Directed by Aleshea Harris, the suspense thriller comedy “Is God Is” opens in theaters May 15th, via Orion Pictures.
Today, UB has a new featurette, “Stage to Screen.”
The film is Aleshea Harris’ directorial debut and is based on Harris’ adaptation of her award-winning play of the same name.
Starring; Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Janelle Monáe, Erika Alexander, Mykelti Williamson, Josiah Cross, with Vivica A. Fox and Sterling K. Brown.
Produced by Tessa Thompson, Kishori Rajan, Riva Marker, Janicza Bravo, and Aleshea Harris.
Executive Produced by Stacy O’Neil, Nicole King, and Kenneth Yu.
Check Out The New Featurette!
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From Writer/Director/Producer Aleshea Harris:
Is God Is exists because it was the kind of story I needed. I needed its scarred but beautiful twins. I needed its no-holds-barred punk sensibilities. And I needed its refusal to apologize. I could never have imagined that my little play would have found life in theatres all over the world. With this adaptation from stage to screen, I’m grateful for the chance to invite even more audiences to join Racine and Anaia on an epic road trip to their destiny.
It has been a tremendous relief to give Black women’s rage in Is God Is center stage rather than succumbing to the impulse to sidestep the “angry Black woman” stereotype or satisfy the “when-they-go-low-we-go-high” dictates of respectability. To allow the twins and their mother the space for nuanced and justified rage feels like restoring grace to scores of Black women who’ve been pathologized, scorned or ignored for expressing such a basic human emotion.
Alongside (or beneath) that rage is love. The unwavering self-love of a woman who knows she deserves better and will not stop until someone is held accountable. The compassionate love of a woman who holds another’s pain as her own and thus takes up arms to avenge. Something feels radical to me about Black women, who are so often expected to put ourselves last, putting themselves first.
There is no compromising here, no doubt that what Racine, Anaia and their mother have endured is to be taken seriously. But it begs important questions for us all to consider: Should one seek revenge?
