A Conversation with Kevin Willmott - filmmaker - Interview

African American Review, Summer, 2001 by Jeff Loeb

Loeb: Let's talk about Ninth Street in the context of other African American films. Where do you see yourself in terms of what's going on today?

Wilimolt: My personal outlook on things is probably a little different from that of the other men and women making black-oriented films right now. I come from a somewhat different background, a more rural background; I was an activist for the homeless.

Loeb: Which makes you simultaneously more progressive and more conservative.

Willmott: Exactly. I paid personally for my activism. It wasn't just vocalizing about issues, but rather acting on my beliefs. This gives you a different perspective on things; at least I hope it does. If you're smart it does. I think the big thing we do in Ninth Street is deal with violence as subject matter but not as a tool to sell the film.

Loeb: Its representation isn't particularly graphic?

Willmott: No, and even if one could call it graphic, the small amount of it in a story that's about a very violent street, or violent situation, is more indicative of what we're trying to do. I'm more interested in exploring the issues of violence than in seeing violence. A problem all filmmakers have right now is that people have seen violence for so long in movies, and seen it so vividly portrayed, that it's hard to shock them with violence any more. It seems to me that we need to look more internally--not so much depict the violence as explore its roots, the reasons that we are being violent.

I think that, after films like Boyz N the Hood and Menace II Society, movies about the hood became less effective. We've seen it; we know it now; anything more about it just becomes grist for the mill. I'd like to see a movie that explores life in the hood, but taken to the next level. Take it to what the future is going to be, maybe an absurd level. Maybe by taking it to an absurd level we can see more clearly what's going on now. If we take it out of the bounds of reality--these movies have all been ultra-reality-based--we might get a whole new perspective. If you're numb to what's going on today in the hood, if you're numb to seeing black people murdered every day on television, if you're numb to seeing young black men hauled off every day in the movies, maybe I can re-humanize you if I can put the hood in another context. Maybe I can fight the dehumanization of all of us, because I think that's the ultimate problem. I'm interested in exploring more hopeful themes.

Loeb: While we're on the subject of violence, can we shift to Colored Men for a minute? I know it's about violence of a different type--white on black--and takes place nearly a century ago. Where does this film stand?

Willmott: It's been difficult finding a home for it. A lot of people claim to admire the script, but it appears that it may be too controversial for them. Which says something about race: Things may have gotten better, but only in very confined terms. The question the script raises--even transposed to that point in history, 1920--is whether violence is ever justified. After all, there had been virtual genocide going on for fifty years, since the 1870s.