Redeeming Black Films
Hollywood's black movies often depict negative stereotypes—gangs, violence—or revel in buffoonery, a la White Chicks and Soul Plane. But Michael and Christine Swanson are trying to change that, one film at a time.
by Mark Moring | posted 2/08/2005
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Michael and Christine Swanson are African-American filmmakers, Christians, and owners of Faith Filmworks, an independent motion picture production company which, according to their website, is "dedicated to making memorable and relevant stories with emotional and moral resonance." Their first major film, All About You, is a romantic comedy that won several awards at black film festivals. In recognition of Black History Month, we chatted with the Swansons about their work, about black movies—good and bad—and how those films fit into our culture, and about what they're working on next.
What did you think of the Oscar nominations? African-Americans received five of the 20 acting nominations, the most ever.
Michael: A lot of good nominations. I was really happy to see Don Cheadle nominated for his performance in Hotel Rwanda, one of my favorite movies from last year.
Christine: But sad to say, I don't think he's going to win because it's a popularity contest. That film is just too hard-hitting for a lot of people to go see in the masses.
They say Jamie Foxx is the favorite to win Best Actor. Do you think Cheadle's performance was better?
Christine: Yes.
Michael: Better in a different way. I think he had to go deeper into the role. If I had to vote between the two, I would vote for Don Cheadle. Not to take anything away from Jamie's performance, because that was really topnotch too. He really got into the character and he took that role seriously. But there's just something about Don Cheadle's performance that really took his performance to another level.
Someone in the NAACP said of the five nominations, "It's a great day. We've come along way since Birth of a Nation." Why is getting those five nominations such a big deal?
Christine: You're dealing with an industry that has its own set of celebrities, like Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, those kind of guys. A lot of parts are geared toward those kind of actors. So to get a great role for a black actor and then to be recognized at the top of their game, those opportunities are rare. And to have that many nominations in one year really is a testament, I believe, to the level of work that black actors are getting that they probably didn't get before. But we didn't throw a big party about it. I thought, Okay, that's nice, but there are more important issues than black actors getting Oscar nominations.
Tell me about Faith Filmworks. What are you trying to accomplish with your company?
Michael: We established this company because we felt there was a void that we wanted to fill—a lack of honest, entertaining, value-based films that explore the human condition from a black point of view. Christine and I go to the movies all the time, and we don't see enough movies with honest portrayals of African-American people that could tell a good story—without the violence or the negative stereotypes we see in some of the movies coming from the Hollywood system.
Christine: And philosophically, as Christians we're just tempered by what we believe. We have a certain sense of responsibility for our work that I don't know that other filmmakers feel or have. So with Faith Filmworks, there are certain films that we absolutely will not do. There's going to be language in our films, but not the kind of language you might see in other black movies—or white movies, for that matter. So for us it's just a matter of trying to make entertaining films, not necessarily Christian-themed, but entertaining in a way that we would not be embarrassed to show our pastor. That's always a good way for us to gauge whether or not we're headed in the right direction.
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