Our video interview with the director and protagonist of A Thousand and One, the film

James Baldwin, Rage, Gentleness, The Lights of Harlem: A Thousand and Ones. Our video interview with director, Avi Rockwell, and protagonist, Teyana Taylor.

Rome, Midsummer. We meet and chat with one of the great names of new American cinema (good enough to win the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance) at a hotel in the center. av rockwell, But the director is not alone. opposite of this. with him, the perfect hero, there is Teyana Taylor, Sixteen million followers on Instagram and a stratospheric career: singer, choreographer, actress. He’s collaborated with the greatest of all time, from Beyoncé to John Legend, Missy Elliott to Lauryn Hill. However, Avi Rockwell wanted her for his first film, one thousand one, draining it of every superstructure and really giving it what may already be the role of life. A woman, Inez, who in 1994 has been kidnapped by Harlem, whom she describes as her son. From there, an epic that will last for years, while Avi Rockwell photographs with the utmost clarity the changes in New York and Harlem.

For the film, the director said she was inspired by Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee, but the writing reminds us of one of the greatest African American writers, James Baldwin. “It’s not a specific reference, but I love Baldwin’s work. Just like I love Toni Morrison”The director tells us in our video interview: “I love the way they deal with African-American culture. And James Baldwin has always covered Harlem. I admire him, even the way he used his voice.” They’ve all influenced me in different ways, including Lee and Scorsese.” Shaping what I feel, allowing me to tell stories”,

A Thousand and One: Video Interview with Evie Rockwell and Teyana Taylor

Teyana Taylor plays Inez, a misguided Harlem hairdresser who escapes the brunt of life and spends years caring for her Terry. An insane and not easy explanation. In fact, Teyana Taylor is always on the verge of exploding while avoiding anger. “I think that was Inez’s strength”explains the actress, who is also a mother of two. “As mothers we make many sacrifices, and as African-American women too. We make sacrifices because we express our feelings. We are angry. It’s a balance. So let me take my breath , Let me do what I have to do. And strength is always not an option, but an obligation”,

One of the themes of the film is gentrification. Still, structural change in Harlem hasn’t deterred its wonderful people. “People Can’t Be Changed”Teyana continues: “This part doesn’t change. The problem is that we’ve been pushed away from the positive side of change. We’ve been pushed out. But our taste has persisted. We’re from New York, we’re from Harlem. Wherever we go . The energy and spirit will never die. This film is a love letter to our neighborhood. It reminds us of how we used to be.”,
“Thousand and One Executes the Idea of ​​What We’ve Been Missing”Evie Rockwell continues, “How gentrification is turning people like Inez away. But turning people away from their homes destroys the Harlem we’ve come to love. The community of Harlem. That’s what makes it most special”,

A Thousand and One review: If Evie Rockwell’s debut reminds me of James Baldwin’s

Harlem Light, between Lennox Avenue and 119th

As noted in our review, Avi Rockwell, cinematographer Eric K. Yu together with 119th, Lenox Ave and 125th have done a wonderful aesthetic job in depicting the spectacular lights that move the shadows of Harlem. “A place that made me learn a lot. There are many African American communities in New York, but Harlem was the icon. A context that included everything I love. I lived there for years, I moved around there. And we were mindful there of the way it had to be lit and presented physically. We wanted to embody that: me, the cinematographer, and then the costumes, the set design. We wanted to collectively keep the spirit of Harlem were. Especially in the first half. Then it starts to fade, and we feel the reckoning of the loss. What they’re taking from us. Losing the New York we loved”

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