BrotherMen | The Filmmakers

Director Demetria Royals and
director of photography Ronald K. Gray.

"BrotherMen is my love letter to Black men. It is for the Black men, both known and unknown to me, who brought me and continue to bring me safely across.

"If I were to believe 'the hype,' we as Black men and women are at war, or at best a cold peace, with each other, but to paraphrase the words of mother Maya Angelou, we survived the middle passage together, we stood on the auction block together, and we took the lash together, so how can we not stand with each other now?

"So now it is time for me in my own way and in my own discipline to say to my brothermen, thank you.

"Thank you, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, for helping me to keep the faith and to know that, even as I was sitting in a New England prep school, my experience --though not reflected around me -- was always there through your music.

Director Demetria Royals,director of photography Ronald K. Gray and the Staples Singers.

"Thank you, Pops Staples and sister/daughters Mavis, Yvonne and Cleo Staples, for teaching me the values of always respecting my family tree and always remembering to call on the ancestors, because they would be there when no one else was.

"Thank you, David Roussève, for helping me to understand the cost and price Black men paid and continue to pay because they were not allowed to protect their own and yet still stayed open to love, hope, gentleness and grace.

"And thank you, Chester Higgins, Jr., for reflecting back to myself --starting many, many years ago in your first work that I discovered, 'Black Woman' -- that in your eyes, we as Black women are beautiful.

"Finally, I'd like to dedicate BrotherMen to a brotherman who entered and exited my life in two minutes and touched it forever. I was walking home from grocery shopping in Brooklyn when a man yelled from a truck, 'Hey, sister, can I help you?' I smiled and said, 'No, brother, I'm fine.' He said, 'I know you're fine; that's why I asked can I help you?' For you, wherever you are, and to all our brothermen, thank you."

-- BrotherMen director Demetria Royals

Ms. Royals is an award-winning independent filmmaker whose work has received support from the National Black Programming Consortium, the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the American Film Institute, among others.

Ms. Royals directed and co-edited the performance-based feature film documentary Conjure Women (1995, 85:00), which premiered at the 1995 Mill Valley Film Festival and was broadcast nationally on PBS in February 1997, and most recently completed the performance documentary, BrotherMen (2001, 56:00).

She was an Artist-in-Residence at the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue at Harvard University (July 1999) and received an additional residency award, "Artist as Catalyst 2000," from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, as well as grants from the Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Arts Production Fund and the National Endowment for the Arts Multidisciplinary Arts Program to collaborate on an adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's "Mother Courage," which she also directed.

She is the recipient of a Writers Fellowship from the Writers Guild of America, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Video and a writing development grant from The Funding Exchange Women's Project Scriptwriting Development Fund for her first dramatic feature.

Ms. Royals premiered her videowall installation on the images of African American women, "Inventing Herself," at the 1993 Mill Valley Film Festival and a re-mounting of "Inventing Herself" at the Majestic Theater of the Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of an international arts festival there in the Spring, 1995.

She is the Director/Producer of "Mama's Pushcart: Ellen Stewart and 25 Years of La MaMa E.T.C.," which has won numerous awards and been presented at film and video festivals around the world. Ms. Royals is a Director in the Directors Guild of America (member since 1982) and is qualified in film and videotape.

She earned her Masters of Fine Arts degree from New York University's Graduate Institute of Film and Television and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism also from New York University.

Ms. Royals was a recipient of a Kellogg Foundation National Leadership Fellowship (1994-97), a Research Fellow at the Studio for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University and Professor of Media Arts Production at Ramapo College in New Jersey since 1990.

Ms. Royals has also served on numerous arts panels and juries, including the Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria. She is currently the Director of the Film Program at Sarah Lawrence College.

TOP

DEMETRIA ROYALS WORKLIST

EDUCATION AND
AFFILIATIONS

M.F.A., Graduate Institute of Film and Television, New York University
Director, Directors Guild of America (member since 1982)
Director, Film Program, Sarah Lawrence College (starting 09/01)

FILMS

• BrotherMen
Director/Producer/Co-Editor
(2001, 56:00, 16mm; Performance-based feature documentary; Color and B&W)
Funded by the National Endowment of the Arts, a LinCS production grant (the Independent Television Service with WQED/Pittsburgh) and the National Black Programming Consortium; producer: Louise Diamond.
• Conjure Women
Director/Producer/Co-Editor
(1995; 90:00, 16mm; Performance-based feature documentary; Color and B&W)
First broadcast February 1997 on PBS as part of the Public Broadcasting's National Program Service (core national prime time programming); world premiered at the 1995 Mill Valley Film Festival; featuring choreographer/dancer Anita Gonzalez, performance artist Robbie McCauley, photographer/visual artist Carrie Mae Weems and vocalist/composer Cassandra Wilson.
Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Black Programming Consortium and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Conjure Women continues to be exhibited at film festivals and arts events here and abroad and is currently distributed by Women Make Movies.
• Inventing Herself
Director/Designer/Writer/Co-Editor
(1993-1995; 30:00; 16mm film and video HI8 videowall installation with computer programming, color and B&W)
A six foot by eight foot videowall installation on the images of Black women; world premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival (1993); also presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Majestic Theater as part of 651's 1995 World Series arts festival and the 1998 National Black Arts Festival, Atlanta. Inventing Herself explores such issues as African American women and their relationships with their fathers and mothers, sexuality, the "sapphire" and "mammy" myths, race, class, community, responsibility to self, and definitions of heroes and "sheroes," reflecting the dual consciousness of African American women and the kaleidoscope of images that confront us everyday. Funded by the Jerome Foundation, with initial support received from Art Matters, Inc. and an Artist-In-Residency at Harvestworks/Studio Pass, Inc.
• Mama's Pushcart: Ellen Stewart and 25 Years of La MaMa E.T.C.
(1988; 50:00; Video, Documentary, Color and B&W)
A documentary celebrating the life and work of MacArthur "genius" award recipient Ellen Stewart and her off-off-Broadway La MaMa Experimental Theater Club. Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Public Broadcasting Service, the American Film Institute's Independent Filmmaker's Program and an Artist-In-Residency production grant at Global Village. Mama's Pushcart has aired on PBS stations throughout the country, as well as exhibited at film and video festivals domestically and abroad; now distributed by Women Make Movies.

GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS AND ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCIES

• National Endowment for the Arts, Arts on Television Grant 2001
• Independent Television Service & WQED/Pittsburgh, LinCS Production Grant 2000
• National Black Programming Consortium Production Grant 2000
• The Rockefeller Foundation, Multi-Arts Production Fund 2000
• Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, "Artist As Catalyst 2000," Arts Residency 2000
• The Ford Foundation, Production Grant 1999
• Artist Residency, Institute on the Arts & Civic Dialogue, Harvard University 1999
• The Ford Foundation Research and Development Grant 1998
• National Endowment For The Arts Television Production Grant 1997
• Research Fellowship, Studio for Creative Inquiry, Carnegie Mellon 1996-97
• National Black Programming Consortium Research & Development Funding 1995
• Kellogg Foundation National Fellowship 1994-97
• Corporation For Public Broadcasting Television Production Funding 1993
• National Black Programming Consortium Research & Development Funding 1992
• Israel Travel/Study - New Jersey Governor's Delegation 1992
• National Endowment For The Arts Television Production Grant 1991
• Ramapo College Dean's Award 1991
• Art Matters, Inc. Individual Artist Project Development Grant 1989
• New York State Council On The Arts Individual Artists Grant - Film 1989
• Harvestworks/Studio Pass Artist-in-Residency 1989
• The Funding Exchange's Women's Project Screenwriting Award 1989
• New York Foundation for the Arts Video Fellowship 1988-89
• American Filmmaker Institute Independent Filmmaker Grant 1988
• Writers Guild of America Writing Fellowship 1988
• Global Village Artist-In-Residency 1988
• Public Broadcasting System Research & Development Grant 1987
• New York State Council On The Arts Individual Artists Grant - Video 1987
• National Endowment for the Arts Television Production Grant 1986

AWARDS AND
HONORS

• "Prized Pieces" Award, Cultural Affairs Documentary Category, 15th Annual International Film and Video Festival 1996
• National Educational Film and Video Festival, Two Golden Apple Awards: Portraits of Individuals - Category; Social Studies - Subject Area 1989
• American Film and Video Festival - Festival Finalist 1989
• San Francisco International Film Festival Golden Gate Award, Film & Video Profile Category 1986
• Helena Rubenstein Award, New York University 1982

Producer Louise Diamond with
director Demetria Royals.

"It has been my privilege and honor to produce BrotherMen with Demetria Royals. The realization of Demetria's vision as a filmmaker was both supported and inspired first and foremost by the creative talents and extraordinary generosity of Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, Chester Higgins, Jr., David Roussève, Pops Staples and Mavis, Yvonne and Cleotha Staples, and as well as by their families, their colleagues and their extended communities. I am deeply grateful to all of them for their participation in making this project a reality.

"As independent producers, we benefited from a 'brain trust' created by working with our production funders. With NBPC and WQED Pittsburgh, we were able to receive funding from the Independent Television Service (ITVS) through the LInCS (Local Independents Collaborating with Stations) initiative. The collective insight, expertise and guidance gained by working with WQED, ITVS and NBPC was invaluable in shaping the project and bringing it to the national PBS audience.

"Initial development funds for the project were received from the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and both the NBPC and NEA provided further production and post-production funding in order to complete the program. For their on-going support, and for the teamwork and dedication of the staffs of WQED Pittsburgh and ITVS, my deepest appreciation and thanks."

-- BrotherMen producer Louise Diamond

Ms. Diamond produced and co-edited the performance-based feature documentaries directed by Demetria Royals, Conjure Women (1995, 85:00, nationally broadcast on PBS in 1997) and, most recently, BrotherMen (2001, 56:00).

She is the Executive Producer of "Mama's Pushcart: Ellen Stewart and 25 Years of La MaMa E.T.C" (1988, 52:00), which won numerous awards, including at the San Francisco International Film and Video Festival, and was broadcast on PBS.

Ms. Diamond has produced the videowall installations by Demetria Royals, "Inventing Herself" (Mill Valley Film Festival, CA., 1993, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, NYC, 1995), as well as produced and collaborated with Ms. Royals on the adaptation of "Mother Courage" in residency workshops, starting at the Institute on the Arts & Civic Dialogue at Harvard University (1999).

Ms. Diamond earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in Dramatic Writing from New York University.

TOP