‘Obama’s rise helped black talent’

Dec. 17: US President Barack Obama’s rise in American politics has opened the floodgates for black, Asian and Hispanic talent in American art, theatre, TV and film scene, says award-winning American actress Kamilah Forbes who is the main guest at the ongoing Chennai international film festival. Her film was screened at the festival on Thursday.
“The presence of African Americans in our films is relatively less compared to that of Whites. We have few blacks such as Will Smith, Denzel Washington. With the rise of Obama, the floodgates of black talent have opened,” Kamilah told this newspaper.
She feels the increase in independent filmmaking and less dependence on studios will also see the rise of talents other than whites. “However, TV being a highly institutionalized area, the rise of people other than whites is limited here,” she said.
Kamilah, who is a producer with HBO, said getting diverse people in positions of storytelling would be a step towards empowering them.
“Give the stage to them; empower them to say what they want. That is how my film – Brave New Voices – was born,” she said.
“The success of my TV content lies in identifying voices and people who are under-represented in the media and empowering them at an early age. It is between 13 and 19 that they form their language. We train them at that time,” said Kamilah.