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INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR LISAGAY HAMILTON
HBO: Tell us a little about how you came to tell Beah's story
LISAGAY: She and I met on "Beloved," a film directed by Jonathan Demme. And prior to that, I think like most American movie watchers, she was always just a very familiar face. She always seemed to play "the old mother." And I often wondered, you know, "Was she 105?". It seemed like my whole life she played the old woman. Half of my scenes were with her. And I was probably intimidated by her, because I would say, in the African-American community, she is pretty much considered royalty.
And a few years later, through a mutual friend, I discovered that she actually lived down the street from me. She had been suffering from emphysema for over ten years. And it began to really weigh on her, when she was doing "Beloved;" it was pretty clear that she was kind of sick. A friend said to me, "You should go visit her, because she doesn't really get to get out much." So I paid her a visit. And perhaps it was a selfish visit on my part, because I was going through my own, you know, mid-life crisis kinda thing.
HBO: What do you think you were looking for from her?
LISAGAY: I was searching for answers. And searching for some sort of connection, and some sort of guidance. And I was right, you know? I mean, in an hour-and-a-half visit, she was dealing out philosophies and history of African-Americans and the like, that blew me away. For so much of her life, she was a teacher, and since I was looking for one, it sorta was kismet. She began calling me, asking me to come over for visits. And it just became a regular thing. And I found the visits very, very powerful. And kept saying to myself, "I should take a tape recorder."
HBO: And how did that become a movie?
LISAGAY: In passing, I told Jonathan Demme about my visits with Beah, and what an amazing woman she was, and all this history. I didn't know that she was a political activist. And she knew Paul Robeson. And she knew DuBois, and Langston Hughes, and all these amazing people. I told Jonathan we should really should do something on her, because I wasn't sure how much she was gonna be around. And literally, the next day, he called Beah, asked her was she interested in doing a documentary on her life. She said, "Yes." He called me. He asked me, was I ready? I wasn't quite sure what he was talking about. So literally, the next day after that, he sent two cameras FedEx, with a little note with a heart on it, that said, "Just go do it." And that's pretty much how it began.
HBO: Were there surprises as the film unfolded?
LISAGAY: Probably the first thing I learned from Jonathan Demme, and one of my producers Joe Viola, is that you can never plan a documentary. I mean, you just kinda go with it.
I didn't really know that we would be chronicling the last year of her life, and our relationship. I guess I wanted to be truthful to her. What I did discover is that it was better for Beah to tell her own story, than for someone else to tell it. So one of the reasons why there are not a heckuva lot of people in the film is because every time Beah left the screen, the film got pretty boring.
HBO: How would you describe Beah's story?
LISAGAY: I would say that Beah represents a lot of black women in history, and in this country, who feel like they have no voice. Or they have a voice, but are not given the opportunity or permission to speak. I wanted to name the movie what it's named, because it pays homage to the collection of poetry she wrote, and it also pays homage, I think, to a black woman speaking, and how rare that is.
HBO: There's a fascinating moment in BEAH, when Ossie Davis talks about her Oscar® -nominated role in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." She plays a mother who tries to convince Spencer Tracy that a bi-racial marriage will work out. And Ossie basically alludes to whether or not it was a very good part.
LISAGAY: Well, not so much that it wasn't "a good role." It was that, I think for a lot of black actors, we are given words, that are not truthful. And we have to, as artists, speak words that are untrue. And some are more successful than others. Clearly, Beah was very successful at being able to speak words that are untruthful - but bringing some truth and dignity to those words.
HBO: Beah wasn't handed many opportunities, yet she found a way to leverage herself into a remarkable position.
LISAGAY: I think Beah was an artist, you know, throughout her very soul and being. And no matter what it is she did in life, it was through her art. She may not have been able to make a great living at it; but that was how Beah was going to function in this world, as a political person, asa woman. Beah was going to live life through her art. As Beah says in the film, she always won. She always won. She lived her life the way - she wanted to live it. Was she upset that she wasn't up on the Hill? Not necessarily.
HBO: How much different do you think it is now being an actor, and being an African-American than it was in Beah's time? Has it improved very much?
LISAGAY: I don't think it has. You know, I think racism is a chameleon. You know, it used to be that a "colored" sign was right out in your face. It's just not out in your face anymore. There are those who look at it and say, look at Whoopi. Look at Bill Cosby. Look at Oprah Winfrey. And I would say those are three people. And I would say, that the journey is very, very, very difficult. Perhaps the dialogue is there. But there are pretty few opportunities for me, as a black actor, especially as a black actor who is getting older.
HBO: Do you feel like the time spent with Beah has helped you address that?
LISAGAY: I think it has helped me to re-affirm what I already knew, but wasn't in tuned with. And that was: That I am, as a human being, a perfect person. Not in the Western sense. In the Eastern sense. Perfect in an evolutionary process. That you are in constant evolution. And that who you are in this given moment is who you are. Not perfect, like you don't have anything else to learn, and you are just great, and you are gorgeous, and all that.
As a definition of being, as Beah says in the film, it's mortal existence, in a complete and perfect state: lacking no essential characteristic; perfect, godlike. That's what a human being is. That's what I want to pass on to my son-- so that when all of the oppressive realities of what it is to be a black male in this country are thrown upon him, a lot of that will roll off of his back.
HBO: So you miss being able to sit down and talk about those kinds of things?
LISAGAY: Oh, every minute of the day. Every minute.
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