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 id that middle 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 have interaction with and dismantle the internalized impression of systemic oppression. Her characteristic 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 Finest Characteristic Documentary. Most lately, Stephenson collaborated as co-director on “The Altering Similar,” a magical realist digital actuality trilogy sequence on racial terror that was nominated for an Emmy within the Excellent Interactive Media Modern class and premiered at Sundance Movie Competition. It additionally gained the Grand Jury Prize for Finest Immersive Narrative on the Tribeca Movie Competition. Alongside together with her writing companions, Joe Brewster and Hilary Beard, Stephenson gained an NAACP Picture Award for Excellence in a Literary Work for his or her e book “Guarantees Stored.”
“Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Undertaking” is screening on the 2023 Sundance Movie Competition, which runs from January 19-29.
W&H: Describe the movie for us in your personal phrases.
MS: “The journey to Mars can solely be understood by means of Black People.” Legendary poet Nikki Giovanni’s revelation is a launching pad to an inspiring exploration of her life and legacy. By way of a collision of recollections, moments in American historical past, reside readings of her poetry, and impressions of area, Giovanni urges us to think about a future the place Black girls lead and fairness is a actuality.
The movie takes us on a journey that facilities Black liberation and the unconventional creativeness.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
MS: My accomplice and I spent months looking for a persona 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 significant a part of my Afro-Caribbean orbit — though I had studied and skim her work in school at a crucial 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 accomplice, who grew up listening to Nikki’s work on Black radio, and as we revisited her work in our early analysis, we collectively felt a tremendous 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 identify. Everybody 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 reality to energy, and most significantly, Nikki’s Black feminist perspective on life felt transformative for me. Having the ability to 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 difficult and I prefer to push again on that. I can actually solely communicate for myself as an artist and storyteller with a deep ardour to specific what I really feel and the way I see the world within the hopes that sharing the work resonates throughout numerous communities.
I’m my first viewers. From that launching level, I may be assured others will join as a result of I’m making an attempt to be true to my lived expertise and needs – that’s what storytelling is all about. I’ve discovered sufficient from my earlier movies to know that our movies work extra like Rorschach exams. Individuals convey their very own baggage to how they interpret the tales and artwork that’s earlier than them – and that’s a stupendous 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 energy and knowledge of Black girls. I really feel the facility to go ahead and dream and work in direction of my very own liberation by means of my work.
W&H: What was the largest problem in making the movie?
MS: There have been many unexpected obstacles within the making of “Going To Mars,” too many to recount. Nevertheless, probably the most urgent and disturbing impediment we encountered was the necessity for extra accessible and reasonably priced editors.
We responded with a really efficient technique which will change our work sooner or later. We collaborated with a number of editors in Canada and the USA who possess particular inventive talent units that labored collectively synergistically. All of them appeared to relish the interactivity and cooperative nature of the edit. Finally, all of us benefited from one of these 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 impartial documentary challenge was solely supported by grants and basis help till six months in the past. Over time we tried studios and public tv however have been repeatedly rejected or supplied funding that was subpar. We developed a tremendous array of belongings — 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’re grateful to them past evaluate.
After two years of pitching, we raised the preliminary cash from Ford Basis, Cinereach, Catapult, NYSCA, the Denver Movie Society, and Fork Movies. 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 modifying, we met our accomplice investor in June 2022, Tommy Oliver of Confluential Movies. He is a large fan of Nikki Giovanni, and was so impressed by what he noticed in our tough reduce that he supplied to shut our funding hole. We met him at a Sundance Catalyst occasion in New York Metropolis. We had been a part of the Catalyst household since 2017. That help finally bore superb fruit for 5 years later. Tommy is a visionary and a elegant accomplice. We couldn’t ask for a greater collaborator. It was well worth the seven 12 months wait.
W&H: What impressed you to turn into a filmmaker?
MS: I began making movie with my accomplice 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 flexibility to unearth reality and expose the non-public impression of oppression and the way that course of may be transformative. However currently, I’ve come to understand my inspiration primarily stems from the love of the craft in addition to my love of the group of filmmakers I’ve developed through the years.
I really like storytelling and fixing the issues of setting up narrative in movie and now understand that this skillset is a vital facet of the event of a wholesome group. Storytelling can heal us.
W&H: What recommendation do you could have for different girls or nonbinary administrators?
MS: Construct group. The overwhelming majority of younger girls and nonbinary filmmakers beginning at the moment is probably not within the subject in one other 5 – ten years. It’s a marathon, not a dash when it comes to constructing a physique of labor, and even your first impartial movie.
“Going To Mars” got here to fruition after seven years of manufacturing alongside elevating funds. Those that stay within the fields can have discovered lifelong associates and lovers, group and mentors and experiences that may maintain and nurture them.
My recommendation can be to decide to studying the craft and creating the help programs which can be wanted for the lengthy haul.
W&H: Title your favourite woman-directed movie and why.
MS: Truly, 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 inventive, mental, and political thirst that every one intersect to encourage my filmmaking. Speculative fiction author Octavia Butler and her work with “Parable of the Sower,” to call simply one in every of her books which have modified me. Again in 2015 I went again to her work, and it served as a North Star that allowed me to really feel fearless about enterprise 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 characteristic, “Stateless,” as I struggled with creating 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 have interaction with the legacy of the previous in my work — each private and political.
That is all to say that I can not actually pinpoint a favourite something with regards to creative inspiration to create work. It comes from in every single place and anyplace, and naturally Black and Brown girls artists are on the middle of that supply of inspiration.
W&H: What, if any, tasks do you assume storytellers must 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 can be essential to them personally, whether or not or not it’s saving the universe or cooking. We are going to all profit from their tales.
W&H: The movie trade has a protracted historical past of underrepresenting folks of coloration onscreen and behind the scenes and reinforcing — and creating — unfavourable stereotypes. What actions do you assume must be taken to make Hollywood and/or the doc world extra inclusive?
MS: For my non-BIPOC group members I’d counsel that you simply broaden your group and problem your assumptions and actions each day. For the remainder of us, we’ll proceed to do the identical: inform tales in regards to the folks and locations we love.
