#like i get why half the women in the audience were swooning over kofi

[cielrouge]

I attended the 2019 Split Screen Festival at the IFC Center this past Sunday, to attend the Queen Sugar panel, where the festival premiered the first episode of season 4, followed by a panel discussion with the main cast (Dawn Lyen-Gardner, Kofi Siriboe, Rutina Wesley) along with showrunner & episode writer Anthony Sparks, and producing & episode director Cheryl Dunye.

NOTE: This is NOT a spoiler-free recap, so if you want to avoid episode 1 spoilers, read this AFTER the season 4 premiere on June 12th lol.

What Makes Queen Sugar Resonant So Deeply with Audiences

The host noted that Queen Sugar is unique in the way that "it's engaging as a fantasy show, yet everything on it could still feasibly happen."

"Fans have embraced the characters like their own, as if they're in the room with them."

Cheryl noted how most of the crew has been around since season 1, and she partially attributes the success of the show to its special form of storytelling where audiences have been responding differently, because "it's feeding into this new body of storytelling." She dubbed it the "Queen Sugar Way" in reference to some of the artistic choices that she and the rest of the cast and crew consciously make.

Dawn noted that when she first saw the script back in season 1, she felt "there was something deep in it that set the tone for everything."

Dawn went on to emphasize how the show emphasizes the "epic in the everyday" which the rest of the cast and crew adopted, and was in total agreement of. Since essentially, the show allows for these "domestic, almost pedestrian" experiences to occur, yet it "regards the characters as heroic, and is all about tracking the heroic journey" for the Bordelon siblings.

"All the approaches to storytelling in the show this way, moving and changing in ways that emphasize the epic and the phenomenal."

Cheryl also noted that she understands "what power we have in storytelling," since she truly believes that “the personal is political."

What It's Been Like Coming Back to Season 4 for the Cast & Crew

Anthony started the panel making a quick shout-out to the festival venue, the IFC Center, since back in the 1990s, he literally lived two blocks away when he started pursuing his dream for writing for television.

When Cheryl first got the call from Ava DuVernay to direct for Queen Sugar (she got her start with episode 2 of season 1), she knew taking this job meant being entrusted with a lot of responsibility,” but still felt it was "an honor to be responsible for dreams and storytelling.”

This is because Cheryl "knew what it meant to come abroad to direct a family." Since season 1, Cheryl has particularly enjoyed the ability to shepherd other women directors, as they bought on a new roster for season 4.

The main cast, particularly Kofi, all agreed that they felt "right at home" with their respective characters, and Dawn noted that Anthony, as an episode writer since season 1, holds the key ingredients that really glue the show together. 

Character Craft Characterization (with the Bordelon Siblings)

When asked about Nova, Rutina noted that "Nova is always with me, and playing her is never just a job to me." At times, it's been a tough emotional journey for Rutina, and she’s well aware that this upcoming memoir storyline is going to drop an emotional bombshell for the rest of the Bordelons.

Rutina describes Nova as a character who is a mess, but "always a beautiful mess." However, for this upcoming season, Nova will "finally find some clarity in this mess, and have this weight lifted off her shoulders."

Rutina admitted that this upcoming season is some of the most challenging work she's done in awhile, in which Nova will undergo a wide emotional range, but also have the essence of her character changed in a profound way.

When Kofi was asked if he uses "life to imitate art," specifically modeling his performance as Ralph Angel based on people he knows in real life, he answered that being an actor allows you "the privacy to use what you know" in a spiritual and personal way.

Kofi emphasized that as actors, sometimes you "feel the emotional baggage of your character," and if you truly connect and know how to navigate this, then your emotions can't be faked at that point, since you sometimes may adopt characteristics from the role you’re playing. Kofi noted that this happens when you yourself are trying to grow as a person, because since there’s a "synergy that you adopt," which can not only transform the character (Ralph Angel) but you yourself as a person too.

Discussing Artistic Choices Made by the Cast & Crew

Anthony noted that as a television writer, "he always knows that I’m connecting the show when I’m literally dreaming about it."

When asked about her experiences as a producing director on set, Cheryl didn't initially foresee how this role meant being the go-between writers and actors, but nonetheless, this has become a role that she enjoys.

During the episode, Anthony addressed the scene where Ralph Angel is running in the sugar cane fields after finding out that his parole has ended. Anthony was initially unsure if this scene would have been hitting it too over the head for the audience, with this sequence of "black man, running, and freedom.” So, it was important to "pull off this scene in a way that speaks to the audience" which he felt it did, after he poked his head in the middle of the episode screening, and heard all the loud cheers and hoots during this scene.

Anthony has a tendency to be the creatively "gung ho" type of guy, so Ava is usually the one that has to slow him down to "luxuriate" in the episode. For example, during Aunt Vi's party where Nova is simply dropping off her book, Anthony told post-production that "it should feel like she's dropping off a bomb!"

All joking aside, Anthony noted that the "explosions" of this show usually come from “a deep emotional well,” and "it is still nerve wracking to play these intense characters and scenes."

In terms of Nova's anxiety dream sequence, which almost felt like a Terrence Malik-esque scene, Cheryl admitted that she was able to incorporate some of her original background in experimental filmmaking in this scene, so she knew exactly what to do.

For this dream sequence, the idea was to "play with the land and dreams," where the scene cut together real well in the end, and "set the groundwork for other dream sequences" in the upcoming season.

The Importance of Land as the Setting & Overall Show Themes

The cast and crew noted how important setting is to the show, where "land is the unspoken character." It was noted that most of the cast had "never seen a show that displayed black characters and sugar cane lands” before Queen Sugar.

So, Cheryl noted that the "history of these things: land, family, love" are all infused with the land and display "how we love, fight, breathe."

Anthony emphasized that one of the recurring themes in Ava DuVernay's entire body of work so far is "the relationship between land and the penal system," which is a theme that is "dear to Ava's heart." This essentially focuses on how enslavement in the US has essentially evolved in terms of restrictions related to property ownership, and this "relationship with land and property" is very evident on this show.

Anthony admitted that when he started writing for Queen Sugar, this actually allowed him to the opportunity to reconnect and apologize to his brother, who had served two prison stints. While developing Ralph Angel's storyline in season 1, Anthony had long discussions with his brother about his time in prison, and this made him realize that "he wasn't as attuned to his brother's life" when he was serving time.

What struck out to Anthony was when he asked his brother, "What made you decide that you were never going to go back?" And his brother answered it was when his children would come to see him in prison and kept asking why he couldn't come home. Anthony felt that this helped develop Ralph Angel as a character who is very flawed, but very human as well.  

What's Next Ahead for the Bordelon Siblings in Season 4

Anthony noted that they've bought on a new roster of writers for season 4, and they've already had lots of conversations about the characters.

Anthony noted that he feels it's important for the show writers to actually meet the cast, who have been embodying their characters for several seasons, because this results in "emotional listening sessions" that help develop the craft.

For Nova, Anthony noted that she's "like a kind of a liberator, this show's Harriet Tubman." So while Nova's character arc won't exactly be a pretty process, he still predicts that "you might not feel the same way about Nova midway through the season, in comparison to how you may feel about her at the end of episode 1."

An audience member pointed that with the Bordelon sibling trio, they're at a point in the show where "everyone's hopes and dreams are coming to fruition" (Nova with her book deal, Charley with the sugar mill and her new romance, and the end of Ralph Angel's parole) but perhaps not in the way they want, or are expecting in the end.

This prompted Dawn to emphasize how "you, as the audience, know everyone's stories in the show" so in terms of the upcoming storyline with Nova's tell-all memoir about the Bordelons, "it becomes tricky when somebody else tells a version of your own story." So this storyline will raise the question about permission - who can tell what about who and why.

Dawn noted that "no matter the good intentions, the costs are still real." Therefore, the "show is doing good job of testing bonds of family: with, love, loyalty and what defines them." The idea is "can you confront yourself fully?" Because each character would have a different response when asked about what's happening in their lives.

After a brief Q&A portion, the cast and crew was quickly ushered off the stage, though Kofi did take the time to take selfies with some fans, which I thought was pretty nice, and he seemed really touched by the general outpouring of love that the audience showed overall.