Well, the past year has been a really strange year,
but I have been very lucky.
I am not going to challenge what the universe
had in store for us.
As storytellers, as actors, I think,
it's a very good time to be an artist.
You have to practice.
You know, everything happens for a reason.
Obviously, it would have been great for people
to see on the big screen.
But I don't think people would have connected
to the film the way they have if we
haven't really gone through a collective apocalypse.
The way Fern fell at the beginning of the film.
We'll never know, but it's quite possible
that if this had been released in the movie theater, first,
we would not have a space that we were
just living in for so long.
This time was especially difficult,
because we were at a reckoning once again in our country.
And because we were in the middle of a pandemic,
the world was watching.
I feel that, now that people are sort of hunkered down
and are still that they can really pay attention to it.
Really, commit themselves to the story.
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Was it what I would have imagined
would have been the way my directorial debut, would
have debut?
Absolutely, not.
We been through the trenches with this film.
You know, almost seeming like we weren't
going to be able to finish it at one
time because of the pandemic.
And then, to be here in this space,
talking to you now, knowing all of the things that
had taken place, I'm grateful.
Once I do a film, I'm sort of done.
I walk away from it.
I'm good.
I go back to my life.
I say, that was a great experience.
And that for me is the reward.
But I think, the good part of it is,
you get to talk about people of color, who are
in the center of a narrative.
There are not enough words, not enough time
to keep driving that home in a culture
where there is an absolute absence of that.
That's been the best part of it.
Well, the past year has been a really strange year.
But I have been very lucky because I get to wake up
in the morning, and don't have the time
to feel anxious about what is happening in the world
because I have so many deadlines.
And and I've been working with people that I
really love working with.
So I consider myself very lucky.
I did expect Ma Rainey to have this level of awards journey,
because I was there.
I saw.
I conquered.
Now, I say that, you don't always
know that that's going to happen,
because I sort of have had that feeling before when I
did a movie called "Get On Up."
So you never know, right.
But great work in my opinion, is undeniable.
When you're in the presence of it, it's undeniable.
We just all set out to tell a story that
was honest to the feelings that black people have
in this country.
Putting a mirror up to all of us as Americans to reflect how far
we haven't come in 60 years.
So that was our intention.
When I was making the film, I would try
not to think about any of it.
It's like raising a baby and then send them to school.
You don't want to think about what happens at a time
because it's scary.
And then, your baby starts to go to school,
so you're letting your child out into the world.
And you know, you want the child to be safe.
And you want people to like your child.
You want people to listen to your child.
To hear your child.
And so far, those things have have been happening.
So it's been a gift.
It's been a gift.
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There are so many films that I love from this season.
I really like Radha Blank's 40-year-old version.
I love Chloe Zhao's "Nomadland."
I thought it was a simple story just beautifully shot and told.
If I have to pick one, I would say, "Judas and the Black
Messiah" by Shaka King.
It's a really, really powerful film.
It's emotionally complexed.
You can tell that he's poured his heart
and soul onto the screen.
There's like passion every frame.
There's always a fear with predominantly black narratives.
You never know what the audience is going to understand it.
You never know what the audience is going
to be on board with going on a journey
with so many black characters when
it's so culturally specific.
I think, that's why August wrote too.
To say, "OK, for the next hour and a half,
I want you to sit with us and understand what makes us tick.
What makes us complicated.
What makes us the same as you but also a little different."
That's been my biggest sort of fear with Ma Rainey coming out.
But I believe that it lands because there's something
about him that speaks to humanity,
and what drives us as human beings, which
is in my opinion, worth and value,
and understanding that, and owning that.
I think, this year's Golden Globe
nominations having three women.
If this means more people like me get to you know live
their dreams of telling stories for a living,
I think it's great.
It's exciting to be out at the same time
with work that really is provocative,
that really is speaking to stories
that are prescient if you will.
The audience, the real people, and the critics
have both embraced it.
And I think, most times it's kind of either or.
It's like, OK.
This is good.
Maybe, this might be a call to action.
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