We will see where all this ends up.  Maybe Spike and Jada are right.  Maybe those persnickety Oscar voters will allow a rainbow coalition of seats at the nominees and winners circle.  Only God knows.

But I’m still watching the show…and will BOO my head off if Mad Max Death Race 2015 wins the whole thing!