Five
After spending 7 years in prison, Malcolm seeks to mend
his relationship with his mother while devoting himself as a
consistent and faithful new convert to Islam.
Interview with Writer/Producer Duran Jones
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thank you! Our team had a very personal connection to this piece. I myself have a brother who is incarcerated and converted to Islam. The change I see in him now is one that I wish I saw when he was home. When my brother is released, we will both be in our 60's and I’ll be the only home he has to come to. At that time, regardless of his crimes, I will have to forgive--much like Malcolm’s mother in our story. I’ll have to decide if the person he has become deserves a second chance; that the debt our society demands through the prison industrial complex has been “paid." We are not often forgiving to our friends and family attempting to rebuild.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
If our audience takes away anything after watching this film, it would be that the forgiveness you seek you have to first give to yourself. Forgiveness is a moment-to-moment journey requiring the discipline and compassion to continuously love yourself beyond your transgressions. We wanted to tell the story of Malcolm, a man who continues to show up for that task even when the world doesn’t see him, or who he has become.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Nothing more personal than a story inspired by my relationship with my incarcerated brother. In terms of universal themes, faith and forgiveness are things we all need. Not just in the religious sense, but in terms of having faith in one another. We all have had to ask for forgiveness at some point.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
This was the most rewarding collaborative experience I’ve ever had. We began this film with a story idea from my friend, Broadway playwright Keenan Scott II, and used my personal experience to ground the world and characters. With each collaborator we added, the more the importance of this story began to shine. Our director, David Orantes, gave radical empathy to every character. Dwait Adera, our cinematographer, used his eye to capture the beauty in even the ugliest of moments. Eric Osman, our editor, asked some of the most poignant questions to keep our intention in focus. Rashi Jain, our production designer, joined our team two weeks out from production and created magic. Don’t even get me started on the composition by Alexandra Kalinowski & Prateek Rajagopal! The biggest evolution was the amount of community that came out for this one story. We all saw and heard each other clearly.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Feedback has been all positive from our faculty, donors, and audience. However, the feedback doesn’t matter to us. We did not sign on to tell this story for accolades or approval. We told it because it needed to be told. For every ex-incarcerated human being that struggles to get employment, can no longer vote, and often find themselves in debt upon release. For every victim or family member of these individuals forced to carry the burden of their crimes. Forgiveness has to happen on all sides, but it can only happen through understanding and empathy. That is the purpose of storytelling.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I think if anything it reaffirmed it. During a Q&A at our private screening I asked how many people had a friend or family member who went to prison and 60% of the audience raised their hands. I followed up by asking how many of them treated that person the same way they always had, and no one raised their hand. We are all guilty of judging others based on situations we may not completely understand, but when we seek understanding we can often solve the real problem. Seek to understand, rather than to be understood.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We hope this film can be used to facilitate a larger conversation around our society's definition of justice. We want people to pay their debt to society, but even after that debt is paid they continue to be punished by our system and us. Some will say “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime,” but even that ignores the circumstances surrounding the crime to begin with. We have to respond to the cause of the action, not just the action itself.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
All of the above! It took a community to make this film and it will take an even bigger community to amplify it. We did not start out with a feature in mind for this film, but our team does believe there is one to create from this material. So, we will be working on that. And donors: we still welcome donors. Find out how here: https://www.fivethestory.com
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
We hope it will be well received, but more importantly we hope it will be discussed. Talk about it, debate it, take action if you are moved to.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
If you were Malcolm, could you forgive yourself? Why?
Would you like to add anything else?
Go see this film and support this talented team of filmmakers www.fivethestory.com
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
David Orantes (Director) is writing a short film called Ximena about two sisters reuniting over a lie their mother has stirred. He is set to direct that in March. Rashi Jain (Production Designer) has recently worked on commercials for TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Callaway. She is set to design her first feature this year. Eric Osman (Editor) is editing a short film psychological thriller called “The Portrait,” an adaptation of the Oscar Wilde novel The Portrait of Dorian Gray (1890). Dawit Adera (Cinematographer) is in the process of shooting a Viking period film titled “Frelse” and is pre production on an upcoming music video. Duran Jones (Writer/Producer) is actively pitching a television series he created to networks for development and a short film he Produced titled Hallelujah that premieres at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Lead actor Jacob Romero Gibson (Malcolm), is set to star in the Netflix live-action adaptation of the anime series One Piece.
Interview: January 2022
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Five
Length:
23:14
Director
DAVID ORANTES director's statement: History doesn't dictate who we are today, but we must choose how we respond to it. At the core of my being, there is a wound from childhood that I contend with daily. This wound says that I’m worth nothing. Nothing because my father drank himself to death and failed to let my four half-siblings know that their lonely brother exists. Because, I was left alone by my single, immigrant mother trying to keep the roof over her sons. Because, a school therapist couldn’t see that I was screaming for help inside my self-imposed stoicism.
Today, I know that wound is an illusion. Although it feels real because for a
long period of time I behaved as it if were real. I didn’t care about my education nor did I care about having ambitions. Like Malcolm, I was caught up in short- term satisfactions— whatever could keep me from facing the worthlessness I felt at my core. I ate poorly, fed my mind junk, and numbed myself with pot. Eventually, I understood something was wrong, and it turned out that I had completely abandoned myself, the way I felt the world had abandoned me.
With this understanding, I sought help to build myself back up and to challenge this false notion of worthlessness. This challenge meant changing what I ate. It meant showing up for myself and understanding what I desire as a person and accepting that I deserve it. It meant designing a higher power that I could believe in to restore me to sanity. Most importantly, it meant waking every morning—no matter how silly it felt—to get on my knees and speak to that higher power. I am Malcolm; a child forced to grow up quickly seeking to cope with trauma through faith and consistency
Producer/Writer
DURAN JONES is a 2007 graduate of Hampton University, with a BA in
Broadcast Journalism. He is an accomplished independent rapper and
songwriter with a keen sense of storytelling. In 2017, he completed his first short film titled BLKMGC, an urban musical based on the shooting death of Tamir Rice at the hands of police. Duran is also known for his 2011 tribute to Trayvon Martin and his subsequent interview on CNN.
Now a graduate of The American Film Institute Conservatory, his goal is to tell stories for people of color that are truthful and impact the global community.
While studying at AFI he graduated from the 2020 PGA Power of Diversity workshop, where his pilot “Daywalker” received interest from Mary Parent, Gary Lucchesi and Prentice Penny.
Duran was also selected as a 2021 Sundance Feature Film Producers Lab Fellow with the script "The Incredible Heist of Hallelujah Jones" written by Victor Gabriel.
Key cast:
Malcolm: Jacob Gibson; Jeanine: Hilary Ward; Waleed: J.D. Hall; DeeDee: Sydney Thomas; Jason: Charles Lamont Smith
Looking for
distributors, film festival directors, sales agents
Made in association with:
AFI Conservatory