[James] Baldwin said the real question is not when there will be the first Negro president in this country. The important question is what country he's going to be the president of.
Raoul PeckI felt that the world, and in particular this country, were going in circles. What had happened 40 or 50 years ago was happening again, but even in a worse form - that we were sinking into a lot of ignorance and a lot of superficial change.
Raoul Peck[James] Baldwin explained that you have your own history, and that you cannot be responsible, for example, for slavery.
Raoul PeckWhy would anything change that has not been changed since the existence of cinema? [James] Baldwin somehow wakes you up to reality. It takes you out of the dream - or out of the nightmare.
Raoul PeckFrom a young age, [James Baldwin] was watching all those different films. He's watching John Wayne killing off the Indians. He came to the point that the Indians were him. You had to educate yourself because the movies were not educating you. The movies were giving you a reflection of you that was not the truth. That's the trick. The movie was also giving a reflection of what the country is. Basically, a country that wanted itself to be innocent. That's the ambivalence of Hollywood.
Raoul Peck