Though I have mixed feelings about Restless City, I have much respect for the film’s cinematographer, Bradford Young. Check him in out this video:
We use jazz…as a mantra on how we want to make films…the collective responsibility of how you cannot make jazz alone. And that is sort of what we are trying to bring to the table of filmmaking. – Bradford Young
How can I not have a crush? The analogies to Jazz. The focus on the idea of collaboration and community. The mentions of his inspiration. He’s talking about his work and never says “I”. Amazing.
James Baldwin in a 1984 interview with Jordan Elgrably. Baldwin gives us so many gems, but here are a few highlights:
Thank God for visual artists:
INTERVIEWER
Was there anyone to guide you?
BALDWIN
I remember standing on a street corner with the black painter Beauford Delaney down in the Village, waiting for the light to change, and he pointed down and said, “Look.” I looked and all I saw was water. And he said, “Look again,” which I did, and I saw oil on the water and the city reflected in the puddle. It was a great revelation to me. I can’t explain it. He taught me how to see, and how to trust what I saw. Painters have often taught writers how to see. And once you’ve had that experience, you see differently.
A Word to the shy:
INTERVIEWER
Did what you wanted to write about come easily to you from the start?
BALDWIN
I had to be released from a terrible shyness—an illusion that I could hide anything from anybody.
Other
I was going to excerpt some of the highlights of this article but I would’ve had to repost the whole damn thing. Check out Teju Cole enlightening everybody on the White Savior Industrial Complex.
