Interview With "Ailey" Director, Jamila Wignot

The Next Best Picture Podcast

Tv & Film

4.2 • 542 Ratings

🗓️ 23 July 2021

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Premiering earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival and screening later at the Tribeca Film Festival, NEON's latest documentary "Ailey" has garnered overwhelmingly positive critical praise for its look at one of the most influential dancers of all time, Alvin Ailey. As a former dancer myself, it was very meaningful for me to watch a documentary tell Ailey's life story, and getting the chance to speak with director Jamila Wignot about how she brought that to the screen was an immense joy. Please tune in to our conversation below, where we discuss Ailey's importance in dance culture, his legacy, and more! Enjoy! Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/nextbestpicturepodcast iTunes Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to The Next Best Picture podcast, and this is Dan Baer's interview with the director for the new documentary film Ailey, Jamila Wignott.
0:10.0	Do you feel as though you had to sacrifice anything to stay in dance?
0:17.7	Everything.
0:27.6	The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre is one of the most important contemporary dance companies in the world. People were just, oh my God, they've never seen anything like it.
0:32.6	Choreographers start with an empty space, a body or two. We said, carve the space.
0:38.3	I love creating something where there was nothing before.
0:42.3	I was born in the Depression,
0:45.3	rural country, tough times.
0:48.3	When I was 14, I discovered the theater.
0:50.3	And it touched something to me, but there was no body glad.
0:55.0	Alvin entertained my dreams that a black boy could actually dance.
1:03.0	Being able to say through the choreography, I am.
1:11.6	It transcends dance.
1:14.6	I had my own ideas,
1:18.6	not just to do a step, but to feel something.
1:21.6	He was working at a feverish pitch, totally immersed.
1:26.6	People say, why is he doing that now? If you're a black, He was working at a feverish pitch, totally immersed.
1:28.3	People say, why is he doing that now?
1:30.3	If you're a black, anything in this country, people want to put you into a bag.
1:34.3	This is what he took up as his crusade.
1:38.3	Alvin's protest was on the stage.
1:40.3	I want to feel all the anger, the sense of cursing at the outside room.
	...

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