Riding the Wave
We sit down with inaugural ‘Race and Sport Around the Globe’ competition winner Rhasaan Nichols to learn about his creative process and future plans
The inaugural winner of our debut film competition and partnership with Martha Vineyard’s African-American Film Festival, Rhasaan Nichols, is a Yale graduate who has committed his life’s work to the unique documentary niche of examining cultural issues and the human experience. In addition to feature films, he has dipped his toes in the advertising world by completing a fellowship with Saatchi & Saatchi NY, studying commercial production and marketing. This experience led him to successfully writing and directing a special advertisement for Duracell.
It’s significant to note that this was not Rhasaan’s first rodeo at the Martha Vineyard’s African-American Film Festival. In fact, his first feature “Letters to My Sister: Chenee Speaks!” was his short film debut and dedicated to his little sister Chenee Nichols in 2013. The film centered around Chenee who was born with cerebral palsy, and worked to diminish the stigma affecting people with disabilities, winning the HBO award for Best Documentary.
The cultural researcher can now add “inaugural winner of Global Sport Institute’s Race and Sport Around the Globe,” Short Documentary Competition, to a respectable list of his accomplishments. His winning documentary showcases a cohort of educators, community organizations, and sports enthusiasts working together to help Black and Brown youth explore beyond the inner city of Los Angeles, reclaiming their heritage and long history with the beaches in Santa Monica through the power of surfing in “Walking on Water, a Brief History on Black Surfers.”
To learn more about Nichols’ inspiration, we followed-up for a Q&A with the director himself:
What inspired you to pursue becoming a career film director?
As a kid, I used to want to be an Olympic sprinter, a lawyer and then a surgeon — but nothing made me feel more alive than storytelling. During my sophomore year at Yale, I took a playwriting seminar that changed my life. It felt good to really stand out in something — especially at Yale, so I changed my major from History of Science, History of Medicine to Film Studies.
Walk us through your ideation process for your films in general. What specifically led you to examine the heritage and history behind Black surfers in the Los Angeles community?
All of my films begin with a question. I enjoy crafting stories that seek answers to questions that I am personally pursuing myself. Honestly, the Black surfers story found me. Moving to California was a boyhood dream of mine that I finally realized after graduating from Yale. One Easter Sunday, my cousin showed me the Inkwell monument on Santa Monica Beach. It empowered me to know I was following in the footsteps of generations of bold African-Americans seeking their American dream in Los Angeles. Once I began my own research — and found pictures, I was all in. The images of a historic Black beach culture and Black surfers lost to history was a story that I just could not shake.
This is now your second time winning at the Martha Vineyard’s African-American Film Festival. What does that mean to you and how was your first process different from your most recent?
Winning at MVAAFF this time around has been a very gratifying and emotional experience for me. Back in 2013 the festival encouraged me to attend because my documentary, Letters To My Sister, was being nominated for an award. However, I almost missed the opportunity because I was very much still a broke young filmmaker LOL. And I did not yet understand what a magical place Martha’s Vineyard truly is. From Philadelphia, I took three busses, a subway and a ferry but I made it. :-) That first time at the festival not only did I win my first accolade as a professional filmmaker, but I also gained a mentor + father figure in legendary advertising executive Sheldon Levy.
Mr. Levy was a real-life angel who passed in May, so winning in 2019 is bittersweet. This time, I got to fly in from Los Angeles because I never ever gave up on my calling; however, I do wish I could have shared the moment with my mentor in person.
What are the first and most crucial steps after you have decided on an idea for a film project?
Once I have an idea that I like, I share it only with people close to me — to see if it resonates. After that, I sit with the idea for quite some time before I start writing and/or planning a production. I visualize the movie playing out, let the characters speak in my head, meditate and then pray on the film idea. If the concept still compels me after some soul searching, I know it’s the one to move forward with.
What is your favorite thing about being a film director?
I got into filmmaking for social change. I spent four years making a documentary on my sister because too often people only see the wheelchair and not the person. Today, Letters To My Sister continues to dismantle the stigma surrounding special needs children and their families. Being a film director empowers me to present compelling, three-dimensional images of people of all races and backgrounds. It’s a privilege which I do not take lightly.
Any ideas for your next film that you can give us the pleasure of previewing? Or topics that you have in the pipeline that you deem a “must-do” future project?
Well, I would love to continue riding this Black surfers wave. :-) Once I returned from Martha’s Vineyard, I immediately began working on a treatment for a feature-length documentary on Black surfer history across the globe.
Also, I am still writing a feature screenplay inspired by the life and times of the first documented African American + Mexican American surfer, Nick Gabaldon, who taught himself how to surf at Santa Monica Beach in the 1940's.
What do you hope the audience will gather and take away from Walking on Water?
I would love for audiences to take ownership of our collective history as Americans. The Jim Crow era is not just “Black History” or “Latinx History” — it’s American History, which we all need to understand in order to build a better future for our children to inherit.
However, we have more in our history besides hard times. Walking on Water is changing the way Black and Brown people see themselves. Learning a new skill such as swimming or surfing builds confidence and expands your worldview. Because of this film more young people — and the young at heart — will reclaim their heritage at the beach and get in the water. Aquatic sports need us!
To check out more of Rhasaan’s work visit his website. Watch the official trailer for Walking on Water below:
