{"id":69171,"date":"2018-08-14T16:32:30","date_gmt":"2018-08-14T16:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/?p=69171"},"modified":"2018-08-17T07:33:50","modified_gmt":"2018-08-17T07:33:50","slug":"adomako-aman-fish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/adomako-aman-fish\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the young POC filmmaker exploring queer friendship in an everyday setting"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4568,10172],"tags":[10928,10931,10929,968,10927,994,116,6270,10930,1850,9522],"class_list":["post-69171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-film","tag-adomako-aman","tag-blue-is-the-warmest-colour","tag-dancing-in-the-dark","tag-film","tag-fish","tag-internet","tag-lgbt","tag-people-of-colour","tag-qtipoc","tag-queer","tag-trans"],"acf":{"main_category":4568,"legacy":false,"hero_title":"","subtitle":"To coincide with the release of his new short \"Fish\", New York actor\/director Adomako Aman talks diversity on screen and the democratising power of the internet","hero":{"video":false,"image":false,"header_color":"black","overlay_color":"","overlay_text_color":"black"},"teasers":{"video":false,"image":false,"width":"4","proportion":"default"},"facebook_image":false,"related_articles":[63870,68590,62121],"next_article":[63870],"content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":false,"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"

Too often LGBT+ narratives are presented as a myopic vision of white queerness. From mainstream releases like Love, Simon<\/em> to celebrated arthouse flicks like Blue Is The Warmest Colour<\/em>, those who are most readily represented elsewhere \u2014 white, middle class, able-bodied people \u2014 are the ones most commonly found when it comes to the depiction of queer people on screen. This is painfully ironic considering that\u00a0QTIPOC (Queer Trans and Intersex People of Colour) \u2014 robbed of representation in mainstream narratives \u2014 have traditionally been at the vanguard of fashion and culture, playing an indispensable role in developing zeitgeist-defining phenomena such as drag and dance music.<\/p>\n

This is the cultural landscape that actor and director\u00a0Adomako Aman<\/a> is currently operating in. Best known for Dancing in the Dark<\/em> \u2014 a documentary film about club culture and the role it plays in community-building for queer \u201cblatino\u201d men \u2014 the New York creative\u2019s most recent endeavour is short film Fish<\/em><\/a>. It follows two queer men of colour in the Bronx over the duration of two days, as they hang out at each other’s houses, bickering, playfully mocking one another and talking the trials and tribulations of forging a career. It is a tender, heart-warming depiction of queer friendship that explores the nuances of the QTIPOC community within an everyday context. Indeed, like Dancing in the Dark<\/em>, Aman created Fish<\/em> as a means of getting to know his community. \u201cBefore Dancing in the Dark<\/em> I felt like I wasn’t really introduced to the community of queer people of colour, so it gave me the opportunity to learn more about it, as well as to learn more about myself,\u201d explains Aman.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":false,"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"

Fish\u00a0<\/em>was also motivated by repeated failings in the media to adequately portray QTIPOC identity in a sensitive or complex way. \u201cI think there\u2019s an idea of people of colour being very monolithic. There\u2019s one idea of being a queer person of colour and I wanted to show an ordinary experience, a day in the life,\u201d says Aman. As well as directing Fish<\/em>, Aman also stars in the short film, alongside actors Ronald Hinton<\/a> and Gavin Maxwell Simmons<\/a>. Speaking to Maxwell Simmons, he points to the reductive tendencies of a society unaccustomed to seeing well-wrought QTIPOC characters on screens. \u201cPeople fit you into boxes, like: you look like this, so act like this. What emerges is a dichotomy between your inner self and your outer self and how people perceive this on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fish<\/em> strikes a delicate balance: while it \u2014 importantly \u2014 speaks to the QTIPOC community to encourage self-love and to explore different facets of identity, it also speaks to white, cisgendered and heterosexual communities \u2014 if they are willing to listen, that is. As Aman explains, \u201cIt\u2019s just the experience that I\u2019m going through and I hope people can relate to it \u2014 for example, a straight person who\u2019s thinking \u2018I can\u2019t focus on my artwork, I\u2019ve got bills to pay\u2019\u201d. However, Maxwell Simmons notes that white, heteronormative audiences should also be sensitive to the ways in which the situations depicted in the film are exacerbated through the represented characters\u2019 marginalised identities. \u201cThese scenarios or relationships (represented in Fish<\/em>) are hyper-intensified by the characters\u2019 pigmentation or sexual orientation, so it becomes a very hard landscape to navigate through.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":false,"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"

When we do see QTIPOC narratives, particularly African American stories, they are often tragic in tone, perhaps because the characters have to confront difficult lived experiences. From Moonlight <\/em>to Dee Rees\u2019 tale of lesbian coming of age,\u00a0Pariah,\u00a0<\/em>films standing at the intersection of queer and BAME identity are often tasked with showing the heightened discrimination that QTIPOC individuals experience in contrast to their white peers. It\u2019s interesting, therefore, to see Aman address these same experiences within what is nevertheless an uplifting short film. \u201cI\u2019m very interested in creating a peaceful project, a project of joy and happiness,” the director says on the importance of positivity. “I want to make people smile and feel things; I don\u2019t want to make people walk out and think that the world is a very sad place. The fact that so many stories about queer people of colour, or people of colour generally, are very sad sends a message that our lives are not valuable. I\u2019m very interested in telling the community I come from that they are beautiful and important.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"blockquote","text":"\"There\u2019s one idea of being a queer person of colour and I wanted to show an ordinary experience, a day in the life.\"","source":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"

Aman\u2019s thoughtful and very deliberate approach to QTIPOC representation extends to his casting decisions and to his choice of film crew, many of whom are queer, differing drastically from major media channels looking to cash in on the narratives of marginalised people at a superficial level. Speaking about the necessity to not only feature people of colour and\/or queer people in acting ensembles, but also behind the scenes, Maxwell Simmons notes, \u201cWhen there\u2019s a lack of representation behind the scenes of the demographic that is being represented on screen, the audience is going to pick up on that. They\u2019re going to think, \u2018I\u2019m still being passed over. I\u2019m still being looked over. I\u2019m still being dismissed by the status quo because only their view and their interpretation actually matter'”.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":false,"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"

However, both Aman and Maxwell Simmons are optimistic about the future, particularly because of the internet\u2019s wide-reaching and democratising power. \u201cIt\u2019s great that content can be perceived in a standalone manner as it allows people who may have been turned off by you personally to learn more about your community,” Maxwell Simmons muses. “Yes,”\u00a0 Aman agrees. \u201cAnd at the same time, creating content on YouTube gives me the opportunity to communicate directly with my community. Some people can’t afford to see shows in theatres, so it\u2019s important that the content is there for free; it’s a vital chance for people to get their voices and their stories heard.”<\/p>\n

Fish<\/a> is now available to watch on YouTube.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"

Credits:<\/em><\/p>\n

Photography<\/em>:\u00a0Cheril Sanchez<\/a>.\u00a0Instagram: @Dulcinea<\/a>
\nCreative direction<\/em>:\u00a0Adomako Aman<\/a>
\nStyling assistant<\/em>: Gretchen Jean<\/a><\/p>\n"}]},"yoast_head":"\nMeet the young POC filmmaker exploring queer friendship in an everyday setting Meet the young POC filmmaker exploring queer friendship in an everyday setting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/adomako-aman-fish\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"de_DE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet the young POC filmmaker exploring queer friendship in an everyday setting Meet the young POC filmmaker exploring queer friendship in an everyday setting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/adomako-aman-fish\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sleek Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sleekmag\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-08-14T16:32:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-08-17T07:33:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sleekmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sleekmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Verfasst von\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Megan Wallace\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sleek Magazine\",\"description\":\"Sleek is Germany\u2019s leading independent media house\/brand for creativity and innovation located in Berlin the creative capital of the world. 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