“For me, this is a modern story inspired by “Frankenstein” through the the eyes of a teenage black girl and her quest to cure death. Traumatized by the loss of her mother at an early age, and the recent death of her brother, she’ll do whatever it takes to breath life back into her family.” Filmmaker Bomani J. Story on THE ANGRY BLACK GIRL & HER MONSTER which screens at SxSW Film & TV.
Welcome to SxSW 2023! Are you attending your screenings in person?
Hell yeah! I’ll be at all three of them! Never been to SXSW, so I’m excited to watch movies. There’s a lot of interesting movies playing here.
Great! So how did this whole movie come together?
Oh boy. This story has been festering inside of me since I read FRANKENSTEIN right after graduating high school. Over a decade ago! I don’t give a damn about dating myself. I fell in love with the book and am still obsessed with it. But, I didn’t know what the story was, so I shoved it in the back of my head and kept living life and going to film school. Around the 2014 – 2016 years, I saw events in the news that struck a chord with me emotionally and culturally that broke the story wide open. So, I started writing. And rewriting. And revising. Until I had a draft that I was comfortable getting out to see if there was interest. There wasn’t. Everyone rejected it. I even had one meeting where an executive told me that he liked the idea but the writing was horrible and basically told me to leave. I still don’t know what the point of that meeting was. I guess the script was dead at that point, so I started writing something else. Then, my manager called me one day while I was working and told me a production company wanted to meet me about the script. It was Crypt TV. After a couple of meetings, they believed in the story and wanted to see it through with me. A year later, we went into production. The year after that, we were accepted into SXSW. Who knew.
While working on a project, what is your creative process? Do you have any particular ritual or tradition when working on something?
I’m a pretty nuts and bolts writer. I have parameters that I abide by and don’t move too far outside of them. I have to get my ass up and work every day, so it’s necessary for me to have a strict schedule. I get up before the sunrises and write before I go to work. Then at work, I do meta-writing in my head of what the scenes are going to play out like until I clock out. Then, when I get home, I write until it’s bedtime. Then get up and do the same thing on the next day. I did the same thing when I was in pre-production for this movie. I’d use the time in the morning to shot list, breakdown character objectives, build decks, and anything else that would give me a solid foundation on set. Shit ain’t glamorous, but it gets the job done. Oh, I do have a bunch of Original Film Scores on a playlist that are on loop. It gets me in a cinematic mood. I guess that’s kind of glamourous.
If you had one favourite moment out of this entire project, the “Yes, this is IT” moment, what would that be?
There were a lot of those while making this movie. But, if I had to choose one, it would probably have to be when Vicaria is stitching her brother back together and experimenting in her lab. I just remember shooting that and feeling the magic while everyone else on set was looking at me like I was a weirdo. Except Laya. She was the only one who was into my passion for the scene. Everyone else still thinks I’m disgusting.
I love to get technical, so I would love to know about the visual design of the movie from the cameras you used and the formats and your relation to the cinematographer.
I have known my cinematographer, Daphne Qin Wu, for over a decade. We went to the same college and spend a lot of time eating Korean BBQ together because she knows all the best spots. We discussed in length about the look of the film and what we wanted to accomplish. We wanted cinematic wide, but didn’t want it to look like everything else and be too clean because considering the nature of this story, a clean look isn’t appropriate. So, we leaned the other way. Daphne found some really unique anamorphic Japanese lenses from the 1970’s that were incredible and gave the film a really interesting look. It was important to me to capture the essence of some of my favorite horror movies like THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, BLACK CHRISTMAS and David Lynch in general to give it an off kilter feel. Mix that with the incredible work our colorist, Arianna Shining Star, did for the film to give it a texture that feels alive, and we landed on the look we have now.
What are you looking forward to the most about showing your project at SxSW?
To me, this is one of the final stages of telling a story. Giving it to an audience and hoping for a positive response. Or better yet, just that the story connects with an audience. And to feel that reaction and understand its potency. And if I’m fortunate enough, build a fanbase that’s interested in this story and the ones that I tell next.
Where is this going next? More festivals or a theatrical or streaming release?
This story is fortunate enough to have a very good home with some distributors. I am so happy that people will be able to see it. RLJE is giving this film a theatrical release this summer. After that, it will stream on Shudder and ALLBLK later this year. I’m so excited for people to be able to see this story!
How do you feel about the current moviegoing climate? Are you wishing more people to see movies in theatres, or is it okay to opt for a streaming release where more people could potentially see a movie?
This is a complicated question. I LOVE the theater. And, I don’t believe that there’s a “certain type” of movie that should be allowed in a theater. I hate it when people say, “This story feels like it should be a streaming movie” and put beautiful stories in boxes. I think it’s bullshit. All movies benefit from the theatrical experience. There’s nothing like it. But, films definitely spend more time being watched at home than in a theater. So, I have to respect that energy too. It’s ok to watch movies at home. Just don’t throw out the theater experience. A good story can play anywhere. But, the theater for sure adds to that experience. I hope that people rediscover interest in seeing movies of all sizes on the silver screen.
What is the one thing that you would say to someone who is looking to get into movies, even now in such a changing world?
Find your self-confidence and discipline. And most importantly, believe in the stories that you want to tell more than anyone else. Don’t let anyone tell you that your story isn’t important or doesn’t matter. It matters because you say it does.
And final question: what is the greatest movie you have ever seen at a film festival and why?
When I did a 48 Hour Film Festival, there was this short film called THE GIRL IS MIME. It was amazing that they were able to pull off such a compelling story under the conditions of make it in 48 hours and be a silent film. Really opened me up to how potent you can be with such a short and simple story while skating around a “no sound dialog” limitation. But, when you watched it, it was undeniable that it was THE best if not one of the best films in the program hands down. Phenomenal work.
This film and many others like it will be showing at South By Southwest taking place March 10-19. For more information point your browser to www.sxsw.com!