I heard today about the passing of a legend and I turned to an alarm. My heart beat faster and it was hard to focus on the rest of the email, but I calmed, I work in an open space and any sort of freak out would need several moments of focus. The passing of Benny Andrews was not a shock in the sense that I was caught of guard, but it was alarming in that now it seems, selfishly, I realized very clearly that this project is steadily becoming more urgent. What is it that I can say to pass on the feeling I got when I first looked on Benny’s figures? How can I tell you that when we first spoke, his warm disposition took me home? His every phrase was simply truth, earned over years of being inside and outside of it all. There are no words, but of course we try, because not to try would be unfathomable, if not impossible.

I need for Benny’s name to ring loud today, I need for his images to catch, stick, stay - I need someone to understand that the reality of the present is in our understanding of the past. I need for colors to spread across visions of us, Black folk, Colored folk, Africa folk - I need this to be important to everyone who hears it; inspiring that same alarm moment where you cannot grab hold of your next sentence for fear that the end is near. This is not drama, this is the truth, if we cannot see the immense value in the existence of someone like Benny Andrews, well then I’m done trying to be the best man I can be because, what’s the point?

But have no fear, I will not leave you on that note, but on this; there are truths in this film, there is immense beauty, and we are finding, more joy there than we initially anticipated. Someone once said to us ‘you find what you look for, so what are you looking for in this film?’ Well, we went looking for pain and make no mistake, we found it plenty, but thanks to moments with inspirations like Benny Andrews, we found pools of joy as well.