Equity Rising S2 : Episode 1
Equity in filmmaking with dru holley
In 1966, six all-black cavalry and infantry regiments were created by the Army Organization Act. They came to be known as Buffalo Soldiers, and director and producer DRU HOLLEY tells their story in Buffalo Soldiers of the Pacific Northwest. In this SEASON TWO OPENER, Trae talks to Dru not only about his important film, but about how he works to increase exposure, opportunities, and equity within the film industry.
A native of Denver, CO, Dru graduated from the Art Institute of Colorado where he specialized in video broadcasting. He recently relocated to the Portland area, so he and Trae also get into the on-the-ground movement there as well. Find out more about Buffalo Soldiers of the Pacific Northwest. Black Bald Films LLC is Dru’s production company.
This Week’s Chime In is from Iana Amauba, a frequent collaborator of Dru’s and freelance animator in Portland, Oregon. Check out her work on her website.
This episode was produced and edited by Julia Drachman and mastered by Josh Berl. Description was written by Laura Cassidy. Transcribed by Clorissa Comer.
Transcript
Iana Amuaba
So I met Dru a couple of years ago. We started working together on one of his projects, a documentary: The Buffalo Soldiers of the Pacific Northwest. And he pulled me on to be the animator and graphic designer. You know, I really was, like, very excited about working on this project. Because it's a unique story about, you know, African Americans in the Pacific Northwest, that we just haven't heard about. Often in this area, those are just not narratives that are out there. You know, I admire Dru for being able to help bring these stories out.
TraeAnna Holiday
Welcome, everybody, to Equity Rising, Season Two! This is so exciting to have with me in this episode Mr. Dru Holley, and we're going to get into all the things that Dru does so you guys can be educated and understand some of the ways that Dru Holley is seeing himself as a part of many different solutions in the creative world, and bringing equity to that field. Before we get into anything, I gotta go with our First Things First: Dru, how are you taking care of yourself?
Dru Holley
How am I taking care of myself? I am taking time with the family. I'm taking time to celebrate and I'm taking time to be present, opposed to always thinking about the future.
TraeAnna Holiday
You know, that's so important. You know, one of the great sayings that always resonates with me is be in the now, right? And what does that really mean? What does that look like? And it's so much about what you just described. You know, we don't want to take time for granted. Right? And I know that when we get into the thick of our work, oftentimes, that's kind of one of the byproducts right is that we put certain things off that may be more geared toward our personal needs. Cause we say, well, we got to do this, we got to do that. And we forget about some things. So I love hearing that you're taking time right now to be present and really to be with family because you don't get that time back. So good for you, Dru.
Dru Holley
Trae, how are you taking time for yourself?
TraeAnna Holiday
Oh, great question man. I just came back from a great trip to Mexico. I was in Puerto Vallarta for nine days, and it was just the right amount of time. I probably could have used one more day so I could have bungee jumped but other than that I did so many different things. And it was my first trip going solo. And so really immersing myself in the community out there in Puerto Vallarta, and you know, really being amongst the people and enjoying the things that they enjoy. Right was such a great pleasure to me. And, you know, I needed that time, self reflection. You know, I'm a person who really enjoys and appreciates meditation. And so diving into some of my spiritual work while I was out there was incredible, Dru, honestly it was; so thanks for asking.
Dru Holley
Absolutely.
TraeAnna Holiday
Yeah, we got to find that time. Well, I want to get into who you are and what it is you do. And I know you have an amazing backstory you were able to share with me about some of your beginnings. So I want the audience to be able to understand who it is Dru Holley is and what it is you do. Let's get right into it, Dru.
Dru Holley
So yeah, like you said, my name is Dru Holley, I am a producer, director and owner of a production company called Black Bald Films based in the Pacific Northwest. We're in Portland, but I like to say the Pacific Northwest because we're the Pacific Northwest. We're a passionate group of filmmakers producing inspiring stories to empower viewers to rethink broken systems. So that's, that's who I am.
TraeAnna Holiday
Wow. And you weren't originally from the Pacific Northwest, so what made you say, you know what, this is where I'm going to settle my roots? This is where I'm going to launch my company and really bring a Black lens to this creative space right here in the Pacific Northwest?
Dru Holley
I'm originally from Denver, and I moved up to come back in 2017. I came out here chasing the dream. I started as an estimator in construction, but I came out here really wanting to take my film career serious. And I figured, what better than Seattle?
TraeAnna Holiday
Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. I mean, we kind of spoke a bit about this great scenery and the industry is really opening up I think to what Seattle has to offer what Portland has to offer. And as you said, just kind of the Pacific Northwest we have some great things that I think are underutilized right. They just aren't captured as much as they could be or should be. And this is coming from a true Seattleite right for myself. And so I grew up seeing all this beauty around me, and thinking that it was everywhere in the nation. And so it was such a misnomer as I traveled around. That that's not the case. I'm sure you experienced that as well. Right, Dru?
Dru Holley
Yeah. You know, being from Colorado it’s landlocked, right? People think that we're up in the mountains, but it's, you know, a lot of prairie flat lands. And then there's the mountains up to the, you know, the far west. I felt like I was a water soul and needed to be near the ocean. And since coming here, I've been able to really grow in my career, in a way that I wasn't able to back home.
TraeAnna Holiday
Wow. Wow. Well, I'm so glad that the Pacific Northwest is treating you well, my friend.
Dru Holley
I have settled here.
TraeAnna Holiday
Right on, right on. Well, you know, you were talking a bit about, you know, having a great team of folks working with you. And oftentimes, in the creative fields, we talk about folks needing the opportunities for exposure, right? Exposure into the work. How do you filter that lens through the work that you do, and maybe some of the opportunities you provide to the creatives that are right here in the Pacific Northwest?
Dru Holley
You know, when I started out, a lot of people in our community, we start out making our own films, right, we're not really on the sets. And we don't, we're not exposed to all the jobs. When I started out, I was having the same problem of trying to find the right people that’ll give me an opportunity to work on their sets. We seek out our people to give those opportunities and expose them to different jobs other than director, producer, that there's hundreds of jobs on set, and they're paying jobs and they're paying all the time. Wwe definitely want to provide that platform, I guess, for lack of a better word, provide that opportunity to our people. It's about economic and dependency. And we wanna do it and we wanna give that that opportunity in our field.
TraeAnna Holiday
You know, I think that, you know, when we talk about folks understanding what is available to them in the creative world, I mean, you're so right, when we think about these major sets or major movies or whatever, there's so many people running around scrambling around, you know, lots of times it’s thought about in very specific terms, like, okay, there's the actors, there's, you know, the director on set, but like you said, there's so many people doing great things, and it's awesome, that you foresaw the need to say, you know what, let's be open and provide these opportunities for folks that may not have known about them, and that, you know, need that leg up. And it really it's an opportunity for folks to build up their portfolios if nothing else. It's like working on specific projects with your company, allows for them to take some real skillset back and out into the world to some of those major sets that we were just describing. How does it feel for you to be able to do that in your own company, and for you to kind of open the door like you said that you know, there was some folks that opened the door for you. It's kind of that passing of the torch, right?
Dru Holley
Absolutely in 2018 when I opened Black Bald Films with some friends, it was an answer to the lack of diversity and under representation I've witnessed in the industry. Black Bald Films means exactly that. If you know, in the film industry, the black ball is to be kinda excluded or kicked out and Black Bald Films represents those people who have not deliberately but traditionally been excluded. I mean, in my people, in the BIPOC community.
TraeAnna Holiday
Yeah, yeah. I mean, your name says it all honestly. And, you know, I think that, you know, kudos to you, man. Just hats off. Because, as a creative myself, I really understand it. I mean, there was times where bruh I was just like, knocking my head against the corporate wall, right, like, you know, begging for somebody to understand the value that I could bring to sets and the value that I can bring to creative projects, and there wasn't enough opportunities for me and I, you know, started off, you know, acting and modeling from a young age and so I've seen it from various perspectives, right, various sides of the coin, and really, you know, we need more and more companies like yours that are really gonna be intentional about that.
Dru Holley
Can I also add that we also need to understand that we don't need white people's approvals or their jobs yet we do at the beginning, right? We need to, we need to be able to find stuff. But once we find our own way where we can make as much money and our business can be just as successful.
TraeAnna Holiday
Yeah
Dru Holley
Once we can take our own destiny in our hands, and that may start, we do need some support at the beginning, right? But like your show and the things that you're doing, right, we need to be able to understand that they don't set the standards, right, we set our own standards.
TraeAnna Holiday
Absolutely. And I also think that there's something to be said about the explosion of technology available to us right now, right, where we can create our own platforms. I mean, think about these streaming services, there's so many different avenues for us to do the distribution piece, which I think we've never had an issue really with the creation. I think a lot of folks have really been inspired and like, look, Imma pick up my camera, Imma make a story I'm going to do you know, I'm going to tell this story. I'm going to create content, but so much of it has been about distribution. And I will ask you...
Dru Holley
It's one thing to do it and get the funding to not go to work all day and to do this all day.
TraeAnna Holiday
Yeah, absolutely. It's like a both end, right? And so, you know, now, there's opportunities. And I think that when we talk about elevating Black voice and creative media, so much of it is that now folks understand that, hey, look, we can't really trample on some of these stories, we really need it to be authentically told, from the perspective of those who have lived it. How have you experienced that in terms of some of the projects that you guys have embarked on or maybe worked on? Where it's like, yeah, no, it's us who needs to tell this story? And when you're talking about those funding opportunities, how have you been able to navigate that space?
Dru Holley
Well, so I moved down here to Vancouver, Washington for a couple of reasons. One of my main protagonists of the feature film that I'm working on Buffalo Soldiers. He's buried here, everybody in this town, which is predominantly white, recognize that nobody else should tell this story except for a Black man. And it doesn't need to be whitewashed. It needs to be told, truthfully. And it needs to be told but [laughter] and I think everybody and I think the industry is definitely understanding that they can't just take our stories and tell them the way that they want to. There our stories to be told there our stories to pass on.
TraeAnna Holiday
I love that man. You're so right about it. I mean, as you talk about the project itself, right, the current one you're working on right now. I know that you know, I use this term edutainment often right in terms of, you know how we are shaping some of these stories and how we're really utilizing creative mechanisms to educate people. How do you feel that Black Bald Films kind of fits in that pocket of edutainment as you pick real specific stories to tell like the Buffalo Soldiers.
Dru Holley
Maybe I can kinda talk about how I first what inspired me to make the Buffalo Soldiers film and then I seen the need in my children. And I seen the need in myself. I had volunteered when I first moved out here I had volunteered at the Langston Hughes Juneteenth Celebration, as we was discussing, to kinda get some footage it was back in 2018. Barely anybody showed up to Juneteenth back then, right, it was a kind of a dying holiday. I remember fondly when I was a kid, but now it was kinda like, you know, a few people showed up some of the old heads and some of the people who you know, remember Juneteenth fondly I'm sure like myself. So we are up there. We went up to Seattle, I was catching some footage. I brought my kids. And while we was there, I heard my daughter yell, ooh, horses while I was filming, and I looked up from the camera and I seen these, man, it felt like I was dreaming these brothers galloping up the hill on horseback right out of the 18th, 19th century, like right out of the West. And she was like, Who are they daddy? And I was like, I was stumped and I was like, man, and then it clicked to me. I'm like, oh, man, that's the Buffalo Soldiers. Right? My daughter has no idea and I doubt she ever will unless somebody makes another Bob Marley Buffalo Soldier song... Or if somebody steps up and helps continuing to tell the story, right? We have to this ain’t gonna be the last Buffalo Soldiers film. It ain’t the first. It’s a way for us to continue to tell our story and to learn from history to keep people I feel like I know my people, and I'm gonna tell it the way that I feel like we'll lead the way I think my daughters or younger folks who will consume it. We use music. We use animation to help to drive the story it's definitely and its action it’s action packed.
TraeAnna Holiday
Wow.
Dru Holley
That's edutainment.
TraeAnna Holiday
Yeah. Yeah, that definitely fits in the pocket of edutainment. And I love the story of your daughter, and, you know so, you know, oftentimes I'll say, I know, for me, I have two sons and I realized how much they fuel so much of what I'm doing, right? When we talk about utilizing media to capture real specific things and to tell stories in real specific ways. I think about the fact of, you know, hey, the reasons why, you know, I do a podcast or a TV show or any of these things is because, man, it really cements it in time, right? And so, when folks, you know, 50 years later, are able to like, pull up your movie, pull up this podcast, right? To understand that, you know, what we're doing also, is really not just a sign of the times like a zeitgeist, but it also is like capturing something in the moment that can last over time. How do you feel that that piece of, you know, creating content for you in Black Bald Films and your crews, how do you feel that you know yeah what we're doing is historic right now, but it can also be consumed years later and will have so much significance even then.
Dru Holley
I actually struggle with that exact thing right there, Trae. My film is a historical film. But what's hot right now is cinema verite. Right? As I'm pitching to PBS, what they're looking for are these more contemporary stories, which is weird, because I've watched PBS and I don't see that. [laughter] Or I don't know anybody that really sits there and you know, since then, why cinema verite films, not that I don't love cinema verite films. But the point I'm trying to make is that I can't follow some trope or some fad that is in right now. Right? I just gotta make the highest quality right with the 5k, RED Scarlet, clearest picture, cause shoot in a few years that might even look bad. Right? [Trae: Right.] And tell a honest story and give the history and give you this the best way and the funnest way I can. [Trae: yeah] So yeah, I struggle with trying to fit the mold of today for distribution. I know where to find a home. If we do it the way we do it.
TraeAnna Holiday
You know, that's really I think you're speaking from that true filmmaker perspective. Like there is something driving you to tell this story and it's beyond maybe what people may be willing to accept right now in the times. And it does go beyond that. Because when we're talking about elevating, you know, a real legacy like, Buffalo Soldiers. It's important, man. I mean, we've seen it and we grew up with it, right? Where, you know, so much of what folks experience in terms of historical perspective, honestly, isn’t in the books they read? It is because they watch the Malcolm X film on their watch, certain films on these biopics. Right. Where it's like, a I'm seeing it happen, you know, the Little Richard and, you know, you name it. I mean, there's so many amazing stories, right? I think Ray Charles, and how big you know, Jamie Foxx playing Ray, and it being so major. But it's so important, because, again, it's about how our people are consuming things. And ultimately, the consumption is what allows for the permeation of idea, of thought, of understanding.
Dru Holley
Yeah, you know, to even jump back to that. The question you asked me about the right people, I guess, telling this story. I was thinking, so I have a producer. He's a white guy from Oklahoma. And he tells me that he never heard about Tulsa. What happened in Tulsa. What happened to Black Wall Street. He never heard of that. They've never taught that in school. So not only do we have to tell the stories to tell it right, but we gotta tell the story so that it lives, right? That it's not something that they're hiding, right? We have to tell the stories to honor our people. Right, we got to tell the stories. So our children know this. They're not gonna tell them. They're not well, it's not their history to tell. It’s ours. It's our responsibility.
TraeAnna Holiday
You know, I love that you say it and seep it in responsibility. And as you were speaking, I literally thought about the fact that, you know, when you said it's not their stories to tell. The truth of the matter is, is that we've seen them try to do that over time and get it so wrong, right? When we talk about telling stories from a Black perspective, and they don't really have Black actors, they had people that we're, you know, getting spray paint on their skin, things like that. Even Asian stories. I mean, so really, when we're talking about ethnic stories, it really does have to come from those who have that lived experience. And I think that the authenticity of the end product is so heightened because of that lens in in and of itself. I think about a recent example, with Judas and the Black Messiah, right. And I'm sure you saw this film.
Dru Holley
Shout out Shaka King. Shout out all the folks on that project.
TraeAnna Holiday
Yeah.
Dru Holley
That was amazing.
TraeAnna Holiday
It really was.
Dru Holley
What did you learn? Right? How much did you learn watching that film?
TraeAnna Holiday
You know, so much that went untold, and went unspoken. I mean, particularly about, you know, toward the end, you know, then bum rushing his home in that regard, while he was laying down sleep, and all of the shots that they poured into the room. I mean, it's just was so epic, I watched it with my sons. And it was such a moment of all of us, you know, being educated, and how important it was, you know what I mean for them to have a LaKeith playing this character that was weaving his deception so well and so authentic. It was like, it was, for me, it was like one of the best films I've seen in such a long time, because you had not just great actors telling a great story. But it was the ways that the writers, and again, like you said, the director, the entire production team, constructed the production so that it actually permeated us in the audience in that regard. How much of that kind of construction, right? Because it takes a real candid eye to be able to pull out those elements that are going to touch the souls of those who are watching. How much of that is important in the work you do in terms of constructing these stories?
Dru Holley
Yo, let me tell you straight up, that is the hardest thing to be a director and completely immerse in that story. Not everybody, everybody wants to say they could be a director, and I'm gonna tell you the truth. This is my first directing project. I'm usually a producer, right? I get the job, I set up the job or get the story I find the funding and I set up the people, hire the director. But Buffalo Soldiers is my first and only project that I'm directing. That's a whole different beast, right? And Shaka took out a year and he was a working director working on "Shrill" out here in Portland took off a year to write that project, right? You have to dedicate. And I just I don't have it right I'm good with the business part of it. But the directing man that is a different monster for sure.
TraeAnna Holiday
It really is. And I think so much of the storytelling falls on the director to capture the right moments to understand what moments need to be captured. Right?
Dru Holley
How to tell it. The coverage, lighting, you know what I mean but that also good DP too right, good director, photography. Good team, right?
TraeAnna Holiday
A good team yeah
Dru Holley
Filmmaking is a team sport.
TraeAnna Holiday
It really is
Dru Holley
It’s not a solo person doing that. It's few, but I could.
TraeAnna Holiday
[laughter] Name 'em on maybe one hand or two. But you're absolutely right. Because I do think that when we're talking about Black filmmaking, you know, I watched an episode of Black AF, right. And it was so intriguing to me how they had one episode, and they had all of these amazing Black filmmakers on there, talking about the need for them to be able to support each other right? And how they're going to do that what that looks like, and, you know, we're gonna Greenlight all of your stuff that comes out, we're not gonna, you know, be critical of each other, like they are of us on the outside. And I remember, there was a moment where it was like, wait a minute, like, we're, we don't, we're not making things for other people. Like we're actually making this for our culture. And it's great that other people can receive it, and learn from it, or be entertained by it. But really, we have to have this central thorough line, when we're talking about what we're creating that that's what drives us. And again, it goes back to what you said earlier, it's not about making sure that other people are even comfortable with it, that it's for them. And so when I think about this, I think about how equity for me, is inherently infused in that ideology, as we think about constructing these stories, even choosing the stories that we're going to tell, right? How has equity really been infused for you in Black Bald Films, maybe you know, this is your first directing project, but you've been a producer on other projects. How have you really thought about, you know what, what I'm doing is also coming from an equity standpoint?
Dru Holley
Absolutely. I was in the gym this morning and I heard... I was listening to Jay-Z as all Black men my age do [laughter]. And he said a line that's really spoke to me: he said, How could I help the poor if I'm one of them? I got rich and gave back. To me that's the win-win. [Trae: Yeah.] Right? So building the company, and continuing to educate and bring in people is... and tell our stories.
TraeAnna Holiday
Wow, you're so right. That was the perfect line from Jay-Z there. I mean, absolutely. I think, you know, in community work, oftentimes, it's like, there's this both end approach, right? Because as you grow with your economics or you know, your own wealth or whatever, or your sense of recognition, you know, right. For me, there's just a lot of recognition and community. Oh, man, you guys are doing it. Oh, man, Trae, I see you. Oh, you know, right. And I go, wow, like, alright, well, how do I utilize that, again, to like, consistently keep these messages alive, to consistently utilize whatever it is I'm wielding, right, that can be beneficial to the next generation. And so I think so many Black folks live like that. I mean, there are plenty who don't, right? Cause it's like, look, I played the game my way I got my retirement, I'm settled, I'm good. I got my, you know, investments, you know, hey, people gotta learn their own ways, but I think that I could hear from you. That understanding, that so much of what you do has to then be felt by the next generation so that they can see themselves in the same regard, right, like, oh, man, he did it. All right, cool. Like, there's something that I can learn from that. And I can draw from that. As you talked about your family, how important is it to you that the work you do and the legacy you build is then understood by you know, the next generation, as you said, hiring, you know, young folks and bringing them on board is a part of what you do. But I think about how our kids fuel us and you talked about that in terms of just telling this story. How does that resonate with you, in terms of the legacy that you're really, you know, looking to leave with Black Bald Films?
Dru Holley
Well just like, you know, Kenya, and Shaka, and Stanley Nelson, are all inspirations to me. I hope to one day be inspirations to others, and I hope my company is built on building that ecosystem, right? Ecosystem of creators or ecosystem of different directors that are able to have different styles. So I guess, keep doing what we're doing.
TraeAnna Holiday
No, that's a good one, you know, it's true. It's sometimes it's just about putting one foot in front of the other on a daily basis and not giving up especially in the face of some of the challenges that you just described, with funding with, you know, having to make sure that people understand it needs to come from, you know, a Black man's perspective. And it's a great thing that you're in an environment where they said, No, absolutely, that is right. Right? But like you said, with a PBS having their own ideas about what they need right now, and not maybe understanding it, I think it's so important. And so key. I'm going to switch gears, because you know, you're up there, you know, I guess down there in Portland, and up here in Seattle, we deal with gentrification often. Right? And it's one of the things that in terms of the organization, I'm working with King County Equity Now and Africatown Community Land Trust as an ambassador for them. So much of what we do here, particularly in the Central District of Seattle, is disrupting this wave of gentrification. And I just want to ask you, you know, how is it there? And, you know, maybe we can learn some things from you, cause I know that Portland's been really dealing with waves of it, as well as we have these for profit developers just kinda come in, drive the prices of neighborhoods up, and maybe you're experiencing some of that down there.
Dru Holley
So yeah, absolutely. You know how these towns are they move in, the hood was closer to downtown. But now downtown is more appealing so they want to move people out of the….And that goes the same with Portland. I'm actually working with an amazing group here in Portland called the Albina Vision Trust. Albina was the hub of the Black community here in Portland. We're doing a four part series exploring the rich history of Portland's Albina neighborhood, serving as the cultural hub of the African American community. Albina has been home to multiple waves of urban renewals and displacement. Each episode tracks essential lessons from Albina’s past. We have different directors on each episode Our first episode is called “Where should we go?” It starts out with talking about how we were kicked out. Families are getting pushed out of the suburbs, and at the same time being pushed out of the neighborhoods closer to downtown. So if we can't go to the suburbs, and we can't go to the, to this area where you want to renew, where can we go? It’s the first episode. The second episode, and this by an amazing Black woman. I'm very proud that we're using all Black women on these episodes. Her name is Che O'Grady, Caribbean woman. And I was really proud of that project. And that's the one that debuted this, Juneteenth at the drive in here in Portland. The second episode would be a animated episode, of amazing sister named Ayana Ababa, excuse me if I butchered your name. So that's another project that we're working on. And please check that one out. It's the Albina series.
TraeAnna Holiday
You know, it's so phenomenal to be able to uplift, you know, a †historic and cultural community, like Albina. I mean, I have so much family that's in northwest, northeast Portland, I always get it wrong. It's northeast, right?
Dru Holley
That’s where they pushed everybody up to the number up in the northeast, they kicked them out of that part, and they pushed them, it's pretty soon they're gonna want that part. And then they'll push us somewhere else.
TraeAnna Holiday
Yeah, it's drastic also too when you see it from growing up in it. And so, you know, we would have our family reunions down in Portland every year, right. And so because so much of our family was there, so us Seattle folks would go right on down to Portland, sometimes my grandma would take my cousins and I on the train, and I just have these experiences from being a young person, a young child, and like, knowing that every summer we're going to Portland, right for the family reunion. And it was so beautiful, because you would have, you know, an auntie, and you know, my great auntie, and my other cousin, they lived in the same like, you know, little condo kinda complex, and it was very small. But it was, you know, maybe like 10 different apartments, right. And it was like a small little settlement. And down the street, you'd have my other cousins. So everybody was like, within a couple of miles of each other right, in these blocks. And it was this residential neighborhoods. And I remember just experiencing that as such a tight knit community, and being able to come home to the Central District and also experience that tight knit community. And again, like I said, so much of what I do, is steeped in the vision of my sons. And so now it's like, they don't have that, right. They don't have the opportunity to be like, Oh, okay, you know, grandma lives here, auntie lives over there, you know, my cousin lives here. So we have to go all over in order to experience our families and honestly, you know, I'm thank you, man for you know, working with these guys to tell these stories. Because again, like you said, sometimes if it's not captured properly, it just goes unheard of. It's like people had no idea that there was a historic, you know, great Black community living there. Yeah, let...
Dru Holley
In the whitest city in the world. Albina, they're doing some amazing stuff. And they're really making some progress. They're taking this neighborhood back right? They're buying up the properties and gonna re-tool it for us right making [Trae: wow.] property that we can buy, condos, it’s amazing what they're doing. And this isn't something that's gonna happen overnight, right? This is gonna be a long process, they've already got some properties in lower downtown area.
TraeAnna Holiday
You know, I'll definitely be connecting with you outside of this podcast, because that's exactly the work of Africatown Community Land Trust up here, that, you know, they're doing it in a land trust model. So that, you know, majority of the equity of these properties is staying on the land, so that it can benefit the next family and working with other land trusts. So there is ways to do this, right. And it's about us learning from 'em kinda getting away from a profit model that really drives up the profit for the developer, and really allows that to be settled in the community so that folks can experience home ownership, they can experience affordable commercial space, and affordable rentals. Right? And so I love that. So I'll be asking you more about that afterwards. Dru we'll connect on that...
Dru Holley
Love you guys. Keep up the hard work. I went to - she is the Managing Director and boy, I know she be going through it, but I am proud of that sister, she's making it happen.
TraeAnna Holiday
Wow, it's beautiful, beautiful. And I love hearing that, you know, honestly, that these efforts are taking place in our historic Black communities across the nation. You know, we talked to some folks before, you know, in season one that were like, yes, this work is happening. And this is what we're doing to, you know, make sure that people understand that history. So it's just beautiful man to learn more about how people are doing it in their environment in their locale. You know, I'm gonna flip back right to the project here. You know, we this is really exciting Buffalo Soldiers fighting on two fronts. I want to be able to dive in a little bit into this story itself. Go ahead, tell us a little bit about what folks can expect out of this. The final product here.
Dru Holley
"Buffalo Soldiers: Fighting on Two Fronts" is my first independent documentary. It's a historical film, recounts the glorious but complicated history of the Buffalo Soldiers. African American men seeking a better life who enlisted in the United States Army. Initially, just after the Civil War, who served during the Indian Wars, where they received their name. The story is told through a mix of interviews, animation and reenactments. Our central character is Mo-, Sergeant Moses Williams, who was born in rural Louisiana in 1845. Moses joined the United States Army in 1866, just right after the Civil War, and embarked on a 31 year career. In American West, he led troops of the all Black 9th Calvary, and the recipient of the highest Medal of Honor for his actions in the Indian War. Williams is the backbone of the story, as well as Charles Young, who Charles Young was a graduate of West Point was the third African American man graduate of West Point. And these men take us through the story. From 1866 to 1944 once we were integrated.
TraeAnna Holiday
Wow, man. And I gotta ask you, I mean, what was your ideas around kind of mixing so many different techniques in cinema, and like storytelling in terms of interviews, and animation, and you know, capturing all this, what made you think that that's the way to do it?
Dru Holley
So, for one, so we're, I guess, it's the time frame in 1866, and those times, there wasn't a lot of photography, there wasn't a lotta images. And a lot of these old Black soldiers are collector's items. So these images are bought up. So we used animation to help drive the story to help fill in the blanks. And you know, and it's kind of a style that I really gravitated towards, I think I've seen it on hip hop evolution. And I wanted to use it, and reenactments you know, with those brothers up in Seattle. They were so perfect that, you know, we had to every documentary every good history documentary out on scene had reenactments. And these guys are perfect.
TraeAnna Holiday
Oh, well, that's good. Because you know, I think that that's also capturing. You know, we're living in the times where we have to make it engaging right and you know, people you know, really staying glued to it because we've been talking about it nowadays. It's got this microwave, society is popcorn, right? Want to look at my phone now. How do you keep people engaged and so much of it is using yeah, using those different mechanisms to do that.
Dru Holley
You gotta hook 'em in. Give 'em the stuff they want.
TraeAnna Holiday
Yeah yeah, I'm so excited for this project, Dru. And, you know, before I let you get out of here, because I so appreciated your time with me today, I just want to ask you, you know, of course, we're going to give some time for folks to be able to understand how to kinda connect, and you're going to have to keep us posted, man so that we can make sure that we're doing our promotions over here. And I just gotta say that I've been able to work personally, but the Buffalo Soldiers up here, and The Blaq Elephant Party is very connected to them. And, you know, last year, they led our Juneteenth march, and it was so beautiful to enter into Jimi Hendrix Park. And those horses man, they had 'em dancing to the music bruh. I mean. Yeah, exactly.
Dru Holley
We got 'em dancing in the movie too those same horses. We went, I met 'em at one Juneteenth. We filmed the next Juneteenth. This the last one we were shut down. And this one I was doing a lot. Juneteenth has kind of been our day with those guys, man, if you guys are out in Seattle, check those guys out. Donate to 'em. They're out there all the time trying to keep it together. Those are some real, real good brothers. Jerome and his horses. Jordan, the president, Lenny, and they all got jobs outside of that, right? They're inspiring. They inspired me.
TraeAnna Holiday
Wow, I'm so glad that you that you got inspired and that, you know, right here in Washington, there's going to be a piece of us in this amazing film that you're doing down there in Vancouver
Dru Holley
Vancouver, Washington too.
TraeAnna Holiday
Yes, Vancouver, Washington. Absolutely.
Dru Holley
I'm not out in Canada. [laughter]
TraeAnna Holiday
Even though Vancouver, Canada, they have their own film industry, poppin off. Man. We talked a little bit about that. Because, man, you know, they actually taken a lot of the work that was meant for here. They moved it up there because the permitting and everything else. I think there's going to be an explosion of creativity as we have our King County Executive Dow Constantine really investing heavily in creative spaces down here. Just invested, you know, over a million dollars into this amazing soundstage. So there's gonna be a lot of opportunity Dru. So I'm sure you and I will find ways to collaborate once you get this project underway. And under your belt man, because I know it is a heavy feat. And you know, thank you for really having the foresight to tell this story and to bring, you know, a real authentic perspective into this world of edutainment for folks cause it is important that we not only be entertained, but truly be educated and I just appreciate you for your efforts. Man. How can folks touch up with Black Bald Films? I know you said you had the series that you've already put out there about Albina. How can folks get connected?
Dru Holley
Yeah, you can reach us at Blackbaldfilms.com, emails DruHolley@blackbaldfilms.com, or, you know, Facebook, Buffalo Soldiers of the Pacific Northwest Facebook, where we put in different Black history facts all the times. And we we look for stuff that's not widely known to put up there. So if you want to get some good history, and while we wait for the film to come out this fall. stay tuned this fall we'll be premiering and then hopefully broadcast on OPB and world channel and things like that afterwards. This fall, we'll be finishing Buffalo Soldier. So please stay tuned.
TraeAnna Holiday
Wow, Dru. Amazing and phenomenal. Again. Thank you for joining me on this episode of Equity Rising. So appreciate you. Yeah, so appreciate you. Absolutely. All right. And you guys heard it from Dru here himself. I'm gonna continue to say this, y'all folks are seeing themselves as a part of the solution. And I always encourage you to do the same. Dru Holley and his team at Black Bald Films are doing just that. They took us through what it looks like to be a creative in this space, and to be creating amazing projects that are also going to be educating us along the way. I encourage you guys find a pathway, find your passion, find your the thing that drives you, your driver and really become a part of these amazing solutions that are being crafted all around you. Stay tuned, y'all. You guys know we got episodes coming up galore. So excited for y'all to join us. Thanks for listening to Equity Rising.
