‘Oh The Horror: Diversity Can Be Such A Macabre Masterpiece’ (movie article by Frank Ochieng).
Indeed, the saturation of the contemporary horror genre and all its conventional sub-divisions of conception have seen its better days. Although there is no controlling or escaping the recycled, repackaged or redundant aspects of the rehashed narratives, we have seen dusted off for later consideration countless times before there is one angle that we can have the power to embrace, the diversity of the visionary filmmakers willing to share their panache for bloody, haunting exuberance. After all, there should not just be one decisive demographic of movie-maker claiming the monopoly for presenting horrific exposition in the universe of ghoulish entertainment.
Recently, a behind-the-scenes connection was made with the ambitious Jennifer Walters, a talented development producer from an award-winning film production company known as KindredQuest, Inc. Ms. Walters, along with noted horror actress and writer Alessandra Pinkston, have collaborated on noteworthy projects with the objective to realise their sense of artistic inclusion, advocating and promoting the encouragement of featuring women of colour and mostly minority leads in horror films, regardless of short or feature-length movies, to foster better representation and flexible opportunities for diversified performers to showcase their brand of artistry in stimulating horror showcases.
Both Walters and Pinkston have been paid critical dividends for their previous cinematic effort in the 2011 short horror film ‘The Testament Of Karma’ that garnered such prized accolades as winning the Black Harvest Film Festival Audience Award as well as the IBFF’s Curator Award. In fact, their upcoming KindredQuest-based offering ‘The Sorrow’ is in preparation for its release soon. Ideally, Walters and Pinkston want to ensure that ‘The Sorrow’ reaches its full potential in elevating the incorporated creativity of a horror gem that is able to get across its menacing message with promising urgency. Furthermore, the determined women want to see their latest labour of love stabilised by a strong presence of women from various nationalities providing the thrills and chills that can only be highlighted by their rich canvas of physical differences for one similar goal in mind…to prove that a rainbow of coalition creepiness can be just as appetising in frightening forethought.
‘Our goal is to employ more women and persons of colour in the entertainment industry, in front of and behind the camera. ‘The Sorrow’ will cast actors of Hispanic, Asian, African-American and Caucasian descent in the leading roles. We want our films to reflect the beautiful variety of America’, states the enthusiastic Walters. Clearly, Walters has high hopes for engaging her brand of horror-inspired feasting on introducing compelling jolts and jabs with cultural and feminine frothiness.
In fact, Pinkston profoundly verbalises her viewpoint about the importance of visible ethnicity at KindredQuest, Inc. produced films in a penned Graveyard Shift Sisters article entitled ‘Making Genre Films With Alessandra Pinkston’ by thoughtfully responding, ‘I never saw why we couldn’t be in the forefront of films besides dramas and comedies. Perhaps, from the studios perspective, the films wouldn’t sell. But these days, due to social media connecting people from different cultures and more people of colour bringing this issue to light, things are different. I believe that people of different races are more connected now, and this generation is more open to seeing new things. And I’m proud of my generation for taking that stand. I believe that we millennials are going to change the world, and I want to help accomplish that through my films. So by putting people of colour in the films that were closed to us, it shows a new day and age and brings unity amongst all races.‘
Productively, KindredQuest, Inc. movers-and-shakers Jennifer Walters and Alessandra Pinkston unselfishly anticipate elevating the stakes and giving generous movement to aspiring and established artists in joining forces to develop a collaborative atmosphere in welcoming various voices from all walks of life to partake in the film-making experiences at the adventurous KindredQuest, Inc. where horror-themed products and perhaps other selected categories in the realm of Science Fiction and Fantasy will step up to the proverbial plate and embrace the multicultural spectrum of gifted artists both in front and behind the camera to lend their soulful expertise and support in distributing innovative and provocative horror-induced vehicles with fresh faces of diversity while looking to settle the lively landscape of small-scale twitchy terror tales at its finest running time.
After all, employing the genuine citizens of the world to give hearty race, creed and estrogen-motivated credence to concentrated spry fright fables should not completely diminish the boundless dimensions of a colourful creeper that could benefit from a mind-bending makeover ethnically flavored in Girl Power gumption.
(c) Frank Ochieng 2016
