AN INTERVIEW WITH TINA MABRY

Mississippi Damned is the heart-wrenching family drama of three black kids struggling to grow up in poor, rural Mississippi.  Spanning from 1986 to 1998, Mississippi Damned follows several generations of a large African-American family who fight to break a cycle of abuse, addiction and violence, escape their circumstances, and confront what has plagued their family for generations; or succumb to the same crippling fate, forever damned in Mississippi.

Mississippi Damned is the feature film debut of writer/director Tina Mabry.  Based on her childhood experiences, Tina creates a story that is as frank and powerful in its portrayal of poverty as in its themes of familial bonds, survival and true courage.   She hopes that Mississippi Damned will shed light on issues ignored by mainstream films and enable underprivileged peoples to find their voice.

A graduate of the USC Film School, Tina has received accolades for her thesis film Brooklyn's Bridge to Jordan and as co-writer of the film Itty Bitty Titty Committee.  Recently, Mississippi Damned won the Grand Jury Award for Best American Indie Film at the 2009 Philadelphia Film Festival.  She graciously made time to give us this interview:

Please tell us a little about yourself.

I was born and raised in Tupelo, MS.  When I graduated from high school my mother became ill so I decided to stay nearby and attend the University of Mississippi in order to help care for her.  After four years I earned Bachelor degrees in Psychology and Political Science with plans to go to law school, but I had no passion for law.  I figured if I was going to go into debt, it should at least be for a career I was passionate about.  I always had a love for film and writing, so I chose to follow my dream of filmmaking.  I entered the graduate film program at the University of Southern California and upon graduating in 2005 I used my thesis short film, Brooklyn's Bridge to Jordan, as my calling card.  It won several awards on the festival circuit and it aired on Showtime, LOGO, and BETJ.  Soon after I got a chance to co-write a feature film entitled Itty Bitty Titty Committee, which won Best Narrative Feature at South by Southwest Film Festival in 2007.  Since then Morgan Stiff, Lee Stiff, and I started an independent production company called Morgan's Mark.  Mississippi Damned is our company's first feature.

Mississippi Damned is based on your childhood experiences.  What motivated you to share such a personal experience through this film?

I came from a family that had been haunted by the lack of possibilities offered in a still somewhat impoverished state.  I wanted to explore my family's struggles in the South and how community, landscape and politics shaped and defined our lives.  We made this film because we wanted to take a truthful look at a prevalent lifestyle that is often overlooked in mainstream films.

How have people of your former community responded to the film?

So far the only people from my hometown who have seen the film have been my family and close friends.  Because the story is centered around my family, I was initially nervous about showing them the film.  For one, I wanted them to like the film from a moviegoer perspective.  Secondly, I didn't want to cause a rift in my family because I chose to publicly reveal the dirt we swept under the rug.  Over the holidays, I had a chance to share the film with my family and they loved it.  Naturally, it was difficult to watch certain scenes of the film because we had to re-live those moments.  They were happy to know that the film was truthful and honest in its portrayal of how our family and several other families unfortunately sometimes have to live. 

I read a study which says that the poor often will choose escapism in their spare down rather than find ways to overcome their situation.  Do you see that being the case from your own experiences?

Some of the characters in the film seek to escape the bleak reality of their life whenever they can.  In order for their lives to get better, they should be planning and enacting ways to overcome their predicament, but for them that's not even a possibility.  What they've seen around them their entire life is the possibility; there are no better options to choose.  Plus, most people are [so] consumed with trying to make it day to day, they don't have the time or the emotional energy to expel in order to come up with a plan to stop what has been occurring in their family for generations. 

For several years, I naively felt the solution would be to just get outside of the Mississippi border.  However, when I left in 2001, I quickly came to realize it was not that simple. It's not about trying to escape the actual state, but rather trying to escape the damaging cycles that continued to loom over my family.  Even though I might have been thousands of miles away, the mindset that was a result of these destructive cycles was as close to me as they ever were. This began a serious introspection on how does one truly escape not a place, but a mindset and lifestyle.

What were some challenges in bringing Mississippi Damned to the screen?

There were definitely challenging aspects to bringing Mississippi Damned into fruition.

We had a total of thirty-four actors, a limited budget, a period film, a hundred and nine page script, and we had to do it all in twenty-two days. So, challenging may be an understatement. However, we managed to do it with a wonderful cast and an exceptional crew.  People were invested in the story and we formed a strong camaraderie that crossed crew/cast lines.

What was production like those twenty-two days?

We had a tornado on day one.  I figured that if we survived a tornado then we would be able to handle anything else that came along, which later included shooting in a hundred and ten degree temperature and battling mosquitoes.  Despite the obstacles we faced and the serious storyline, there was a lot of laughter on set.  We enjoyed working with each other and we felt we were creating a powerful piece of work all of which superceded the barriers we had to overcome.

The film shot in North Carolina instead of Mississippi?

Ironically, we shot the film in North Carolina because it made the best sense for our limited budget.  Morgan Stiff and the executive producer, Lee Stiff, are both from

North Carolina and they had a great pool of resources there.  We shot in Hertford County, an extremely small and rural county in North Carolina.  Before my first visit to Hertford County, I was hesitant to shoot in North Carolina.  I had visited Raleigh, Charlotte, and Wilmington and didn't feel like the setting would be true to Mississippi.  However, once the producers took me to Hertford County, I had no doubt that it could pass for Mississippi.  At times I even saw places that looked exactly like places from my hometown.

What are the plans for Mississippi Damned?

After the film finishes its run on the festival circuit, we hope to secure traditional distribution, which would include a theatrical release.  However, if we can't go this route, we intend to get this film to audiences because we believe in the message and the universality of the film.  It's a film about struggle, about building a road when you have no idea where to begin.  These are things everyone can relate to.  

With this film, we want to rally the disenfranchised and unite those of disparate backgrounds, goals and aspirations.  Through this film, we aim to use cinema as a means to give marginalized people a voice and to shed light on issues often overlooked because they may seem too hard to tackle. We therefore will get this film in front of audiences in a theatrical setting, whether it is a traditional or non-traditional route.  The performances are too impactful, the filmmaking too strong, and the story too important to settle for less.

Lee Stiff and Morgan Stiff were your producers for Brooklyn's Bridge to Jordan.  What is it like working with them? 

Mississippi Damned is the second narrative film we've worked on together.  Lee and Morgan are two of the many unsung heroes of film.  Most of the time in independent film, directors and actors are in the spotlight, leaving the producers in the shadows.  Morgan and Lee have been with the project from the first page ever written to the end.  While each of them are extremely adept at performing the pragmatic duties of producing, they are able to excel in an area most producers fail to master - the ability to be a creative producer.  Both Morgan and Lee understand story and character; they come up with viable solutions to serve the story as well as the budget.  It can honestly be said that without them the film would never have come to fruition. 

Who is your hero?

I have two heroes.  One of them is my mother, who passed about in 2006, and the other is my aunt.  They have always been there for me to push me along in their own unique ways.  My mother was more of a tough love type of woman, and my aunt is very nurturing.  I always had both of them in my corner encouraging me to see the fight until the end, because giving up was not an option.  

What can we expect to see from Tina Mabry in the future?

I'm currently writing a supernatural thriller for a British director, Pratibha Parmar.  I am also working on completing the script for our company's next feature film.

Mississippi Damned screens Sunday, April 19 at 3:30 pm, Tina Mabry, producer/editor Morgan R. Stiff and actors Jasmine Burke, Maria Howell, Michael Beasley, Donna Bisco, Tina Weatherbee and Mark Wilson will be in attendance. A second screening is Thursday, April 23 at 1:30 pm.