I knew that the way that I was going to center the point of view and the perspective was going to be from a place of care and intentionality and love.

And that's all I can do.

I know. Hello, and welcome back to the director's cut, brought to you by the Directors Guild of America.

In this episode, a grieving mother uses her pain to open the eyes of the world to the horrors of racism,

and director Chinonje Chukwu's biographical drama, Till.

Based on the true story of Mamie Till Mobley, the film recounts her relentless pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son Emmett Till, who in 1955 was lynched while visiting his cousins in

Mississippi. In addition to Till, Chukwu's other directorial credits include the feature

film, Clemency, and an episode of Sorry for Your Loss. Following a recent screening of the

film at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles, Chukwu spoke

with director David O'Yello-W about filming Till.

Listen on for their spoiler-filled conversation.

Yes, yes.

Let's get this started.

I am so proud of you.

I am so, so, so, so proud of you.

Okay, let's start at the beginning as we get to know each other.

Who have been your influences?

What were your influences growing up on your journey towards being a director?

So I had childhood influences and then that just got me excited about movies.

And then I had cinematic influences that really helped shape me as a director. And so growing up, I grew up visiting family in Nigeria every year. And I'm from Emo State. And I would go to my father's

village and we would watch Coming to America. Wow. Wow. Classic. Every single day we would watch Coming to America and I was obsessed with Julia

Roberts movies and I would rewrite the movies in my journals and just rewrite the scripts and

...