During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it?

One of the great powers of cinema is its ability to create empathy and communicate with the world. How people live, what people dream of, what we all struggle with. Ultimately it’s all pretty similar and, in my opinion, film has a unique ability to transcend barriers of place, time and condition to allow us to understand we all are more alike than different. In my opinion, the more sincere a film is, the more broadly it can appeal to viewers, because people respond to that type of honesty. But what we see more now are films that have become more ghettoized by genre, formula and demographic, and in consequence, they just don’t communicate on a meaningful level with viewers. Dayveon may have the challenge of not penetrating large audiences because it may get restricted by the preconceived notions of what people may think of gangs and young African American males in America. But hopefully the honesty and sincerity of this film can pierce through and communicate with viewers to help redefine generalizations and continue to create a sense of empathy for one another.

[PREMIERE SCREENING: Thursday, January 19 at 5:30pm — The Marc]

Sundance Responses 2017