In TCB: The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing, co-directors Louis Massiah and Monica Henriquez profile the titular visionary author, activist and academic. We posed our Qs à la mode to Louis and Monica, and here’s what they shared!
If I had to describe my film using only three adjectives, they would be:
Louis Massiah: Useful, catalyst, balm.
Monica Henriquez: In-depth, humorous, warm.
I wanted to make this film because:
LM: At times, we can feel inundated by having screens everywhere, useful for entertainment or immediate needs. We can forget how powerful a tool cinema can be in helping us recover ourselves and reimagine our future. Toni Cade Bambara’s life, her words and her influence give us lessons about how culture can be a tool for building and strengthening the communities that we live in.
MH: It gave us a chance to experiment with the biographical format, bringing together memoirs, literary and film works, personal and historical context.
The thing that surprised me most while making my film was:
LM: I think I was most surprised how one person, through her words and works, could have had such an ongoing and, in fact, growing impact on individuals and communities so many years after her passing.
MH: The growing impact that TCB has on younger generations.
My favourite moment/scene/sequence in my film is:
LM: I love the sequence in the film that Monica titled “Sister is a Verb,” where a pantheon of Black women writers gather — including Ntozake Shange, Octavia Butler, Lucille Clifton, Barbara Smith, Cheryll Y. Greene and Thulani Davis — to share excerpts of their current work. The animation at the top of that sequence by Gabriel Coffey, and the music that accompanies it by Jerome Jennings, help make that scene a gem.
MH: The closing sequence and how it pulls together different strands. It’s emotional, but restrained.
My most invaluable piece of doc-making equipment was/is:
LM: Paper and a pencil, which I use during pre-interviews, interviews and taking notes during the edit.
MH: The highlighter.
My must-have snack to get me through hours in the editing room is:
LM: I don’t know what I would do without Earl Grey tea with milk and a splash of honey.
MH: Tea with milk.
One piece of documentary-filmmaking advice I’d like to share with aspiring documentarians is:
LM: Think of your film as the beginning of a discussion: with your interview subjects, with your audience, with yourself.
MH: Keep going!
Want to check out Louis and Monica’s film, or just learn more about it?
Get the scoop, and your tickets, here!
