We have to support our own films. If we don't, how can we expect others to support them?
Interpretation
Supporting our own creative works is essential for their success and for inspiring others to do the same.
Cicely Tyson emphasizes the importance of self-sufficiency in the arts, particularly in filmmaking. By advocating for the support of our own films, she highlights that if creators do not take the initiative to uplift their own work, they cannot realistically expect external validation or support from others. This creates a cycle where mutual support is crucial for the sustainability and growth of the creative industry.
In practice
During a discussion panel on independent filmmaking, one might quote Tyson to emphasize the importance of community support.
How do you project a character if you don't have a sense of where she is from? I've always just gotten on a plane to go to the area to get a sense of what it is like, to smell it, feel the earth, hear people talk, go to the marketplaces.
I saw that I could not afford the luxury of just being an actress. So I made a choice to use my career as a platform to address the issues of the race I was born into.
I don't think you can measure wealth in dollars and cents. I really don't believe that at all because there are some things that money cannot buy. One of them is health. And the other is security in your relationships and friends.
One of the things I have always said about the man-woman relationship is that I don't want anybody to walk ahead of me, and I don't want anybody to walk behind me. I want a man who will walk along beside me. And that's how I feel about equal rights.
Unless a piece really said something, I had no interest in it. I have got to know that I have served some purpose here.
When I attack a role, be it TV, film or stage, the first thing I say is, I don't want to know anything. If it's good I don't want to hear it; if it's bad I don't want to hear it. The only thing either thing can do is distract me. I like to stay focused
The sole art that suits me is that which, rising from unrest, tends toward serenity.
When I applied for grad school, I did not specify genre. I said I wanted an MFA in Creative Writing. I was so cute and stupid! The admissions committee at Pitt decided to put me in poetry.
If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?
Lets just say that I think any person who aspires, presumes, or feels the calling to be an artist has a built-in sense of duty.
I'm not really a songwriter - I'm an interpreter. So in a sense I am an actress first and foremost. I act out the songs, and I lead with my heart.
For my part, if I consider poetry as an object, I maintain that it is born of the necessity of adding a vocal sound (speech) to the hammering of the first tribal music.
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