Quotes by Roger Ross Williams - Page 2

Wiseman's films are some of the most pure cinema, and to take a journey in a Wiseman film is like no other. He's been doing it so long, with a body of over 40 films!
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Pure
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The more I learned about religion in Africa, the more intrigued I became. It was as if the continent was gripped with religious fervor. And the center of it was Uganda.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Fervor
Intrigued
Uganda
Continent
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Don't boycott the Oscars. Staying away from something that needs to change is no way to change it. Instead, let's help them lead the way in promoting diversity in Hollywood.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Boycott
Oscars
Staying
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I don't think we're getting the empathy, and identifying with the situations that many African Americans experience. That's the problem with how the story is being reported.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
African American
Empathy
Thinking
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Symbolic racism is hurtful and it is especially hurtful to Black children who get called Black Pete in school and grow up with the sense that they are inferior to white kids.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Kids
Children
Growing Up
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I have learned that the hardest part of campaigning for tolerance and justice is encouraging people to look at their own selves, to examine their own identity and shortcomings.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Encouraging
Campaigning
Tolerance
Examine
Hardest Part
Selves
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There are simply too many Academy members who were voted in during a less inclusive era and still remain a large voting bloc even though they haven't worked in the field for decades.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Decades
Voting
Inclusive
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I love 'Jungle Book' and all the classics growing up, but what I learned about this is that these Disney films are basically classic fables that have been told for thousands of years.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Classic
Fables
Jungle
Classics
Disney
Thousands Of Years
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The establishment wants to connect with people who are like them, and I wasn't. I'm a black gay man from a poor working-class family. Most of the people who look like me are in prison.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Working Class
Family Man Look
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The musicians are good and their music is catchy - it pulls the kids in in droves. Mike Bickle admitted to me that the music was a big part of their success at attracting young people.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Kids
Musician
People
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When I visited Africa to make my film 'Music by Prudence,' I was struck by how intensely religious and socially conservative Africans were. There was literally a church on every corner.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Film Music
Prudence
African
Corner
Intensely
Socially
Struck
Visited
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After I read about Uganda's now famous "kill the gays" bill, I wanted to explore the religious forces behind it. As a gay man, I wanted to understand the folks who wanted to kill me and why.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Men
Gay
Religious
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I mentioned before, these [classic Disney films] are classic mythological tales, a hero's journey, and have been told for thousands of years. Disney has updated them, and made them accessible for us.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Journey
Classic
Hero
Years
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I grew up in a Southern Baptist-style church with a choir, a band, and music, but I've been asking myself my whole life, 'Why is my own church, my own community, rejecting me because of my sexuality?'
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Choir
Rejecting
Sexuality
Life Music Myself
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I grew up in a Southern Baptist-style church with a choir, a band, and music, but I've been asking myself my whole life, "Why is my own church, my own community, rejecting me because of my sexuality?".
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Community
Southern
Style
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While shooting in Uganda in 2011, the conservative evangelical pastors I was filming - the most ardent supporters of the country's now infamous Anti-Homosexuality Bill - discovered that I myself am gay.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Ardent
Infamous
Shooting
Uganda
Filming
Pastors
Supporters
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I didn't have a lot of exposure to films as a kid, and I never went to the cinema. I had a single mom who just planted me in front of the television. But while growing up, I lived in my own fantasy world.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Exposure
Single Mom
Mom World Me
Fantasy World
Planted
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I wasn't that much of a Disney buff growing up, but I love the mystical and magical nature of Peter Pan, and I have connected with that character through Owen [Suskind] in making this film ["Life, Animated"].
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Character
Film
Growing Up
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The challenge and the goal was to get inside Owen's [Suskind] world, because I really wanted to see it through his point of view. To achieve that naturalism, I used a screen in front of a camera as I interviewed him
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Challenges
Goal
Views
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Why so much interest in Uganda? Why are American conservatives lobbing for hate? The answer is that they feel they have lost the culture war here at home and are exporting their outdated ideas to the developing world.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Home
War
Hate
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I began filming 'God Loves Uganda' by first meeting some of the Ugandan and American missionaries who have helped create Uganda's evangelical movement. They were often large-hearted. They were passionate and committed.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Committed
Uganda
Filming
Meeting
Missionaries
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I didn't know the extent of American obsession with Uganda until I got there and saw it. You ride in the plane and it's filled with American missionaries. Uganda is the No. 1 destination for American missionaries in the world.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Saws
Uganda
World
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'Traveling While Black' is about empathy, what African Americans experience in traveling throughout America, and how it hasn't changed that much from the past. If it can be experienced in virtual reality, then perhaps some empathy can be gained.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
America
Past
Reality
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I grew up in the church, and I went into the production of 'God Loves Uganda' intending to raise awareness of the abuse of religious power in Uganda, and after 30 public appearances, I have learned a lot about how people receive this sort of message.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Abuse
Uganda
Appearances
Intending
Receive
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It is our stories [classic Disney films] that make us human - so Owen [Suskind] has become an expert in what connects us and makes us human. That got to me, the power of these stories, and the lessons these tales give us to create the connection between us.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Connections
Experts
Giving
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They embrace them because they represent everything that America represents: money, power, and freedom. Why else would you see an old Ugandan woman respectfully listen to a 22-year-old white girl from America telling her what she should or shouldn't believe?
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Girl
Believe
White
Years
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I agree that Scott Lively is marginal, and that is exactly why evangelicals must not let him speak for them. But in Uganda, Scott Lively is allowed to address the parliament for five hours, and his hate-filled message led directly to the anti-homosexuality bill.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Addresses
Hate
Uganda
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When I was in high school, I felt totally alienated from the world, but I loved movies. They were my escape, but coming from a disadvantaged community, I never knew that filmmaking was an option for me. A program like School of Doc would have been a game-changer.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Disadvantaged
Filmmaking
Alienated
Option
Escape
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When I was filming 'Prudence' in Zimbabwe, I noticed the hold fundamentalist Christianity had on sub-Saharan Africa. So I thought I'd like to make a film about religion in Africa because the prosperity gospel is big business where people are desperate, poor, and sick.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Big Business
Christianity
Desperate
Fundamentalist
Prudence
Sick
Sub Saharan Africa
Zimbabwe
Africa
Gospel
Filming
Noticed
Sub-Saharan
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While the documentary community is way ahead of Hollywood, it is still nowhere near where it needs to be. Filmmakers of color rarely get hired by the powerful production companies, and they are not getting supported enough by broadcasters and funders to tell their own stories.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Broadcasters
Nowhere
Documentary
Near
Rarely
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I think many Dutch just don't know the history of Black Pete, that he is rooted in slavery, and how he was used to dehumanize a race of people. Once they realize this, many stop using this character, but those who continue are either in denial, insensitive or actually racists.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Character
Race
Thinking
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When I decided to make 'Blackface,' a short film about Black Pete, I had little knowledge of the giant cesspool of hate I was about to dive into. I didn't realize how popular and passionate many white Dutch are about a figure that they connect to fond memories from their childhood.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Dutch
Fond Memories
Memories
Cesspool
Dive
Fond
Giant
Short Film
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I had full access to the material, and had a great relationship with Sean Bailey, the president of Disney productions. He really guided me through the licensing process of the footage. I made presentations to the various departments at the studio, and they were moved by Owen's [Suskind] story.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Great Relationship
President
Stories
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I can't believe that I'm sitting in meetings with Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Annette Bening. I want to take on that responsibility to represent all the Rogers out there who don't have a seat at the table. People of colour were not at the table, and now I am there, I want to change things.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Colour
Meetings
Seat
Change Things
Represent
Rogers
Spielberg
Steven
Steven Spielberg
Tom
Tom Hanks
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'God Loves Uganda' is a powerful exploration of the evangelical campaign to change African culture with values imported from America's Christian Right. The film follows American and Ugandan religious leaders fighting 'sexual immorality' and missionaries trying to convince Ugandans to follow Biblical law.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
America
Bible
Christian Right
Convince
Evangelical
Exploration
Fighting
Immorality
Powerful
Religious Leaders
Uganda
African
Campaign
Follow
Follows
Loves
Sexual
Imported
Leaders
Missionaries
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Imagine that you're a gay man, and you're spending all your time with people who believe you are possessed by the devil. Or, in the case of a lot of Ugandans, with people who believe you should be killed. Someone told me once that I'm worse than a dog, I'm the scum of the earth, so for me, it was draining.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Draining
Possessed
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The Academy just reflects Hollywood. And until we break those barriers, until we have African-American or minority studio executives, 'til we have people who are greenlighting movies with African-American actors - the Academy is not going to change until Hollywood changes, so we have to start with Hollywood.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
African American
Barriers
Executives
Minority
Reflects
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I went to church every Sunday and sang in the choir. But for all that the church gave me - for all that it represented belonging, love and community - it also shut its doors to me as a gay person. That experience left me with the lifelong desire to explore the power of religion to transform lives or destroy them.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Belonging
Choir
Doors
Sunday
Destroy
Every Sunday
Explore
Sang
Transform
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Zwarte Piet, or 'Black Pete,' is a relic from slavery. It is something that should have long been eliminated, and it's very insulting to black Dutch people. It's shocking to me that it still exists, but I think it's about the lack of knowledge and education regarding the roots of the character in the slave trade.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Character
Should Have
Thinking
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I both didn't know Owen [Suskind] beforehand and didn't have any connection to the autistic community. But Owen wasn't really a problem, because he participated in the writing of the book and wanted people to see him as he truly is. As far as the cameras, Owen lives in the moment and the cameras really didn't distract him.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Book
People
Writing
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As Mike Bickle said to me, there is a spiritual battle going on in the world, and he believes that in America marriage between a man and a woman will become illegal. He believes there will be a war. He believes it'll begin in schools and the Christian kids will rise up and slay the non-Christian kids. This was an on-camera interview!
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
War
Christian
Spiritual
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When I first saw a White Dutch person dressed up as Black Pete, I was both sickened and shocked. It's hard to stand next to someone who views your skin color and hair as a costume. As a filmmaker, whenever I get that feeling, I want to explore what motivates people to engage in such offensive behavior and enlighten folks about its origins.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Color
Hair
White
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I've known Owen's father Ron [Suskind] for years, and this was based on his best-selling book ["Life, Animated"]. We worked together as journalists at ABC-TV News, and I knew about the book since its inception. Before he finished it, he approached me and said he thought it would make a great documentary, and I agree with him, and moved forward from there.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Book
Father
Tv News
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The first lady of Uganda is a devoted evangelical and beloved by the faith community. At an evangelical conference in Argentina, one minister said, "Mama Janet has given us the keys to Africa." She has done that by creating a nation that has embraced a Dominionist form of Christianity that believes that Christians have a God-given right to rule the world.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Believe
Christian
Creating
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I realized that Owen [Suskind] is completely brilliant, because he embraced and memorized all these classic Disney films - these fables that chronicle the hero's journey, and have existed for thousands of years. Owen, in a sense, grew up on a diet of myth and fable, and has become an expert on their themes, which contain a moral guide that connects people.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Journey
Hero
People
Years
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Someone sent an email to Reverend Joanna Watson [an American missionary] saying that I'm gay, and she sent it to all the anti-gay pastors in Uganda. One of them said, "We're going to take care of this guy." When I was confronted by them I didn't know what they were going to do, but they decided to pray over me. They said they were going to cure me. That didn't work, of course.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Gay
Guy
Uganda
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Toward the end of the film ['Life, Animated'] we see 'The Sidekicks Story,' and that is a story that Owen drew himself. We took that style, which is decidedly different from Disney animation, and used it as a basis. It's a 'two-dimensional' hand drawn animated form, so I went to this company in Paris called 'Mac Guff,' and they assembled an amazing group of young animators, and brought it to life.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Disney Animation
Hands
Two
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I always compare young missioners to the kids who naively signed up to go to Iraq to fight terrorism. They are just the foot soldiers in the spiritual war that Mike Bickle and Lou Engle are waging against what they consider sin. They will say it is biblical truth, but the Bible says many things, and you don't see anyone saying that slavery is okay or that we should not eat shellfish. Why the fascination with sex?
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
War
Sex
Spiritual
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I think what was special about 'Music by Prudence' was the classic story of the title subject's life path - from being an outcast in her society because she was disabled, to someone who picked herself from that despair and elevated herself within that community, and now that society accepting her as much as they formerly rejected her. People identified with that journey, overcoming an obstacle, but still triumphing.
Roger Ross Williams / Television Director
Journey
Community
People
Thinking
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Roger Ross Williams Quotes - Page 2

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