Empowering the Next Generation of BIPOC Filmmakers
One silver lining to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike that sapped this year’s TIFF red carpets of much of their star power? Without A-list headliners sucking up quite as much festival oxygen, we’ve been seeing a more intentional focus on supporting diverse stories from BIPOC filmmakers.
“Institutions are finally listening to us. We were finally at the table, in the rooms, influencing policy, shaping guidelines, and presenting opportunities for institutions and broadcasters to hear from the people who have been harmed by their practices over the last few decades.”
Kaden Douglas
Through programs like the Every Story Fund and Media Inclusion Initiative, among others, the Toronto International Film Festival has made a noticeable push in recent years to amplify diverse filmmakers and their films, and help traditionally underrepresented communities share more of the festival spotlight. It’s a welcome change after decades of BIPOC talent having their stories pushed to the sidelines, tokenized, or shut out of the conversation entirely across the industry at large.
If you’re a glass-half-full type, you can already begin to see the fruits of that ongoing labour on screen at this year’s festival, as well as behind the scenes during industry programming designed to address additional ways to increase representation for underrepresented communities and help ensure any newly-opened doors remain open.
“I think we have a lot to celebrate from the past few years,” said Kadon Douglas, Executive Director for the Toronto-based non-profit BIPOC TV & Films, speaking as part of a panel presented by Indeed called Empowering Rising Voices: Advocating for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Through Film. “Institutions are finally listening to us. We were finally at the table, in the rooms, influencing policy, shaping guidelines, and presenting opportunities for institutions and broadcasters to hear from the people who have been harmed by their practices over the last few decades.”
Hosted by Indeed SVP of Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance LaFawn Davis, the session was one of a few conversations held during TIFF with a focus on how the industry can continue to break down barriers for historically marginalized groups. Sara Rastogi from Issa Rae’s Hoorae Media and Kate Oh, a development executive at Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions, spoke about amplifying projects from underrepresented creators during a separate panel discussion held earlier in the festival.
“We have to give ourselves grace, and also acknowledge that we are trying to shift decades, centuries of harm.”
Kadon Douglas
Still, Douglas cautioned, while progress is being made, there’s plenty of work yet to do. “We are in the early stages of that work. And we have to give ourselves grace, and also acknowledge that we are trying to shift decades, centuries of harm,” she explained. “And we will not fix it in three years.”
Securing financing is one of the major ongoing obstacles for many underrepresented creatives, according to Miguel Angel Caballer, an alumni of Indeed’s Rising Voices program, which provides funding and mentorship opportunities for BIPOC directors. Caballer recalled asking a pair of Hollywood development executives how they decide which projects to greenlight. The answer? Each one is run through an algorithm that gives the thumbs up, or down. “And here I am with a film that I co-wrote with my partner that stars in the lead a Mexican-American who is queer. This algorithm is not going to spit out ‘finance this film,’ ” he remembered thinking.
Attaching a household name to your project can go a long way towards helping a notoriously risk-averse industry (and their algorithms) feel more comfortable taking a chance on a first-time or early-career director. But that can be something of a catch-22 for BIPOC filmmakers, explained Caballer. You need a marketable star to secure financing, but how can BIPOC actors land their big star-making role if companies aren’t casting them?
According to Julien Christian Lutz, the Canadian music video-turned-film and TV director better known as Director X, the first step in creating more marketable BIPOC stars is by making movies that are, well, more marketable. “At the end of the day, we are in the entertainment business, and good entertainment tells us about the world, inspires us to be better… and entertains the drunk.”
“We don’t always have to hit you over the head with how hard it is to be up here, do this thing. Sometimes you just need some kids falling in love.”
Director X (Julien Christian Lutz)
For Lutz, true progress also means getting away from the tendency to think that every project from a diverse filmmaker needs to be about “the BIPOC experience”—what he calls “the struggle.”
“We don’t always have to hit you over the head with how hard it is to be up here, do this thing. Sometimes you just need some kids falling in love,” said Lutz. “Listen, we all grew up with these white folks’ movies—they never talked about being white. We loved Goonies. We love Star Wars.”
That said, it can be difficult to convince the decision makers to take a chance on a movie that doesn’t conform to previously-held stereotypes. “The majority of the people who are making the decisions are not from our communities, and carry some racist ideologies or perceptions about our communities and communities’ stories,” explained Douglas. “And that impacts what stories are prioritized, which stories get funding.”
In order for real change to happen, then, it has to come in the corner offices as well, she said. “We need executives who are either from our communities, or who operate within an anti-racist framework, a decolonized framework, so they can identify some of these biases and maybe push them out of the way, to ensure that stories from a vast array of communities do get a chance to reach audiences.”
Increased access to mentorship programs and on-the-job training is another key element, said Indigenous filmmaker and festival programmer Tristin Greyeyes, who first got her start as an editing mentee on The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open. “I think a lot more films and productions can start doing that. Hiring people to come and learn, in a safe space, and a culturally safe place.”
“There are people telling these amazing, revolutionary, boundary-pushing stories in Canada. We just need to see them on larger screens.”
Kadon Douglas
In order to be truly revolutionary, however, these programs shouldn’t just stop at training the next generation of writers, directors and producers, but crew as well; productions create jobs, which can turn into careers. “I need grips, I need gaffers. I need hair and make-up,” explained Lutz.
“This city needs Black hair and make-up in such a crazy way,” he continued. “For a city that does a lot of out of town work, has a lot of Black productions coming out here, it is unacceptable that we do not have an army of Black hair and make-up people ready to go on all these productions, at any time.”
“I think we are in a great moment in Canadian screen media, where we’re talking about redefining Canadian content, and what that means.”
Kadon Douglas
Ultimately though, none of it matters if the industry isn’t also investing in helping BIPOC-made projects get seen by a wider audience. “There are people telling these amazing, revolutionary, boundary-pushing stories in Canada. We just need to see them on larger screens,” said Douglas. “We need to invest more in audience discoverability, ensuring that people can walk into a Cineplex theatre and have a variety of Canadian films to choose from.”
To that end, her organization has partnered with Indeed, Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad and TIFF to bring the Rising Voices accelerator program to Canada. The five selected mentees will take part in development sessions, workshops and networking opportunities, with applications opening later this fall.
“I think we are in a great moment in Canadian screen media, where we’re talking about redefining Canadian content, and what that means,” explained Douglas. “So it’s happening. We just need some really fundamental, and also institutional changes to actually see it.”
