On Saturday night I watched the Oscar-nominated film Get Out. It was one day until the Oscars, and I had assured my friend Brandon for months that it was the next movie in my queue. It was high time I made things right.
The film left me shaken. It struck me as a perfect companion piece to Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro, harnessing one of my favorite genres of film to accentuate the consuming nature and experience of racism. Reeling after the film’s final scenes, I finally understood why Brandon had wanted me to watch it: It was an uncompromising movie that pushed the boundaries of storytelling and filmmaking.
Watching films with Brandon, a documentary filmmaker who co-founded Meridian Hill Pictures with his brother Lance, is one of my favorite things to do. So imagine my excitement when I got Brandon’s email one night:
“I wanted to share with you some VERY EXCITING news. After 5 of the most beautiful and intense years, Lance and I are about to complete CITY OF TREES, our first feature-length documentary! ... I want to invite all of you to the film's WORLD PREMIERE at the American Conservation Film Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia on Sunday, October 25th at 2 pm. This will be the world premiere of the film, which means it's the very first sharing of the completed film ever! As many of you know, this has been the most important endeavor of our careers and we would be honored to share the day with any of you who can make it!”
Between mastering the film and making arrangements for the trek to Shepherdstown, Brandon agreed to sit down with me just four days before the world premiere.
I had a feeling his senses would be in overdrive as the big day came closer. What would the moment be like just before the lights would go down? How was he feeling about the world finally laying eyes on something he had worked on for so long? How was he talking to his brother Lance about this moment, not to mention the people whose lives he had brought to the screen?
Find out Tuesday on Episode 3 of The Cusp. Subscribe to The Cusp on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.
