Recently I attended a film screening of Chris Johnson's Question Bridge: Black Males. I haven't been this impressed with a documentary film in a very long time. The film was shown as part of SIUC's Expanded Media Symposium and this film did just that by going beyond a film or an installation but by being adapted into an app and a curriculum for schools.
Johnson's film is simple having a specific group, black males, ask questions and other black males respond to the questions. There is no music or sound other than the men asking and answering questions. The visuals of the men are talking head shots framed next to each other. While one man speaks different men will appear next to them and appear to be listening, similar to a chat room. This format simulates a conversation but is done in such a way as to not be distracting. This allows the viewer to feel like they are part of the conversation rather than being talked at by a single dominate figure on the screen. I was impressed that even though there are no b-roll or fancy camera effects the content and conversation is so intriguing that I was completely attentive to the film from start to finish.
What impacted me the most was his focus on a very specific group. Often in documentary filmmaking we are taught to show both sides but here Johnson doesn't show both sides he provides a space to let one side converse. Being a white woman I found this fascinating because it gave me an opportunity to listen in to several conversations of black males as they talked freely to their specific audience and in turn provided me with a better understanding of the black male experience.
Often when people talk about films that address difficult topics like racism people say things like "It was good to bring awareness to this issue" or "We just need to have conversations and educate each other." The former statement always seems like it's not doing enough and the later statement seems to be in the right place but often seems to be just said and not done. However, with Question Bridge: Black Males, the conversation is being done. It's exciting to see.
The day after the screening they hosted a workshop where everyone got together and discussed how to make films in the style of Question Bridge. Meeting director Chris Johnson was a wonderful experience. He was so humble and took every opportunity to praise the film's talented producers, editors, and marketing designers. He explained that the colon in the title Question Bridge: Black Males was to imply that there could be any form of a question bridge project such as Question Bridge: Black Women or Question Bridge: Muslim Women. This concept has inspired me to consider the power of keeping my audience specific because sometimes to include a wide demographic as your target audiance can cause the conversation and the content of a film to lose its power to communicate in the most effective way.
On a more personal level, I learned from Johnson to make films that matter to ME. This might seem like an obvious lesson but I have often caught myself working on film projects because I can see a good story and not because I am particularly passionate about the subject matter. The Question Bridge project encourages me to be a better filmmaker.
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