This week’s Staff Pick Premiere has been highly anticipated. Directed by Terrance Daye, “-Ship: A Visual Poem” took home the Short Film Jury Award for U.S. Fiction at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Upon seeing it, we were taken by its poetic structure and how it explores masculinity through the eyes of a young Black boy. Today, we are excited to share it with the rest of the Vimeo community.
Set on the day of the young boy’s cousin’s funeral, the film leads us through the home of the bereaving family. In each room of the house, he finds a different scene: his aunt crying, his cousins playing. The film captures these different moments through a child-eye level. Upstairs, the boy finds the bedroom of his recently deceased cousin. He unpacks boxes of clothes and tries on his cousin’s jewelry. Through his discoveries, his notions of manhood begins to contradict. What he has learned from other male role models in his life does not equate with what he learns from his cousin’s belongings.
In speaking with director Terrance Daye, we learned that the film itself was informed by his own stories of growing up queer. Read on for excerpts from our conversation. And be sure to check out “-Ship: A Visual Poem,” right here on Vimeo.
On pulling from personal experiences:
“Nearly all of my work is inspired by my experiences growing up queer in a conservative Christian household and the depression that I felt because of it. My work tends to reimagine traditional representations of black male identity while de-stigmatizing mental health within the black community. -Ship: A Visual Poem began as an experiment. For the last few years, I have been developing a miniseries that investigates how home life, media, and social norms significantly influence a man’s identity and life choices. The series wrestles with heavy subject matter from race and sexuality to healthcare and criminology. I’ve battled with writing the series, often wondering if there was a narrative approach loose enough to address a wide range of social issues, but palatable enough for modern audiences to follow. I have always responded to non-linear forms of storytelling and narratives that have tried to express two things at once (Daughters of the Dust, The Brother/Sister Plays, Biblical parables). I decided to create a narrative that combined elements of my own personal history and themes from my miniseries to see how effectively a small container (such as a short film) could contain the large, sweeping ideas that interested me. I have since picked up some tools and rules to abide by which has aided me in my writing process for the miniseries.”
On working through self doubt:
“‘-Ship’ is my largest production to date. It involved lots of moving parts from child actors to a large scale crew. There were many days where I wanted to quit. I even doubted if I’d make another film after this one. Truth be told, I owe the success of this production to the experienced women of color who swooped in at the last minute to make the film possible. My producers, KarynRose Bruyning and Lillian Hanan Al-Bilali, showed up to set early every day and were often the last ones to leave. They kept the coffee hot, the almond butter and jelly sandwiches rolling; invested their own funds into the project when we went over budget, and ensured that the production stayed afloat. My incredible director of photography, Kristin Kouke, replaced my original DP just weeks before principal photography and brought such a level of care and intimacy to the cinematography. There are so many stories to be told and key people to thank. It truly takes a village and I encourage folks to scroll through the credits and see all of the amazing people who helped me complete this film. It is credited as “a film by us” because I couldn’t have managed any of this on my own.”
On not being afraid of mistakes:
“Make mistakes. Especially aspiring filmmakers of color. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. This industry can be so expensive, exclusive, and punishing. It may feel like the smartest or wisest thing to do is to seize your opportunity when it comes and knock every project out of the park. But the truth is, faith and failure are the lifeblood of this industry. You can’t expect yourself to be exceptional every time. Give yourself permission to play. Use the resources available to you; work with people that make you laugh and show you grace; and try to remember that at the end of the day, it’s just a film. The budgets will increase, the sets will get larger, the stories will get more complex. So, while it’s small, while no one’s looking, while you have the opportunity: let it be bad. Cry, dust your camera off, learn from your past mistakes and go out and make new ones.”
On future projects:
“Along with the miniseries that I am developing, I am also preparing for my next short film, Pritty. Pritty is a short film adaptation conceptualized by myself and author/EP, Keith F. Miller Jr. It tells the story of two black boys from the Deep south who meet one another for the first time on a hot summer day at their local community pool. Pritty was originally conceptualized as a live-action film, however, Covid-19 shut our Savannah, GA production down a week before principal photography. Due to the restrictions brought on by the pandemic, my team and I have redeveloped Pritty as a 2-D animated film. Keith and I are so excited to work with animators and illustrators of color to create a world of possibility that features black boys at play, being vulnerable and simply existing. We’re also excited to imagine what a black queer coming of age film can look like in the animation medium. A live-action feature-film adaptation of Pritty will follow the short.”
