For me the 2021 SCAD Savannah Film Festival, held both online and in person (masks and vaccine mandates strictly enforced) this past October in lovely Savannah, Georgia, was undoubtedly one of the highlights of a pandemic stressful year. Chock-full of movie stars and critics’ darlings, as in years past all invited guests (even low-glitz journos like myself) were provided with gratis gourmet buffets of breakfast, lunch and dinner. (And I do mean gourmet. In fact, the daily five-star-level menus served up on the rooftop and in the restaurant of our charming Drayton Hotel paired nicely with the celebrity wattage.)
In addition to Kenneth Branagh stopping by to pick up the Lifetime Achievement in Acting and Directing Award, there was Adrien Brody in town for the Vanguard Award; Maggie Gyllenhaal for the Rising Star Director Award; Mike Mills for the Auteur Award; Ruth Negga for the Spotlight Award; Dylan Penn for the Rising Star Award; Clifton Collins Jr. for the Distinguished Performance Award; Aunjanue Ellis for the Outstanding Achievement in Cinema Award; Simon Rex for the Spotlight Award; both Kodi Smit-McPhee and Odessa Young for the Discovery Award; Harry Gregson-Williams for the Lifetime Achievement in Composing Award; and Phil Lord and Chris Miller for the Outstanding Achievement in Animation Award. (In other words, that nightly red carpet certainly got trampled on.) Which is a long-winded, albeit name-dropping, way of saying that the comfort to truly sit back, relax and just enjoy the show proved a welcome and totally unexpected primary perk. And no small feat for any fest to pull off in this age of round-the-clock anxiety.
Less surprising – at least to someone fairly familiar with the film festivals of the Deep South – was the choice to program the Celebrating Diverse Voices Panel, presented in conjunction with Georgia Power. Contrary to popular perception, it’s the liberal fests down south that tend to be the least segregated and most inclusive, at least compared to those up north. (The North never really having been forced to reckon with its own history of racial apartheid the way the South has. Why address insidious redlining when there’s headline-grabbing segregationists like Alabama’s Bull Connor around to unleash some dogs?) And the event’s participants were indeed diverse. On hand at the cozy Gutstein Gallery venue were SAGindie executive director Darrien Gipson, actor and producer Imani Hakim (Dinner Party, Mythic Quest, Everybody Hates Chris), actor, writer and producer Chris Naoki Lee (Dinner Party, Mythic Quest, The Terror), and actor, writer and producer Aizzah Fatima (Americanish, The Good Wife, High Maintenance).
“Be an ally to other communities as well”
Of much greater surprise was learning that Fatima actually grew up between Saudi Arabia – and Mississippi. “The two places are just about the same,” she added wryly. (That and the fact that that she used to work at Google of all places.) After suggesting that budding filmmakers of color “learn how to pace yourself” and “surround yourself with creative people,” she described raising funds directly from the Muslim American community in order to finance Americanish. The High Maintenance actor also decried that as a Muslim woman she is often up for roles requiring foreign accents. (Which, admittedly, is slightly less offensive than a decade ago when she was cast as a person with a foreign accent in a wheelchair.) Once she even had three auditions in a row, each for a character named Fatima – and all unsurprisingly written by white men who wanted the character to “throw off a hijab.” The activist filmmaker then urged telling the most specific story possible – as that way it will be universal. “Be an ally to other communities as well,” she concluded.
As for Gipson, who left Hollywood simply because she got sick of making decisions “based on fear” and saying no, working at SAGindie allows her the chance to figure out how to say yes every single day. (Even as she often finds herself the only person of color in the room to this day.) That said, Gipson’s also happily been employed as a development exec at Russell Simmons’s company – alongside decision makers who were almost exclusively Black women. She reflected sadly and hilariously on the industry’s “children of the corn” syndrome – and stressed that above the line talent must represent the diversity of every community. (Translation: All Black women and all Black men do not look alike – so don’t cast that way!) Below the line folks are still undervalued, especially BIPOC, she added. Even the most talented DP or production designer won’t be trusted – or paid – at the level of white men. And yet, the fact that BIPOC are making quality films with half the money actually shows that these marginalized filmmakers often have twice the talent! Gipson then emphasized that every creative should be unafraid to write in their own voice – and to “swing for the rafters.”
Something that Hakim – who only got cast as the “sassy Black girl” or the best friend when she first started out – seems to have taken to heart. She now adamantly refuses to participate in the stereotyping by always doing her own writing and development – by taking control of her “destiny.” However her partner Lee, the only male onstage, lamented that he deals with micro aggressions regardless. (He also denounced the over-sexualization of Asian American men in general – a perpetual problem for Black women as well, Hakim concurred.) As a straight, Asian American guy he often kept his mouth shut and simply persevered when he began working in the industry two decades ago. He appreciates that things are indeed changing, however slowly. For example, his character on Jean-Claude Van Johnson was originally Thai – but the writers were willing to change the ethnicity to Japanese-Chinese to fit the actor’s true identity. Something that just wouldn’t have happened in the past.
And perhaps a glimmer of hope that the more things change in a post-Me Too Hollywood the more they won’t stay the same.
Image credits: MyHart Ent and sagindie
