You have to have a very strong cash flow for a film to really stay in theaters. You have to have the advertising capacity to sustain and follow the kind of press coverage.
Haile GerimaTo me, entertainment is really the new plantation. It's the new sugar, the new cotton, that black people work for somebody else to be richer than them.
Haile GerimaMost young people make films to be accepted, to be discovered, when in fact that was the last idea with the group I went to film school with. To be discovered was not our intention. Our intention was to tell our story our way, and make our own mistakes and learn from film to film.
Haile GerimaThe system knows how to cherry pick black people. It's like affirmative action - once a year, one is recognized. But what has to occur is self-emergence so if they ignore you, you don't have to disappear.
Haile GerimaTarantino is a spoiled little white kid. He can do any movie he wants and nobody can do anything about it.
Haile GerimaThe true story is that black people need to tell their history. Very few films are made by black people about slavery. That itself is a crime because slavery is a very important historical event that has held our people hostage. Forget white people's role in it. In the end what's important is black people remain and live with the scars and psychological issues.
Haile Gerima