Carolyn Talks..., Podcast

In my newest episode of Carolyn Talks..., I chat with cctress Deepti Gupta about her supporting role in India Sweets and Spices, premiering at the 2021 Tribeca Festival. Written and directed by Geeta Malik, the film uses humor to delve into the complexities of female personhood, and relationships. When UCLA student Alia (Sophia Ali) returns home for summer vacation, she's struck by the realization her parents, and the close nit Indian American community they belong to isn't as happy has she believed it to be.

Having spent months away at college, Alia has become disillusioned with the way the people she looked up to value their place amongst the most affluent in New Jersey. She sees the importance her parents Shelia (Manisha Koirala) and Ranjit (Adil Hussain) place on status, appearances and their wealth, is just a shallow façade, and when she happens to meet Bharavi Dupta (Deepti Gupta) and old acquaintance of Shelia, and learns secrets about her mother, Alia begins to understand there's more to the mother she thought she knew.

In our conversation, Deepti and I discuss the the ways Malik highlights how Women of Color - and immigrants - are forced to hide or forget parts of ourselves to conform to the edits of patriarchal and white supremist societies. To many, advocacy means taking part in large protests, and making loud declarations, but it's also giving someone the space and chance to finally speak their mind after years of being forced to stifle their thoughts and emotions, as Bharavi does for the mother and daughter. It's understanding that as immigrants making the choice between assimilation and integration is as difficult as the choice to move away from everything that we knew and loved in our place of birth.

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Stephanie Williams, comic creator and writer, joins LaNeysha and Carolyn on this new episode of So Here's What Happened to discuss her crowd-funded comic, Living Heroes. Living Heroes is an original comic series featuring short stories starring beloved Marvel heroines such as  Ororo Monroe (Storm), Monica Rambeau, Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk), and Misty Knight living together in a superhero kind of world inspired by the 90’s sitcom Living Single. Illustrated by O’Neill Jones and by . Living Heroes was funded by Kickstarter within 24hrs.

Stephanie Williams is a comic historian and pop culture critic for notable publications such as SYFYFANGRRLS, Marvel, The A.V. Club, Nerdist, Den of Geek, and Rotten Tomatoes. She is currently a content producer for What To Watch. Stephanie is also a comic creator with three ongoing webcomics, Parenthood Activate!, But What If Though?, and Living Heroes. She made her Marvel debut with a short story featuring Monica Rambeau in Marvel’s Voices: Legacy.

Check out the links below to follow and learn more about about Williams and her work.

Website: whysteph.com 

Twitter: @Step_I_Will

Living Heroes Kick Starter Page

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Episode 27 of So Here’s What Happened LaNeysha and Carolyn return from a brief hiatus to share their thoughts on films, books, and TV for the month of May. On this new episode the ladies dive into discussion and review of all the things they have watched and read. For this month that includes Blue Flag Volume 7, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Mortal Kombat.

Book: Blue Flag Volume 7 

Blue Flag Volume 7 is a romantic drama manga written and drawn by mangaka KAITO. The English release is published by VIZ Media. The plot of Blue Flag follows a group of friends entering their last year of high school who are in an unpredicted love quadrangle. In Volume 7, rumors spread like wildfire after Toma’s shocking confession during the culture festival. Taichi is left feeling confused and uncertain. While other people in their circle of friends are soon affected as well. Meanwhile, Toma’s brother Seiya sits him down for a frank talk. All the thoughts and emotions everyone has kept hidden are finally coming to light, and relationships begin to change.

TV: Falcon and the Winter Soldier 

An American television miniseries created by Malcolm Spellman for the streaming service Disney+, featuring the Marvel Comics characters Sam Wilson (Falcon) and Bucky Barnes (Winter Soldier). Set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe , it shares continuity with the films of the franchise. Following the events of Avengers: Endgame (2019) Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes team up in a global adventure that tests their abilities and patience with one another. The series was produced by Marvel Studios, with Spellman serving as head writer and Kari Skogland directing.

Film: Mortal Kombat (2021)

This martial arts fantasy film based on the video game franchise of the same name and a reboot of the Mortal Kombat film series stars Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Tadanobu Asano, Mehcad Brooks, Ludi Lin, Chin Han, Joe Taslim, and Hiroyuki Sanada. Directed by Simon McQuoid in his feature directorial debut, from a screenplay written Greg Russo and Dave Callaham and a story by Russo and Oren Uziel. MMA fighter Cole Young finds himself and his family being hunted by the fearsome warrior Sub-Zero. Cole is able to find sanctuary at Lord Raiden's temple. Training with experienced fighters Liu Kang, Kung Lao and the rogue mercenary Kano, Cole prepares to stand with Earth's greatest champions to take on the enemies from Outworld in a high-stakes battle for the universe.

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So Here’s What Happened is a proud member of the But Why Tho? Podcast Community.

On this episode of So Here’s What Happened! podcast LaNeysha and Carolyn get the opportunity to speak with Jennifer Holness the director of Subjects of Desire. The documentary premiered at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival in the Documentary Feature Competition. The 101-minute documentary is directed by Jennifer Holness, narrated by Garvia Bailey, produced by Holness and Sudz Sutherland. The film’s screenwriter is Holness, the cinematographers are Iris Ng and Ricardo Diaz, and the editor is Lawrence Jackman. The other interviewees include Miss Black America contestants, notable musical artists such as India Arie and Jully Black, college professors, media personalities, and more.

Subjects of Desire is a feature documentary that examines North American beauty standards’ cultural shift towards embracing Black female aesthetics and features. From society’s new fixation on the ‘booty,’ fuller lips, the dramatic rise of spray-tanned skin, ethnic hairstyles, and athletic bodies, some argue that Black women are having a beauty moment.

She was recently awarded the CMPA’s Indiescreen Established Producer of the year Award in recognition of her contribution to Canada’s film industry and her incredible career achievements. Jennifer has directed her first feature documentary, Subjects of Desire, about Black women and beauty. The will have it’s world premiere at SXSW and it will air on TVO and Crave in Canada.

Jennifer’s social media accounts

Instagram: @JenniferHolness 

Twitter: @JustJenHolness

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/jenniferjholness/

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferholness/

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In this episode Carolyn speaks with Kayla Lewis and Luke Salin about their debut pilot Parked in America which screened at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival in the Episodic Pilot Competition. The show is a half-hour dramedy focused on Jamie Park (July Song) a young South Korean girl travels to Illinois due to a tragic situation involving her older sister. During our discussion, Kayla Lewis and Luke Salin spoke about using their experiences, and those of their friends and families to carefully craft a story that touches on many issues affecting young people today, including mental illness, sexuality and family dynamics.

You can read a review of the pilot episode by Kate Sánchez here, and watch the interview on Carolyn’s YouTube channel here.

Follow Carolyn on Twitter and Instagram @Carriecnh12, and to access the African American Film Critics Association Virtual Roundtables mentioned, visit the YouTube Channel here, and Carolyn’s new channel here.

Visit the film’s official social media accounts for updates at Twitter: @ParkedinAmerica and @parkedinamericashow on Instagram.

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Screening at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival in the Spotlight Screening Section, and starring Alfred Enoch, Taís Araujo and Seu Jorge, Executive Order is a film that speaks to the struggles of Black Brazilians as their very identities as Black people and Brazilians are called into question, and later persecuted when the white incumbent president and his supporters seek to oust all Black and “highly melaninated’ people from the country.

Directed by Lázaro Ramos and co-written by Lusa Silvestre, Lázaro Ramos, Aldri Anunciação and Elísio

Lopes Jr. Executive Order is sure to touch many around the world for the way it highlights what seems to be the perpetual struggle for Black people to have full equality and agency in a world where white supremacy seeks to tear us down, and silence us. For Black people across the diaspora the idea of what it means to be Black, and where home is has been one that we contemplate our history of a formerly enslaved people after our ancestors were kidnapped from their African homelands and taken across the Atlantic ocean to the the North America, the Caribbean and Latin America, including Brazil.

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Ahead of it’s release at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival I had the opportunity to speak with the writers, directors and producers of revenge thriller Violation, Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli for Carolyn Talks…, Since it’s premiere at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, Violation has generated a lot of discussion surrounding it’s portrayal of rape and revenge, but there’s more to it than that.

During our discussion we spoke about the psychological damage and detachment lead character Miriam, played by Sims-Fewer experiences as a result of the violation carried out upon her by a close friend. Rarely do we get to see women be physically brutal in their quest for revenge against their perpetrators, and not only do we get to see that in this film, we see the toll it takes on Miriam mentally and emotionally. What happens is also compounded by a growing rift in her relationships with her sister Greta (Anna Maguire), and husband Caleb (Obi Abili)

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For this episode of  Carolyn Talks… I speak with writer, director and producer Shatara Michelle Ford about Test Pattern, her debut feature film, and about how her approach as a filmmaker shows the connections between race, politics and gender create situations where victims of sexual assault are marginalized by the very systems that are supposed to offer support.

As an act, sexual assault or rape are about the perpetrator taking control away from the victim, and exerting their will and power over someone more vulnerable than them. For the victim this violence forces them into a state where who they were before, has been fundamentally changed, and for Renesha (Brittany S. Hall) it also reveals the ways Black women are offered little aid when they’re hurt and in need.

Visit KinoMarquee.com for show times of Test Pattern on virtual cinemas. You can follow Carolyn on Twitter and Instagram @Carriecnh12, and to access the African American Film Critics Association Virtual Roundtables mentioned, visit the YouTube Channel here.

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Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America is a documentary directed and produced by Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler written and produced by Jeffery Robinson showing at SXSW Film Festival. 

Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America  is a 118-minute documentary that is centered on Robinson’s Town Hall performance, the film interweaves historical and present-day archival footage, Robinson’s personal story, and interview footage capturing his meetings with Black change-makers and eyewitnesses to history.

I had the pleasure of speaking to creators of the documentary ahead of the films debut. In this in-depth audio discussion the filmmakers detail the process of making this film, how each of them were got into racial and social justice, the goals they set out for the film and much more.

To learn more about The Who We Are Project, click here. 

Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America premieres Wednesday, March 17 at the SXSW Film Festival. 

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