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“I Looked Over and She Was Weeping” | Rachael Abigail Holder, Love, Brooklyn

A Black couple walk through a gallery; the man wears a white t-shirt and Yankees cap, the woman wears a colorful mesh top and holds a glass of white wine.Love, Brooklyn, courtesy of Sundance Institute.

Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why?

Ten years from now, the memory that will come to mind when I think of the making of Love, Brooklyn is in post production. I moved to LA to pursue this career back in 2011. I knew no one but my cousin Anakela who is not in the business. She lived in a beautiful home in Baldwin Hills with a sprawling backyard and fancy soaps. I’d stay with her when I was broke and needed to feel like I wasn’t. During the sound mix for Love, Brooklyn we had to watch the film one last time, and I invited Kela to come to the screening. When it was finished, I looked over and she was weeping. I made a joke to make her comfortable. But she got very serious. She stood up and spoke to all of us in the room, the producers, our editor and composer. She said that she had never seen a modern Black movie like ours and how much she really needed to. It felt good to remember our “why” in the midst of a very logistics heavy week of post production. Why we made this movie. Why now. We wanted to pay tribute to the lineage of Black romantic movies before us. We wanted to create one to be included in that line but about this time. And I will remember that moment forever.

See all responses to our annual Sundance Question here.
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