Filmmaker Lanre Olabisi Defines How He Subverts Stereotypical Depictions Through Filmmaking
“We are starting to see stories and roles open up that just wouldn’t have been fathomable even ten years ago.”
From hundreds of submissions, five short films were selected to screen at the 23rd annual HBO Short Film Competition at this year’s American Black Film Festival. The festival will be hosted on ABFF.com from August 21–30, with more than 100,000 virtual attendees from around the globe anticipated to attend. As part of this year’s Short Film Competition, emerging writers and directors presented narratives that ranged from gut-wrenching tragedies to subversive comedies and a journey into self-exploration.
Lanre Olabisi is an independent filmmaker whose films have screened in over 70 festivals, including SXSW and the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. Below, he shares how a retired African-American tennis player inspired his short film A Storybook Ending.
Why did you decide to submit your film to ABFF’s HBO Short Film Competition?
It’s one of the best short film competitions in the world. ABFF’s HBO Short Film Competition has done a wonderful job at launching the careers of so many talented filmmakers over the past twenty-plus years. A number of my friends have had films play in the festival and doors that had previously been closed to them started to swing wide open, so submitting to ABFF was really a no brainer.
What inspired you to write this story?
The idea came to me in 2015 when I saw what happened to James Blake, the retired African-American tennis star. He was standing in front of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City waiting for a car to take him to the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament. All of a sudden and for no apparent reason, a plainclothes police officer tackled Mr. Blake to the ground without ever identifying himself.
I’m 6’2, 240 lbs. I wrestled at the University of Michigan. I’m a purple belt in Brazilan Jiu-Jitsu. I know how to defend myself and that moment actually scared me because I have always been aware that at some point in my life I might just “fit the description.” This led me to ask a number of questions that all started with: what if?
What if that happened to me? What if I fought back? What if it was nighttime? What if no one was around? What if I threw the cop to the ground? Fortunately, I never went through any of this, but my main character, Wale, does.
The short is actually based on a feature film that I wrote and I was looking to raise the profile of the feature film script. I saw what Damien Chazelle did with the short film for Whiplash which ultimately led to an amazing feature, so I was really inspired by that.
What role do you think current events will play in the way your film is viewed? As the filmmaker, what do you hope your film adds to the conversation?
Due to our current climate, I definitely think there are moments that are going to be triggering for some people. I don’t pretend to have the answers and the film doesn’t pretend to try to solve them. When I make a film I make a point of subverting stereotypical depictions, stories, and characteristics of people of color. I wish to show us (POC) in ways that we have not seen portrayed on film, by veering away from the usual expectations.
With A Storybook Ending, I wanted to place a group of African-Americans in a situation that I have never seen on screen inside of a neo-noir dark comedy. I thought it would be fun to tackle this genre given the dearth of these types of stories with African-American leads.
I really love what’s going on right now in TV and film. We are starting to see stories and roles open up that just wouldn’t have been fathomable even ten years ago. I can’t imagine seeing something like Watchmen or Us growing up, so seeing it start to happen in a meaningful way is refreshing. If this short film can add to that conversation in some small way, that would be amazing.
In terms of genre, how do you categorize your film? How do you think comedy can be used to facilitate highlighting dark themes?
A neo-noir dark comedy (with some action sprinkled in) that’s also part social satire.
I like using comedy to highlight dark themes because it throws the audience off-balance. People open up when they laugh and once you do that, you can sock them with something really hard and extremely dark. If it’s dark all the way through then a wall forms between the audience and the film and there is the risk that they will not be able to fully engage with the film. Ultimately, I felt that it was important to lighten things up so that the audience could swallow what at the end of the day is a particularly dark story.
What role did music play in the writing of this script? I found the song choices very interesting.
I knew that I wanted the music to set the tone for the film very early. It puts the audience in a position where they know that the filmmakers are not taking things too seriously, so they don’t have to either. This helps because when the moments of levity do come, they feel free to laugh as opposed to being confused by a tonal shift in the film.
When it came to choosing the music, I always knew that I was going to play with opposites. I love the musical choices Kubrick made with A Clockwork Orange and what Danny Boyle did with Trainspotting. Both films are very dark at times and the music often plays contrary to what we see onscreen. My thought was: what’s the least likely thing someone would expect to hear at this moment that could actually work for this scene? With that as the starting point, finding the right song became infinitely easier.
What advice would you give aspiring filmmakers trying to break into the film industry?
This is a marathon and not a sprint. Too many times I see aspiring filmmakers who give it a few years and then give up. If at some point someone decides this is not for them and they don’t want to do it anymore — there is nothing wrong with that. Go out and find what you love to do and do it.
However, if you do discover that this is what you love to do, then push forward no matter how long it takes. Keep learning. Keep growing. Keep making films. Keep getting better. Things will open up, just be patient, for when that moment does come — you’ll be ready for it.
