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An Interview with Raeshelle Cooke, Director of Woke

by Mike Haberfelner

August 2020

Films directed by Raeshelle Cooke on (re)Search my Trash

 

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Your new movie Woke - in a few words, what is it about?

 

A "woke" African-American woman wakes up in a post-apocalyptic world in the year 3000. All black women are now extinct. A pair of futuristic news goggles tell her how it happened - and why.

 

For those of us uninitiated, could you explain the word "woke", and its meaning to you and your movie?

 

"Woke" should mean someone who is truly conscious about civil rights for black people. "Woke" should mean someone who knows clear rights from wrongs; they know about racist social structures, and they attempt to knock them down and stand up to it. They're outspoken against systemic racism. They're outspoken against police executions of black people. And they do the work to highlight these issues and abolish them. That is what being "woke" is. That is what being "pro black" is. That's what "self love" is. However, being "woke" in the black community has turned into something else entirely; something ignorant. "Woke" today does not mean standing up for clear rights and wrongs and for black civil rights, judging off of what I've been observing from "conscious woke" people like Tariq Nasheed, a pseudo "woke" black man who stays hating on me because I'm a free black woman who is not owned by any man of either race. Being "woke" as an American-born and raised black person according to people like him and his followers means that instead of focusing on actual civil rights for blacks, you instead have to go along with every and anything the black community tells you to do (things that have nothing to do with racism and civil rights) or else you don't "love yourself", or you're "anti-black" or you're a nasty derogatory name like a "bed wench". That's what being "woke" and conscious in 2020 means, I realize. And it's ignorant and it's wrong. This film is telling the black community: Stand up against systemic racism. Stand up against police executions of you. Stand up and speak out and demand that your life matters; demand that you have a right to life, a right to live, and a right to live while being respected, and a right to be granted equal opportunities and equity. Period. These other restrictions and rules and punishments that are placed on us by our own fake woke community that have nothing to do with civil rights however, are ignorant, and I am discussing that in my fiction short using sci-fi elements and a twist ending. Shout out to hater Tariq and shout out to Umar Johnson; this film is for many people but it's also for y'all.

 

With Woke being a post-apocalyptic science fiction movie, is that a genre at all dear to you, and some of your genre favourites?

 

I love old sci-fi where the sci-fi movies and shows were about real people and real social messages, and the sci-fi was not a main point of the film, but it was an element used in the story and it was very effective and memorable. Shows like The Twilight Zone used sci-fi in this way. The Planet of the Apes from 1968 used sci-fi in this way. The first Predator used sci-fi in this way. In these movies, the sci-fi is a shocking and abnormal thing. I've loved these old shows and movies since I was a little girl when my mom used to watch them. I've always wanted to write and direct a movie about a post-apocalyptic world, and I am extremely happy and excited that I finally got to do that with help from my cast and crew!  The basic structure of the film, where only 2 people are alive, a man and a woman, in a world that has already been destroyed and abandoned, this basic story structure is inspired by The Twilight Zone episode Two, about the last man and woman on earth who wore opposing war uniforms. I've always wanted to do my own version of that love story. So now, enter: Woke!

 

(Other) sources of inspiration when writing Woke?

 

The film is inspired by the ignorant perception of what being "woke" and pro-black is in the American black community; also old sci-fi story structures, and lastly the inner conflict a black woman has to endure when going about her life under the cloud of this fake "woke"-ness. Not the true wokeness but the fake wokeness. Like many black women, I'm an individual. I'm a free woman who is not owned by any person or any man of any race. I do not go along to get along. I want love. I think about marriage and kids *sometimes*. And it's difficult living as your true self when you have expectations of you that do not fit your true self and desires and values. This film is telling black women that they've been superwomen to everyone for decades, and now it's time to do them and focus on their wants and desires and what makes them happy, and to reject the loud and wrong twisted definitions of "self love". If we don't learn to free ourselves of expectations that've been hammered onto us by our fake woke community, we will become extinct. Period. Do you and forget the noise. They don't matter.

 

What can you tell us about Woke's approach to science fiction?

 

In my film, Danai is the last black woman on earth, and she learns that all black women have gone extinct due to a race war. She stumbles upon a pair of futuristic news goggles that rewind to the past in pieces and tells her what this race war was, but it's uncooperative and takes its time. The goggles are symbolic for her subconscious. It's an inanimate object but it's an intelligent device that knows something she doesn't know; it informs her and teaches her and sometimes teases and mocks her, all at the same time. The goggles are the truth she didn't want to see before. I love the use of intelligent inanimate objects in old sci-fi like The Twilight Zone. I know I've mentioned this show a lot but I love it so much and it is a huge inspiration to some of my writing. The show has episodes that include robots that make people's lives a living hell (From Agnes With Love and Uncle Simon); or a robot that teaches lessons, or an intelligent car that forces a human to be honest and have accountability for their wrong actions (You Drive). I love episodes about objects or robots that teach something in a non-direct way. I wanted to do that in Woke.

 

Do talk about your overall directorial approach to your story at hand!

 

I wanted my directional approach to be way better and more creative and more polished than my last sci-fi-ish film Wrath City (2017). I felt I could've done so much better in that film, and I really tried to up it with this film. I already talked about how we used sci-fi but I also wanted to use a post-apocalyptic world to show the broken state of relationships and the topic, but yeah I tried to get a location that suits the world I wanted to create... as much as a micro budget would allow of course. I wanted Danai's clothing to look like she was a soldier and that she had just been to war, and that is all abstract of course and not literal. I wanted Sydney to have futuristic clothing. I wanted the sound design and the music to be way more present here than the last film. Wrath City was hella quiet and needed a lot of sound work I realized after it was already released. I wanted Woke to stand out for its sound. Especially the reveal ending. I wanted to hit the audience in the head with the final point and reveal and do it through images and sound only. Jordan Peele's movie Us inspired me to also pay more attention to what I put in the scenes and what it says; you know, the detail. I tried to be more creative and more detail-oriented by putting things in the frames that mean something and say something. So pay attention to the mise-en-scene definitely. My old film professor always used to love shouting "The mise-en-scene! The mise-en-scene!" Makes me laugh every time I think about that word now.

 

What can you tell us about your cast, and why exactly these two?

 

Teajuana Scott stars as Danai, the last black woman on earth, and Sam Krueger as Sidney, the lone white man she meets while stumbling around the empty area. We received over 200 submissions for this film on Backstage! A lot of actors were interested just because of the synopsis alone. I picked Teajuana because she is a great actress! You will see that in the film. She is one of the most passionate and realistic-performing actresses I've worked with. You believe her and her emotions. She comes across as not an actor on the screen, but a real person. I've worked with Sam Krueger in the past on a webisode series, that is how I met him. He's actually an amazing cinematographer in real life, and I was already working with a cinematographer on the film when he and I started talking about Woke. He asked to audition for the part of Sidney and I thought he was a great choice because I was looking for a young Clint Eastwood, a young Frank Sinatra type, a sensitive and gentle man, but a man who will get in a woman's face and tell her exactly what she needs to hear even if it hurts her feelings. That is exactly who Sidney is, and I think that role, and the fact that Sam is extremely passionate about science fiction, made him a great fit for the character.

 

You of course also have to talk about your wonderful location, and what was it like filming there? And how did you find it even?

 

The cinematographer for Woke Ric Murray got us the location. He worked on this location on another shoot he did sound for. He knew the man who owned the place, Lee Karvonen, and asked him if we could shoot there. The location search to be honest was frustrating and annoying, because the location I wrote the script for originally was actually an old army base past Cape Cod, up near Dennis, MA, on the curved tail of MA. The army base had an abandoned neighborhood of old broken down houses and overgrown grass, cracked cement, and broken down barns. They didn't let me shoot there even though they let another film shoot there before. They were closing it down and soon enough not letting people hike there anymore too. I was honestly extremely upset. I had to rewrite the script to fit a different location. A really great location adds tremendous production value to a film and does the world of the story a huge benefit. I knew I needed a great location for this film. I scouted many locations after, just going to different abandoned places, but they never measured up to that army base near Dennis, MA. We even went to an abandoned neighborhood in Connecticut, and the signs said do not trespass. We jumped the fence and shot footage anyway, in case we'd have to green screen Teajuana and use that location as a background. While we were shooting the footage a truck came by and watched us for a few seconds and then left. I was scared, I thought they were going to call the cops. We got out of there quickly. We even had a plan for what we'd say to the cops if they showed. I was going to play dumb. I was going to be the dumb little college student who didnt know what she was doing. I told him I can't have a record, so... but yeah, we eventually settled on the location we got. I'm thankful we got the location, and I hope it was enough to sell the world of the story.

 

A few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?

 

I was very anxious the first day because we had a lot to shoot and only had 2 days to shoot on the location and I had Teajuana and Sam for 2 days. I'm a perfectionist and I'm critical of my work, and already am an anxious person in general as it is, so the obstacles we were faced with made the first day real anxious for me. There's a ton to shoot from Woke, and a lot that would go into post-production like video effects, so we had to get the shoot right for post, had that in mind too. We did get a ton done on day 1 and so on day 2 I was more relaxed. The cast and crew worked extremely hard and we got it all done, and the film I feel is very well done. I also want to give a shout out to my friend Andrea Wolanin, she helped me a TON on set. She is an awesome asset to have on set, an awesome producer. She did everything on set, even had a grill out and was grilling hamburgers and hotdogs. She worked her butt off and I'm extremely grateful to have had her on set!

 

The $64-question of course, where can Woke be seen?

 

Woke screened at the Lost Weekend Film Festival at the Alamo Drafthouse in Winchester, VA a couple of weekends ago. It will also screen at the Las Vegas Black Film Festival on Saturday August 8th @ 4pm. It was also nominated for Best Sci-Fi at the film festival! So fingers crossed. I can't be there because of my governor, but if you're in Vegas definitely stop by. Or view online. Woke is also screening at the Hip Hop Film Festival NYC. I'm still waiting to get the screening dates. But check out hiphopfilmfestival.org/schedule and look out for Woke on the schedule and buy a $15 ticket to view the film, with a director talk back included! It should be up there on the schedule very soon. Keep checking! Check everyday! 

 

Anything you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Woke?

 

I screened this film at a focus group in NY before the pandemic hit. It definitely had a response, lol. It didn't *not* have a response. That's all I wanted was an emotional and mental response. Some people said they were afraid the film would actually happen in real life, that it isn't off-base to actually happen, based on where we are today and where we're seemingly going. Of course you had like 3 people who were offended and mad. I laughed. They can be mad though. If you get mad at this film, it's surely for you. Many people said they would pay to see the film and stream on an online platform like Netflix. Which is awesome to know because I'm trying to write this short into a feature! So if you're a writer, contact me. I did show the film to a few others who thought it was divisive in a good way, and multi-layered. The soundwork got a lot of good responses. Film distributor and president of Circle Collective Kyle Greenberg said of the film: "The ending of Woke really gave off big Planet of the Apes vibes to me, this complex resolution where we finally have closure and realize there's no going back. It makes a really strong statement and still sticks with me!" I love the Planet of the Apes (1968 version) movie. I had sent him the film asking for marketing advice and wasn't expecting any comments or feedback on the film itself, especially not that. To put Woke in the same sentence as the 1968 version of Planet of the Apes? Extremely honored and excited.

 

Any future projects you'd like to share?

 

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USA  amazon.com

Great Britain (a.k.a. the United Kingdom)  amazon.co.uk

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Thailand  eThaiCD.com
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I'm trying to write Woke into a feature, but a feature that is loyal to the original short film. If you're a writer, contact me so we can talk. I'm also writing a short film for after Covid, about people's unacceptable behavior they've displayed during this whole pandemic.

 

Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever else?

 

Woke IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11100612/

Woke trailer: https://vimeo.com/409916989

www.raeshellecooke.com

 

Anything else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?

 

No, I think I said a mouthful, lol.

 

Thanks for the interview!

 

Thank you!

 

© by Mike Haberfelner


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Thanks for watching !!!



 

 

In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
Amazon!!!