Exclusive: Director Jenny Mackenzie and Executive Producer LeVar Burton talk The Right To Read
Scheduled to play at the SXSW Festival is the documentary, The Right To Read, by Jenny Mackenzie and executive produced by LeVar Burton.
The Right to Read shares the stories of an activist, a teacher, and two American families who fight to provide our youngest generation with the most foundational indicator of life-long success: the ability to read.
When a child can’t read, their chances of incarceration, depression, and homelessness increase. That's why Oakland-based NAACP activist Kareem Weaver is fighting for better reading instruction. He believes literacy is one of the greatest civil rights issues of our time.
“What good is winning the right to vote if we can’t even read the ballot?” Fed up with the bleak reading scores in his own community, Kareem files a petition with the NAACP demanding change in the early reading instruction.
Jenny is a documentary filmmaker who produces films that promote social change. Her films include KICK LIKE A GIRL, WHERE’S HERBIE? SUGAR BABIES, LEAD WITH LOVE, and DYING IN VEIN.
Blackfilmandtv.com spoke with Mackenzie and Burton on the making of the documentary.
How did this project come about?
Jenny Mackenzie: A funder who had supported several of my other documentaries approached me about five years ago and said, "I want to make a film about early literacy, are you in?" and early literacy and reading is personal for me. I was a struggling reader growing up, but got really lucky because I had parents who had access to resources to get me tested, and get me support. So I was all in and we started diving in to the issue.
How'd you get involved?
LeVar Burton: I call it either neighborhood nepotism, or divine intervention. I think it's a little of both because I live around the corner from Jenny's dad, famous television director Will Mackenzie. So she was able to access me through the neighborhood hookup. Right. And when she showed me the documentary, I immediately showed it to my team. I was like this "This is right in our sweet spot. And and how can we help?" And so here we are.
The idea is there. Now comes the execution? How long did it take to put it together?
Jenny Mackenzie: It took four and a half years, four years to put the film together. Yeah. And our amazing editor is going to be here and meet us for lunch, which I'm so excited for her to meet LeVar because she spent eight months working on this film. But a social justice documentary takes a long, long time. And really for us, we found the story when we met Kareem Weaver, our main subject, and that's when it really became a film about civil rights. And that's why I think it's just so remarkable that we found LeVar because it's not just early literacy. That's such a passion for him, but also racial justice. And that combination is incredible.
How long did it take to find the right families?
Jenny Mackenzie: It definitely takes time. Everyone has a unique story. But for those families to be authentic, be accessible, be who they are. And to show that on camera is a unique challenge.
Was there a discussion or challenge in terms of what families you wanted to have on camera to show diversity?
Jenny Mackenzie: When we started working on the film, we didn't know that it was going to be a film primarily focused on black and brown families. And for me, looking at an issue like the early literacy crisis, you jump in, and you figure out how are you going to bring people into that giant topic. And so we started interviewing families around the country, and we had a white family, we had a Latin X family. And then when we found Kareem and his through line, working with the NAACP, and really fighting for early literacy being our greatest civil right, it made sense to truly focus on brown and black families.
What can you say about your production company?
LeVar Burton: We are executive producers. We are here to help shine light on this wonderful documentary that can hopefully inspire not simply conversation in this country about this crisis, but also the kind of change necessary in order to to address this crisis successful. We can change this, we can solve this, we just have to decide to do it to stop doing things that we don't need to be doing, and to begin to do the right things.
Where will it be shown?
Jenny Mackenzie: The demand is huge. We have just created a impact activation with our social impact campaign campaigns. So the film is available to watch online for free for the next week, which is amazing, but I hope it's distributed because the film is only as good as the audience it reaches to. And as LeVar said, we created this film, not just to entertain and inspire but to truly create longer term sustainable change. Reading is at the core of our democracy and if we have a third of our kids who are reading below basic level, which is functionally illiterate, that is a giant crisis giant.
The doc is timeless. This could have been seen five years ago, this could be seen 10 years from now.
LeVar Burton: Well, I hope ten years from now, we are in a different place with with with our statistics and the effect that conversations like this one can and hopefully we'll have. Ten years from now we need to have this in our rear view. I pray that we are not still having this conversation ten years from now.
When anybody does a documentary, I always wonder, is there an end game in sight?
Jenny Mackenzie: I teach film production, and you ask the greatest question, because I always say to my students, if you know the ending, it makes things so much easier. And I think in many ways, that's why when we met Kareem, we knew that was going to be the through line, because he was working with the NAACP to file a petition to change reading instruction in Oakland, and hopefully, then throughout the country. And so filing a petition gives you this action, it gives you a narrative that has this arc, he's asking for something, he wants to see change, he wants to see transformation. So you hope that there's going to be an end result from that petition. But we weren't sure. His idea of filing the petition was just so brilliant. And it did wind up with a good storyline for us.