Outfest Fusion / Brisbane Queer Film Festival / 2019 – Outdooring
A young man attends his nephew's Ghanaian baby naming ceremony with a plan to steal the money collected from family and friends to run away and keep a secret hidden.
Interview with Writer/Director Maxwell Addae
Watch Outdooring here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
First, thank you. My team and I put in a lot of work into this. It feels good to finally share it with audiences. I needed a place to exhale and understand some of the things I was going through in my late teens/early 20's. I was learning a lot about myself and the world. Blackness and its politics, followed by queerness and its silenced opportunities. It made me angry, excited, confused, resentful, repressed, motivated, a lot of things. While the story is complete fiction, the emotions that it brings up are very personal.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Because it's important to watch films that show how messy it can be to deal with family. Family can serve as our first training ground on how to deal with our larger communities. Things don't always get resolved, but one of the things I admire about family, blood or chosen, is when you can agree to disagree while still being able to love unconditionally. That's a hard thing to do depending on the circumstances.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
They're one and the same. The more personal and specific, the more universal the themes become. This film centers on a black family mostly comprised of Ghanaian immigrants and some black American characters, but the themes are very universal. I'm not sure why that happens. I can watch a film about a person and culture that I know nothing about, but if it feels like real human beings are on that screen, I can connect with their story. I love that about the film.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
In earlier drafts, Kobby (the protagonist) arrives while the ceremony is in full swing. There were production considerations that made me change that so he arrives after it's over. During the rewriting phase, that choice led to the discovery of a beautiful scene between him and his sister. It reveals so much about their affection for each other. It's one of my favorite scenes.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
There have been two main reactions. One is an appreciation for the craft. The mechanics of the story and the techniques used to tell it are important to me. I like to think about what I can offer to the medium from a formal standpoint. The second is a deep emotional response. You're seeing a young character on that cusp of reevaluating the world as it has always been presented to him and reacting in ways that will impact his family. That can be a time of reflection for some people or a reminder of a painful past.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I've been surprised by how necessary this story is to the culture. Watching a character play out what is basically just a cry for help can be a cathartic experience.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Everyone involved deserves more recognition. This team really showed up to tell this story and I'm proud of their work. Also, there is a feature script completed that I'm looking to film soon. I'm really excited to tell that story because there's a lot that I couldn't explore with the short.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Festival directors and journalists/press would be helpful to expose the messages in this film to more people. A producer or financier would be helpful to get the feature moving forward.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
The word "compassion" keeps coming up. Compassion for ourselves when we've hurt loved ones. Sometimes that's coming from a deeper need to create safety. And compassion for loved ones who may have hurt us. Human's have an amazing ability to understand the intent and to consider context. We know where people are coming from and sometimes they just don't have the tools or knowledge at the time to make better choices.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What are some ways we are contradictory? We all live within some form of contradiction. There's something very human about that, which isn't part of our society's thinking. It's also in contrast to the binary politics we're presented with now.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
The feature is the most pressing and urgent project. I get to really make my version of a heist film within the context of this story. The themes they share work really well together. And the way law enforcement would be implemented in the context of a black anti-hero would be an expressly America tale. I want to contribute to American cinema's history of bold stories. There have been points of views that have been left out that we're more than ready for. We need these types of stories to see ourselves more completely.
Interview: March 2019
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
Outdooring
A young man attends his nephew's Ghanaian baby naming ceremony with a plan to steal the money collected from family and friends to run away and keep a secret hidden.
Length: 18:11
Director: Maxwell Addae
Producer: Mis Loe
Writer: Maxwell Addae
Key cast: Keith Machekanyanga (Kobby), Cassandra Blair (Annette), Malik Cason (Don), Thomas Daniel Smith (Aaron), Theodore Mark Martinez (Uncle Red), Cassandra Relynn (Mom), Martin Dorsla (Dad)
Looking for: journalists, film festival directors, producers
Twitter: @outdooringthef1
Instagram: @outdooringthefilm
Hashtags used: #outdooringthefilm
Website: www.outdooringthefilm.com
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? AFI EXPO/A.F.I Campus - March 30; Dallas International Film Festival/Studio Movie Grill Royal Ln Saturday, April 13th 7:30 PM & Landmark Magnolia Monday, April 15th 10:30 PM; Minneapolis St. Paul Film Society/St. Anthony Main Theatre 3 Mon, Apr 8 7:10 PM