Michèle Stephenson is a filmmaker, artist, and writer who pulls from her Haitian and Panamanian roots to assume radically about storytelling and disrupt the imaginary in non-fiction areas. She tells emotionally-driven private tales of resistance and identification that heart the lived experiences of communities of coloration within the Americas and the Black diaspora. Grounded in a Black Atlantic lens, Stephenson tells tales that deliberately reimagine and provoke thought of how we interact with and dismantle the internalized impression of systemic oppression. Her function documentary “American Promise” was nominated for 3 Emmys and gained the Jury Prize at Sundance. Her work “Stateless” was nominated for a Canadian Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary. Most lately, Stephenson collaborated as co-director on “The Changing Same,” a magical realist digital actuality trilogy sequence on racial terror that was nominated for an Emmy within the Outstanding Interactive Media Innovative class and premiered at Sundance Film Festival. It additionally gained the Grand Jury Prize for Best Immersive Narrative on the Tribeca Film Festival. Along along with her writing companions, Joe Brewster and Hilary Beard, Stephenson gained an NAACP Image Award for Excellence in a Literary Work for his or her e book “Promises Kept.”
“Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” is screening on the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, which runs from January 19-29.
W&H: Describe the movie for us in your personal phrases.
MS: “The trip to Mars can only be understood through Black Americans.” Legendary poet Nikki Giovanni’s revelation is a launching pad to an inspiring exploration of her life and legacy. Through a collision of reminiscences, moments in American historical past, dwell readings of her poetry, and impressions of area, Giovanni urges us to think about a future the place Black ladies lead and fairness is a actuality.
The movie takes us on a journey that facilities Black liberation and the novel creativeness.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
MS: My companion and I spent months looking for a character whose physique of labor we’d relish sinking our enamel into. At first we searched within the music world, however then, due to our love for the written phrase, we additionally determined to discover different types of expression. We got here throughout Nikki Giovanni and her work, who was not a serious a part of my Afro-Caribbean orbit — though I had studied and browse her work in school at a important second in my life. She, Angela Davis, and Ntozake Shange helped form my world-view as a 20-year-old.
In my discussions with my companion, who grew up listening to Nikki’s work on Black radio, and as we revisited her work in our early analysis, we collectively felt an incredible array of feelings the deeper we dove in. We additionally repeatedly witnessed to the deep love and affection folks from all walks of life and age teams expressed for her each time I discussed Nikki’s title. Everyone we spoke with had a private Nikki Giovanni story that both spoke on to her poetry or to assembly her in individual. There was one thing clearly particular and contemporary that had not been captured by the mainstream press — particularly not within the press the place I grew up.
Nikki was uncooked, humorous, spoke fact to energy, and most significantly, Nikki’s Black feminist perspective on life felt transformative for me. Being capable of dive into her work has been a present that has additional remodeled how I really feel about myself and the world round me.
W&H: What would you like folks to consider after they watch the movie?
MS: These questions on viewers and reactions of individuals watching the movie are all the time tough and I wish to push again on that. I can actually solely communicate for myself as an artist and storyteller with a deep ardour to precise what I really feel and the way I see the world within the hopes that sharing the work resonates throughout varied communities.
I’m my first viewers. From that launching level, I could be assured others will join as a result of I’m making an attempt to be true to my lived expertise and wishes – that’s what storytelling is all about. I’ve realized sufficient from my earlier movies to know that our movies work extra like Rorschach assessments. People deliver their very own baggage to how they interpret the tales and artwork that’s earlier than them – and that’s a wonderful factor. That’s what artwork is all about.
Myself as an viewers, I really feel deeply empowered by the movie and the way it portrays the power and knowledge of Black ladies. I really feel the facility to go ahead and dream and work in the direction of my very own liberation by means of my work.
W&H: What was the most important problem in making the movie?
MS: There had been many unexpected obstacles within the making of “Going To Mars,” too many to recount. However, essentially the most urgent and disturbing impediment we encountered was the necessity for extra out there and reasonably priced editors.
We responded with a really efficient technique that will change our work sooner or later. We collaborated with a number of editors in Canada and the USA who possess particular artistic talent units that labored collectively synergistically. They all appeared to relish the interactivity and cooperative nature of the edit. Ultimately, all of us benefited from this kind of trade. It was a transformative collaborative expertise.
W&H: How did you get your movie funded? Share some insights into how you bought the movie made.
MS: This unbiased documentary challenge was solely supported by grants and basis assist till six months in the past. Over the years we tried studios and public tv however had been repeatedly rejected or supplied funding that was subpar. We developed an incredible array of property — prospectus, trailer, and a scene reel — which was fairly efficient for our fundraising with foundations, who’ve been unconditional supporters of our imaginative and prescient. We are grateful to them past examine.
After two years of pitching, we raised the preliminary cash from Ford Foundation, Cinereach, Catapult, NYSCA, the Denver Film Society, and Fork Films. After seven years of elevating funds, cobbling collectively near 80 % of our funds and pitching to non-public and public entities whereas taking pictures and enhancing, we met our companion investor in June 2022, Tommy Oliver of Confluential Films. He is a big fan of Nikki Giovanni, and was so impressed by what he noticed in our tough minimize that he supplied to shut our funding hole. We met him at a Sundance Catalyst occasion in New York City. We had been a part of the Catalyst household since 2017. That assist finally bore superb fruit for 5 years later. Tommy is a visionary and a elegant companion. We couldn’t ask for a greater collaborator. It was definitely worth the seven 12 months wait.
W&H: What impressed you to change into a filmmaker?
MS: I began making movie with my companion and father of my two kids, after plenty of years of working within the social justice area as a lawyer and activist. I typically communicate to the political facet of filmmaking; the power to unearth fact and expose the private impression of oppression and the way that course of could be transformative. But recently, I’ve come to appreciate my inspiration primarily stems from the love of the craft in addition to my love of the neighborhood of filmmakers I’ve developed over time.
I like storytelling and fixing the issues of setting up narrative in movie and now notice that this skillset is an important facet of the event of a wholesome neighborhood. Storytelling can heal us.
W&H: What recommendation do you’ve for different ladies or nonbinary administrators?
MS: Build neighborhood. The overwhelming majority of younger ladies and nonbinary filmmakers beginning immediately might not be within the discipline in one other 5 – ten years. It’s a marathon, not a dash by way of constructing a physique of labor, and even your first unbiased movie.
“Going To Mars” got here to fruition after seven years of manufacturing alongside elevating funds. Those who stay within the fields can have discovered lifelong mates and lovers, neighborhood and mentors and experiences that can maintain and nurture them.
My recommendation can be to decide to studying the craft and growing the assist methods which are wanted for the lengthy haul.
W&H: Name your favourite woman-directed movie and why.
MS: Actually, I draw my inspiration from so many sources exterior of movie. I hate to pinpoint one single factor. It’s too limiting. All types of creative expression feed my artistic, mental, and political thirst that each one intersect to encourage my filmmaking. Speculative fiction author Octavia Butler and her work with “Parable of the Sower,” to call simply one in all her books which have modified me. Back in 2015 I went again to her work, and it served as a North Star that allowed me to really feel fearless about endeavor our afrofuturist lens on Nikki Giovanni’s work for our movie, “Going To Mars.”
Edwidge Danticat and “The Farming of Bones,” that e book was a guidepost for my final function, “Stateless,” as I struggled with growing a magical realist voice and engaged with my very own Haitian roots and the legacy of violence on our island.
I’m additionally in full awe on the layered work of visible artist Julie Mehretu and the way she engages with time and area – a real supply of inspiration for collapsing time in our work on”Going To Mars.”
Mayra Santos Febres and Saidiya Hartman feed my soul because the fierceness of their writings push me to problem how I interact with the legacy of the previous in my work — each private and political.
This is all to say that I can not actually pinpoint a favourite something in terms of creative inspiration to create work. It comes from all over the place and anyplace, and naturally Black and Brown ladies artists are on the heart of that supply of inspiration.
W&H: What, if any, obligations do you assume storytellers should confront the tumult on this planet, from the pandemic to the lack of abortion rights and systemic violence?
MS: I can solely communicate for myself. I can solely hope that different storytellers dedicate their energies to the problems which are essential to them personally, whether or not or not it’s saving the universe or cooking. We will all profit from their tales.
W&H: The movie trade has an extended historical past of underrepresenting folks of coloration onscreen and behind the scenes and reinforcing — and creating — destructive stereotypes. What actions do you assume must be taken to make Hollywood and/or the doc world extra inclusive?
MS: For my non-BIPOC neighborhood members I might counsel that you just broaden your neighborhood and problem your assumptions and actions every day. For the remainder of us, we’ll proceed to do the identical: inform tales concerning the folks and locations we love.