“Whose Streets”, follows the gripping tale of Ferguson residents following the tragic shooting of Mike brown. Following a well-received early screening of the film, Directors Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis sat down with a small select crowd at the Tumblr Headquarters to share what went into the creative-behind-the scenes- process of making a groundbreaking documentary. Catch the sit down below:
Sabaah Folayan:
On what sparked her directing the film:
“Going on social media and seeing all of the things that were happening in the world I was a year out of college and getting a view into life outside of this bubble. I found myself questioning things that were going on across the U.S, what was happening in Palestine, so when Mike Brown was killed and I saw people come out into the streets I thought how can I use my skills and help somehow. And I saw the way that I could help was to introduce a different perspective and conversation. At the end of the day we really wanted to work with someone from the community and Damon’s name came up over and over he was just completely respected so we went to the exhibit he was putting on in one of the museums in Saint Louis and from then on we’ve just been working with him.”
Damon Davis:
On what sparked his co-directing of the film:
“When Mike Brown was killed I was teaching kids at this art expo and one of my friends who was teaching said ‘a kid just got shot and people are gathering.’ And that was before the word protest was being used that was before all of that. So nobody really understood what was about to occur. And I remember, I didn’t get out there until the third day and when I got out there i just started to think that it was completely different from what the news was saying about people’ and how they were interacting. So I went out there and I used everything I could just trying to help: that’s what I did as a professor and that’s what I did with the movie. And like I said I was curating the show the first two weeks of the protest. And they [Sabbah Folayan] came and I met them and the more and more we got to know each other we had a lot of similar backgrounds and a lot of similar analysis of what was going on and we both wanted to make sure somebody black was telling the story of black people.”
Sabaah Folayan:
On the call to action behind “Whose Streets”:
“Stop seeking comfort. That pursuit of ‘getting peace of mind’ is probably not going to happen to for us in this lifetime, unfortunately. And I know that sounds cynical and I’m not saying don’t have joy and live abundantly- live very passionately but just know that comfort and content-there may not be an easy way. There may not be smooth sailing especially with the direction that the climate is going we have a whole lot that we have to reckon with and I think a lot of times we use whether or not it feels o.k or feels good in the moment of whether or not things are working. So I recommend, move out of your comfort zone. If you don’t feel alright about the way things are that’s natural because there are so many people who can’t feel alright, and until we can all feel comfortable known of us should try to feel comfortable.”
Damon Davis:
On the call to action behind “Whose Streets”:
“I just want black people to see the beauty and magic in themselves. And understand that this is not a piece for white people to come around and notice what they’re doing and feel bad and change, I don’t even know if that’s possible with the current state of things but for a second for black folks to see themselves in power and see the youth and power. So that’s the call to action with me- for it to go directly to my people”
