‘Blinded by the Light’ Director on Progress and Diversity in Hollywood: ‘Man, Where Are All the White Dudes?’ (Video)
Gurinder Chadha is still the only Asian woman making feature films in Britain, contrary to the diversity she sees today at Sundance
Trey Williams | January 26, 2019 @ 9:37 PM
Last Updated: February 14, 2019 @ 4:13 PM
Hollywood has taken great strides in recent years to achieve greater inclusion and diversity. The Academy has worked to transform the make up of its voting body, and many initiatives have popped up around Hollywood to fuel inclusion, but what exactly the industry is working toward is unclear.
“Diversity is when we get the ability and the chance to tell stories from our perspective and not tokenistic stories but really emotionally, intellectually and creatively that come from our view of the world, how we see the world and then how we move forward from that,” said writer-director Gurinder Chadha, whose new film “Blinded by the Light” is premiering at Sundance.
Chadha was joined by comedian-musician-filmmaker Reggie Watts during a Sundance panel discussion sponsored by TheWrap on what true diversity means and what it might look like in Hollywood.
Her film follows a 16-year-old British Pakistani boy whose life is changed when his friend loans him Bruce Springsteen cassettes. Springsteen’s working-class anthems and affirming lyrics embolden him to find his own voice as a writer, stand up to the racism around him, and challenge his father’s rigid ideals.
“I try to make the most commercial films I can, but from that perspective,” Chadha said.
She went on to say that when she made the 2003 international hit “Bend It Like Beckham,” she was told, “it’s a great film but it won’t work in the U.S.”
“I think that’s the problem,” Chadha said. “There are plenty of people out there who are very capable and able to tell those stories but we have an industry that feels that those stories won’t transcend or won’t be commercial, and other people who aren’t of the ilk of the people in the movie who won’t get them. And that’s the real problem I think.”
Last year saw the box office and critical success of films like “Black Panther” and “Crazy Rich Asians,” but Chadha said the goal is to not see those as one-offs, but for the industry to accept and understand that people desire more of these stories and more explorations of this perspectives.
To some extent, that may mean the gatekeepers of Hollywood getting out of their own way, or filmmakers subverting Hollywood, Watts believes.
“For me, it’s about filmmakers with any kind of inexperience just making what they want to make and get it out there anyway that they can,” Watts said. “The more that you break down the power of these narrow gateways, there’s a higher likelihood that they’ll see that this is a worthwhile endeavor commercially. Getting the viewpoint correct from a voice that you don’t usually see represented is what it’s all about.”
Watts has dipped his toe into the world of virtual story telling at Sundance, with his project “Runnin’,” a surreal, high-energy, interactive dance party, driven by his and John Tejada’s music track.
Watts said during the panel on Saturday that he envisions a world where audiences could even use VR to enter the home of a culturally different family as part of a film or entertainment experience and begin to understand that different perspective first hand.
While there are certainly other steps to take, for Chadha, there is progress to be recognized.
“In 1992 I made my first feature, and I was the first Asian woman to make a feature film in Britain. All these years later I’m still the only Asian woman making feature films in Britain, which is s–t,” Chadha said. “But you look here at Sundance, there’s at least four of us here, which would have been unheard of a few years back, and now we’re going, ‘Man, where are all the white dudes?’ So I think that’s progress to me.”
10 Movie Hits Launched at Sundance in 2018, From 'Won't You Be My Neighbor' to 'Eighth Grade' (Photos)
Even though last year's Sundance didn't see studios break the bank to acquire a movie, the Park City festival was still the launch pad for several future indie hits that competed or premiered there. Here are the biggest ones from the last 12 months.
“Colette” ($5.1 million domestic) — Our list opens with Keira Knightley's portrayal of the author of the "Claudine" novels, who strikes out on her own after her manipulative husband takes the novels to Paris and claims that he wrote them. Bleecker Street bought the film for $4 million and saw a minor return on the film.
“Leave No Trace” ($6 million) -- "Winter's Bone" director Debra Granik won praise from indie circles for her gentle direction of a single father and his teenage daughter's wayward journey from one home to another after being caught living off the grid.
"Tully" ($9.4 million) -- The buzz for Charlize Theron's performance as a weary single mother began with a surprise screening at Sundance, going on to gross just under $10 million domestically.
“Three Identical Strangers” ($12.3 million) — Director Tim Wardle received a Special Jury Prize at Sundance for his competition-screened telling of triplets who were separated at birth thanks to an unethical behavioral science experiment. “Strangers” was one of four documentaries in 2018 to gross over $12 million at the box office, the first time that has ever happened in a calendar year.
“Eighth Grade” ($13.5 million) — It was snubbed by the Sundance jury AND the Academy, but “Eighth Grade” was still a striking debut for both its director, Bo Burnham, and its lead star, Elsie Fisher. The coming-of-age tale earned one of the highest opening per screen averages of the year, as A24 also held free screenings for teens to get around the film’s R rating.
“RBG” ($14 million) — Last year saw Ginsburg Mania hit a fever pitch, highlighted by the success of Magnolia Pictures’ documentary on the Supreme Court Justice released in the middle of a blockbuster-loaded May. And now it has earned Magnolia its second straight Oscar nomination, joining last year's doc "I Am Not Your Negro"
“Sorry to Bother You” ($17.5 million) — Boots Riley’s directorial debut became an instant cult classic with its bizarre imagery and cutting social commentary. It was purchased by Annapurna in an effort to built its distribution wing and became its first legit indie box office hit.
“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” ($22.8 million) — Morgan Neville’s ode to Mister Rogers might have been shockingly snubbed from the Oscars, but it was still the most talked about film at Sundance and one of the most popular docs of the past decade. Released in the summer, it now ranks as one of the top 10 highest grossing nonfiction films of all-time.
“Searching” ($26 million) — The feature debut of Indian-American filmmaker Aneesh Chaganty made a huge splash in Sundance’s Next section and made a mint after being released by Sony in the late summer. Made on a paltry $1 million budget and bought for $5 million, “Searching” stars John Cho and tells the story of a father searching for his disappeared daughter, with almost the whole film being told on smartphone and computer screens.
“Hereditary” ($44.1 million) — The biggest box office hit of Sundance 2018 was a midnight section film produced by A24. “Hereditary” earned critical and audience acclaim for its disturbing portrayal of grief and its destructive power, and was declared by many to be the finest performance of Toni Collette’s career.
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Several films that premiere or compete in Park City go on to become the indie darlings of tomorrow
Even though last year's Sundance didn't see studios break the bank to acquire a movie, the Park City festival was still the launch pad for several future indie hits that competed or premiered there. Here are the biggest ones from the last 12 months.