Toronto filmmaker Kelly Fyffe-Marshall’s Sundance film gets a shout out from Ava DuVernay

Kelly Fyffe-Marshall’s film Black Bodies, a short film using spoken word to explore the trauma caused by the brutalization of Black people in our society, has been racking up the accolades. After it was made an official selection at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, it won the very first Shawn Mendes Foundation Changemaker Award, which is a whopping $10,000 prize. Since then, the film even managed to get into the prestigious Sundance Film Festival—a feat of no mean size for a small Toronto narrative film. So why is it that Canadian media has been radio silent on her achievements?

That is something Fyffe-Marshall wondered herself on Twitter yesterday, lamenting the lack of support from Canadian media for one of the very few Canadian films to make it into the all-American festival and competition. Considering that the film has an all-Black female team behind it, Fyffe-Marshall believes the crickets speak volumes.

“We're 1 of 6 Canadian projects in Sundance this year, out of the 118 films they selected, out of thousands that submitted -- with an all Black female production team. And it's been crickets in Canada, which is wild,” Fyffe-Marshall tweeted from her official Twitter account. “This is why we loose [sic] so many of our artists to the US.”

Other Black Canadian artists in film, like Degrassi star Andrea Lewis, tweeted their support of Fyffe-Marshall, and that rallying-cry caught the attention of the Oscar-nominated director of Selma and 13^th, Ava DuVernay.

Responding to Fyffe-Marshall on Twitter, Ava asked, “What’s the name of your film, sis?” to which the Torontonian responded with shock and gratitude. “Wow. It's called Black Bodies.”

That prompted the Artistic Director of TIFF, Cameron Bailey, to chime into the conversation, saying, “And it's a must-see. Glad we were able to show it at #TIFF20 and include it in Canada's Top 10, and thrilled it was invited to #Sundance.”

All of that resulted in Ava tweeting out to her almost 3 million Twitter followers, “Looking forward to watching the short film, BLACK BODIES. From Toronto to #Sundance2021, this film from @directedbykells and her beautiful Black Women team of collaborators should make Canada proud. Congratulations, sis.”

Naturally, the bump that comes with an endorsement from Ava DuVernay cannot be measured, but Fyffe-Marshall was most grateful that the narrow vision of Canadian media is finally getting an international spotlight, and that her frustrations will finally be heard and taken seriously. On Instagram, she shared screencaps of her convo with DuVernay, and captioned it, “Yesterday this happened! I tweeted out of frustration, I know too many creatives in this country can relate. @tamar.bird @sashaleighhenry @jordanoramdp and I are always talking about sustainability and inclusivity within the Canadian film landscape. I'll forever be pushing Canada to be better, we need to create an industry that allows creators to thrive.”

She has previously spoken with etalk's Lainey about the need for her work to have a larger platform, and also how her film, although only five minutes long, can change people’s minds on the victimization of Black people in Canada.

Previously she received a Shawn Mendes bump when she was awarded with the inaugural Shawn Mendes Foundation Changemaker Award at TIFF. She even made sure to shout out the support from The #MendesArmy. “You guys are amazing and really made this award so special.”

We hope this gives her work the attention it so deserves, so she can, as she said on Instagram, “Make Ripples Where You Are […] Do something every day to make your part of the world a better place.”

BEFORE YOU GO: Why the Black Theatre Workshop is for more than just representation

[video_embed id='2131629']BEFORE YOU GO: Why the Black Theatre Workshop is for more than just representation[/video_embed]