Cass:
Are you an artist?

Lerone:
I am not an artist in the sense of being able to draw, paint, or create anything with my hands. Am I an artist in terms of being a documentary filmmaker? That's a question I've debated for a long while (I have yet to settle on the answer). While neither myself, nor producer, Nonso Ugbode, have any formal training in art history, I actually think this is an asset to the film. Unfortunately, in many cases "art" has a level of pretense associated with it, which tends to turn people away. The goal of this film is to make "art" accessible to everyone. However, the actual art is only one element of the film. The other elements deal with America's ugly past.  Issues of democracy and acceptance which are the true heart of Colored Frames. In many ways, the art makes these large and important issues a bit more palatable.

Cass:
Who or what inspired you to do this?

Lerone:
It all started when myself and producer Nonso Ugbode were sitting in a Brooklyn cafe on a film shoot a little more than a year ago. During a break, we took some time to look around the place and noticed that much of the decor included some of the more common images of African- Americans that we are constantly bombarded with on street corners, and in any commercial setting that requires an 'urban' flavor. Due to the redundancy of many of these images that we all encounter, we began to wonder if there was more available. Were African Americans painting other images in other styles? We figured there had to be more available, and made this film to document what we discovered.

Cass:
I love the title, Colored Frames! How did that title come about?

Lerone:
At the conclusion of that discussion at the Brooklyn cafe, Nonso said to me, "You know this film should be called Colored Frames.  In the beginning, I honestly wasn't a big fan of the title. However, as we were shooting it, it became clear how fitting the it was. It seems oddly appropriate that in most applications, having color is an asset. The only exclusion that comes to mind is race. Hopefully, this film will help people think of color, or race, especially in the art world, as being an asset rather than a disadvantage.

Cass:
You have such a diverse group of artists, in terms of age and style. Were you a fan of their work prior to selecting their paintings to be featured in Colored Frames? If not, how did you hear about them, as well as locate them?

Lerone:
This is my third long -form documentary film. The greatest lesson I've learned is that you only need to get the film started. After that, it continues on its own and the biggest challenge becomes getting it to stop. It was very hard in the beginning because we weren't familiar with any of the art, nor the artists. We only had a very rudimentary knowledge of African American visual art in general. However, as is always the case, once we began speaking to the first group of artists we interviewed, they spoke of others who they respected and were inspired by, and we spoke to them. While all of the artists in the film don't necessarily know each other personally, they are all within a couple degrees of knowing each other. This makes it a very intimate film, and considering the personal nature of the issues we explore in the film it's important that the viewer inherently trust those we speak to. Having this tightly woven community of artists who agree on some key issues adds to the validity and importance of those issues and the credibility of the film as a whole.

We did make sure that the film was diverse, both in terms of the people interviewed as well as stylistically. The diversity you see on screen is highly representative of this largely untapped resource, which is the African-American visual art community.

Cass:
Do their collective works capture the vision you imagined when you started working on this documentary?

Lerone:
We were both surprised with the quality, boldness, and sheer beauty of the work. I had always envisioned the socio-political side of the film.  I've made many others that deal with issues of people and politics as this film does, so that progressed as I expected. Nevertheless, I certainly couldn't have predicted the quality, no the volume of excellent work that's out there. The lingering question in my mind now however, is why isn't it at the forefront?

In terms of the mechanics of the film itself, our vision of it went through various phases since we first began. However, it's final form I think works better than the many ideas we had along the way. It certainly couldn't have taken this form from the beginning, so I appreciate the journey.

Cass:
Let's talk a little bit about the business aspect of putting this documentary together. Funding? Marketing? Distributing?

Lerone:
One weakness that I have as a filmmaker is my disregard for traditional funding. The problem being that 99% of the time when people give money to a project there are strings attached which risk compromising the vision of the filmmaker.  There is an art to  appeasing both investors and yourself, which I haven't developed yet. For this reason, I have a nasty habit of financing projects myself, with a shoestring budget, and impossible turnaround times. On one hand, this has lead Boondoggle Films to be one of the most efficient production companies out there (few others could've made a film of this caliber with my price tag and timetable), but on the other hand I'm in the hole $15,000.

As for distribution, the film will air on PBS later on this year. However, we are first looking to partner with individual and corporate sponsors for the broadcast in order to make the financial side of it make a bit more sense. Considering our current socio-political climate, it was important to us that Colored Frames be released to the general public immediately. For this reason, we really want to start pushing this film, and get the DVD circulating as soon as possible.

Cass:
Can you share some of the obstacles you faced once you decided that this was definitely a project you wanted to work on?

Lerone:
Honestly, this was probably the smoothest production that I've worked on so far. A great deal of credit must go to producer, Nonso Ugbode. At the same time, I have my style of efficiency based filmmaking pretty much developed to a science. So many of the financial, practical, and creative obstacles I've faced in the past were reduced to non-issues for this production. That's not to say we didn't have our share of new obstacles, which in retrospect make for pretty funny stories.

We never had a production vehicle so we traveled around the New York metropolitan area mostly by train. Neither of us really travel to the suburbs much, so each time was a new adventure. Due to our constant state of confusion, on many occasions we would end up in the wrong city, miles away from where we were supposed to arrive, and late. Nevertheless, and without hesitation, the good-hearted folks we were interviewing would always drive miles out of their way to accommodate us.

Finally, on our very last interview, we decided that we couldn't get lost, or be late for our final shoot. That's no way to end a film. So after studying our route many times, and leaving early enough to make a mistake and still be on time, we finally made it to the correct train. As we pulled away, we celebrated the fact that for the first time ever we would be on time. Shortly thereafter, the train stopped, and it was announced that a tree had fallen on the tracks ahead. We were 2 hours late! [Laffin!]

Cass:
Filmmakers are also storytellers. What story did you want to tell and do you think you met the burden of successfully conveying that message?

Lerone:
The film was carefully crafted to work on three important levels, which I think it does beautifully. First, it's an exhibition of this wonderful artwork, which unfortunately remains unseen by most. Second, it's about race relations both in terms of healing the wounds of the past, as well as moving forward in a true spirit of good will and togetherness. All of these artists have had negative experiences in the art world with regards to their race, yet the message is that they simply want their art to speak for itself, devoid of any preconceived notions associated with the artist. In many ways, this speaks to the greater civil rights issues we seem to constantly grapple with. Third, the film is a discussion of the very core of democracy, meaningful speech, and the role of the artist. In a time where people are hesitant to speak out despite events occurring that demand it, this is especially important.

Cass:
The music is exquisite. How did you hook up with the Magali Souriau Trio and Lenae Harris?

Lerone:
The first documentary short that I did back at NYU was a profile of Magali Souriau, whom I met when she was a guest in a music class I was taking at the time. I was immediately captured by her innate understanding of humanity, art, and music. Although we don't really speak too often, we have developed a friendship on that level. For that reason, we truly trust each other as artists. I always knew I'd approach her to score one of my films, I was simply waiting for one good enough to justify the usage of her time -- this was it.

On the other hand, I didn't know Lenae prior to this project. She came in to audition with a song she had prepared, and we were immediately floored. In fact, this is included as an extra on the DVD. Nonso and I immediately began shouting at each other about how great it was (I'm sure Lenae thought we were crazy) and it was quite a funny moment.

What makes the music really works with this film, and each of the songs work with each other, is that both artists not only play music, but live it. It sounds like a cliché but each of them really put themselves into the music and that alone stands up to and compliments the poignancy of its message. Rather than cut the film first then have the musicians score to the cut as is traditionally done, we simply had them respond musically to the film's core themes and imagery. We gave Magali a selection of art from the film, and she and her trio immediately interpreted and converted into song. With Lenae, we simply spoke about the ideas involved in various scenes of the film which she was able to express them musically. While the artists never met each other, their individual unique sounds really compliment each other. Again, I think this is because both of them truly live through their music. I suppose, it's sort of like method acting for musicians.

Cass:
What do you hope to gain with the documentary?

Lerone:
One of the reasons it's so hard to make socially oriented films is that you have to make a living, and there is a conflict in that. On one hand ,the film is a way to speak to the world, and hopefully do something good, but on the other hand that message does have to be gainful for those who have spoken it... so that they can do it again.

My foremost goal for Colored Frames is that it awakens thoughts in people, which hopefully leads to some form of positive discourse regarding the issues raised in this film. I don't see any of my films as things that will change the world, or even people's minds, nor do I really set out to do that. Rather, if people will simply start to discuss these issues intelligently I will consider that a success.

That being said, it would also be nice to make my money back on the film...