Director's statement

America is in an identity crisis. Our society systemically values one color over another. Color blindness is not an option and white privilege must be examined. When looking for the most iconic moments and figures pushing the boundaries of race and identity in America, you land in 1920s Harlem. In Nella Larsen’s acclaimed novel Passing, Irene and Clare have a hauntingly modern story — and their story isn’t behind us as Americans. By bringing the lives of these two women to the big screen, we inject our audience at the color line, straddling the threshold of identity politics.

The gravitational pull of America’s most famous neighborhood during its most famous era has been, and will always be, a part of the cultural zeitgeist. This is not just about art. How many times do you hear people reciting a line from Langston Hughes? How many times do we see paintings by Romare Bearden taken out of context? How many times do we hear songs that are rooted in the foundations of jazz and blues? These artists were writing-painting-singing the stories of millions of African Americans trapped by an oppressive system. Their poems-paintings-songs were translating the faces and voices of real people, documenting real lives and anticipating real futures.

We romanticize the Harlem Renaissance. We think about the jazz, the art. We need to understand the role of blackness. And, as W.E.B. Du Bois wrote, ‘But what of black women?’ Passing serves as a humanized, visual, entertainment vehicle to unpack this era as a seminal point in the fight for equality across race, class, and gender.

The role of film in social engagement is undeniable. We more fully understood slavery through Roots and the Holocaust through Schindler’s List. Through Passing we aim to produce a critically acclaimed film of historical import while amplifying market reach to increasingly minority dominated audiences; harnessing the power of women and minorities in film, on both sides of the camera; examining white privilege and creating a conversation around identity politics and race in America; and driving advocacy around identity, racism, women’s voices, and displacement. Clare and Irene represent two Muslim women who want to change their names, their clothes; two Mexican women who don’t want to be migrant workers; two transwomen who would like to use the restroom. We need to know these two women, Clare and Irene, and why they are relevant to America today.