Cameroonian filmmaker Jean-Marie Teno discussed the Oscar short-listed Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project with US directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson. The synopsis for the Sundance Grand Jury U.S. Doc Prize winner reads how it “travels through time and space to reveal the enduring influence of Nikki Giovanni, one of America’s greatest living artists and social commentators…[and] reckons with the inevitable passing of time through a collision of memories, moments in American history, live readings, and visually innovative treatments of Giovanni’s poetry.”
During the conversation co-director Stephenson picked up on Brewster’s underlining of the planetary allusion within the film and its title.
“We like to think of the film itself as a poem. We lean into the metaphor and symbolism, and this idea with Joe just mentioned of the trip to Mars and who should lead us to Mars is really about who should be leading us here on Earth,” she said.
“How is it we can no longer learn, or no longer lean on the leadership of white supremacist colonial powers? Because they have put us in this situation,” she continued. “So if we look back at history, if we look at the lived experiences of our various communities, those who have been able to maintain their humanity, black women going through the middle passage, the experiences of slavery, the experiences of abuse with these ‘alien beings’ as Nikki [ilustrates], there is a lesson there to be learned that can guide us to a better understanding of our humanity and what we need to take to the next level of what it is going to mean to be human here, and what it is to live in community.”
“So I see Mars [as] both literal because ever since she was a child – Nikki’s always wanted to go to outer space. But being the poet that she is, it means so much more. And it’s as much about inner reflection as it is about the expansiveness of outer space.”
To watch the whole conversation between Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson and Jean-Marie Teno, click here.
