Making a movie is hard. Sydnee Roberts-Crews hopes to make it a little easier.
To do that, Roberts-Crews founded Black Ohio Film Group, an organization with a mission to provide resources and community for Black filmmakers in Ohio.
“It’s a brand-new organization geared toward connecting Black filmmakers to each other so they can make more Black films with Black casts and crew,” Roberts-Crews says.
A filmmaker herself, Roberts-Crews remembers the moment she realized Ohio needed an organization like this one.
“I was getting very discouraged being a filmmaker myself. I didn’t know where to turn for help. My wife kept saying, ‘You need community’” she recalls. “I was on a set for Cristyn Allen-Steward for her film Blue Rebellion, and there was a lot of Black people on that set. I wondered, ‘How did you get these people together? Is there some kind of network?’”
There wasn’t, and she said jokingly that she should build one.
Why did Roberts-Crews feel that it was necessary?
“Too often, our stories are not told by us,” she says. “Our stories are told as if we’re all the same. For so long, Black people have really watched a lot of their stories be created by white folks. It’s not how maybe we would like to see ourselves on screen. We’re so much more than the sidekick. We’re so much more than the funny best friend. I think that’s why having these resources are so important for Black filmmakers because it helps to create more Black films by Black people. And there’s so much Black talent. These resources will help expand that Black talent, further expand the community’s knowledge around it.”
The organization’s website at blackohiofilmgroup.com offers a monthly newsletter, news about events and gatherings, opportunities to connect to other filmmakers, filmmaking resources and mini-courses on filmmaking.
Roberts-Crews says the immediate goal is to try to create that community by putting together events for filmmakers to interact with film commissions, festivals, theaters and each other.
“The biggest benefit is collaboration,” Roberts-Crews says. “There’s nothing like being on a set that has a Black crew, that has a Black cast. A lot of times with Hollywood films or some of those higher-budget indie films you see, it might be a Black cast but it’s still largely white crew. But this coming together, this collaboration, there’s nothing like it. That feeling of working together is the biggest benefit.”
For more information, visit blackohiofilmgroup.com.