Filmmaker Interviews from Masters in Conversation, New Auteurs and More
RAO UL PECK TALKS I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO
Working from James Baldwin’s unfinished final novel, Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck creates a striking portrait of the black experience in America with I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO.
AFI: James Baldwin’s unfinished final book “Remember This House” was entrusted to you by the writer’s estate. Did you feel pressure to do it justice?
Raoul Peck: If there was any pressure, it was the self-inflicted pressure to do right by Baldwin — to figure out how to be faithful to his words, in a world that asked, at every moment, for simple answers to complicated issues. The film industry being what it is, I knew that I only had one shot. I wanted to have Baldwin center-stage, without any talking heads interpreting or second-guessing him. It seems politically urgent to put Baldwin’s word “in the streets,” as he would have personally done, and make sure that these words were uncensored, unapologetic, direct and raw. He was to be the message; I just wanted to be the messenger.
AFI: How did Samuel L. Jackson become involved as the film’s narrator?
RP: As we were approaching the final phase of editing, we started thinking about who would carry this heavy responsibility of Baldwin’s words. For these words, I needed more than an accomplished actor. We knew this person should be renowned, but also someone with the political maturity, credibility and confidence to be self-effacing and convey Baldwin’s forthright language. And finally, we needed a familiar voice and presence that would not distract from what was essential.
AFI: Does your experience as a Haitian filmmaker inform this film about being black in America?
RP: I come from a country where we knew from day one who we were and where we came from — most importantly, from a country which made history by freeing itself, on the battlefield, from its masters, and got its independence in 1804. Contrary to the legend, the first totally free Republic of the Americas is not the United States, but Haiti. The slaves had liberated themselves. And we paid a heavy price for it. So, I know where I come from. Haitian or not, being black is the first identifier people acknowledge. It is part of your daily life. It is life itself, an ongoing experience that never stops, and it will be until there are real, fundamental and structural changes in this country and elsewhere.