We enjoy a great documentary that allows us to immerse ourselves into a story where we even get to know more than what we assumed! We just watched Following Harry which focuses on the life of Harry Belafonte who in addition to being a phenomenal entertainer, he also had a passion for Civil Rights. He not only had an interest in organizing, but he also wanted those who were engaged in the work to think bigger about the impact that they were making. Although he passed away in 2023, this documentary looks at the last 12 years of his life. We had the pleasure of sitting down and talking with Emmy nominated Director, Susanne Rostock to find out more about the film, her work with Harry, and what the takeaway should be in watching this film which will be available on a number of streamed platforms such as Apple TV.
ATHLEISURE MAG: Before we delve into following Harry, what is it about storytelling that you enjoy and what topics are you drawn to?
SUSANNE ROSTOCK: Well, what I enjoy about storytelling is essentially a beautiful way for us to connect as humans. You know, it allows you to share intimacy and secrets and to really understand each other better. So I think storytelling is such a gorgeous way to do that. When I started out in film, I was actually in anthropology and doing ethnographic filmmaking, which is storytelling from around the world, hearing the stories of other cultures and how amazing people are and how they choose to live and how they choose to relate to each other and rear their children and eat their food and dress, you know. Just such a gorgeous way to connect. The topics I'm most interested in are humanity, you know, stories about healing and love. And, you know, I work on a lot of films that deal with horrendous injustice, but there's always light and hope in there because there are these beautiful people who fight and, you know, what we do, how we choose to live. and live justly and fairly, and as Harry says in the film, and enjoy the universe. How do we enjoy each other and life?
So those are the films I'm interested in, which is pretty broad.
AM: This wasn't the first time, obviously, that you've worked with Harry. You know, what did you enjoy about working with him?
SR: Well, first of all, I never, ever thought in my life that I would get to even meet Harry Belafonte, let alone be allowed into his life the way he allowed me in. So what I enjoyed was... know, his wisdom, his passion, the way he lives his life, witnessing somebody, you know, I'm not a young person, but he was considerably older than me even when we first met. He's always been older than me. The way he even approaches aging and what you do with your life.
So I appreciated his choices, witnessing how he chose to live his life and the love, the love that he shared, the generosity. of him, of Harry, the generosity of him and the purity of his soul and really, really wanting to do good. I just appreciated being in that realm. Plus, he was just a great guy. He was fun. You know, we would dance. He was, you know, I told him that I took tap when I was a kid. At the end of each day, he'd come into my side of the office because he invited me to share an office with him after I met him. first film yeah yeah after I made the first film he invited me he was moving into a new office he said move in with me so I moved into this big loft and then he invited Carmen Perez in with the gathering for justice which he had started how he had started and she became the head of and so but he would come at the end of each day to my my side of the office and sit down and talk.
Harry was a real guy. He was a real person. And he owned up to anything. You know, he didn't feel that he had the absolute word on anything. He just shared his wisdom and listened. He listened to what other people had to say. You can see that in the film, how it brought all these young people in and listened to them and wanted to just help them not reinvent the wheel every time. Every time there's a movement and a crisis, but let's learn from the past and build for the future.
AM: This film covers the last 12 years of his life and it is about his activism. It also looks at how he took on these projects, how he infused the thoughts of other people, and made them think larger about what they were doing. Throughout the doc, we’re reminded about 2 parallels I'm constantly drawn to is that you're the participants of history that understands that things are happening and then reminding people that everything in history repeats again whether it's by an era, a decade, or even a location. How did you tackle all of these topics in just an hour and a half of the film?
SR: Well, there were so many more topics that I had to leave out because, I didn't want to short change anything. It was a real challenge because there's so much more depth to each story. Yet, I didn't want it to feel glossed over and fragmented. So I'm glad that it worked for you. I'm very glad, you know, because it was a challenge. People's attention span is not great these days, so I didn't want to make it an epic length.
Although, you know, I did have a much, much longer version. I'm sad about what I had to leave out. You'll never know, I hope someday that the footage will be repurposed and used because it's so important and this film is so powerful. You can sit for 90 minutes and you can have a real-life experience that changes your whole worldview. So instead of having to talk and talk and talk at people - you are able to watch something and then they can decide for themselves for what they will take it in. They will take it into their bodies. They'll feel it. They'll live it. Then they come to a real understanding rather than just words - words are very valuable, but the film is so powerful. I wanted to be sure that I hit the points that spoke to the period that I was making the film in. Now, of course, I worked on that film for a long time, so the periods kept on changing and got worse. So when Angela Davis stands up there and says, “you have to vote now because you have no idea what will happen.” Now is the time that we wanted to make sure that we got this out in the world. And, you know, now I'm hoping that the film can continue to influence others which is why we are releasing it now.
We feel it's very important for young people and all people to see this and be reminded of our own power and what happens if you don't use it for good. I think will be a continued reminder, just like when you watch films about the civil rights movement, a reminder of our power and the power of love and the power of demonstrating peaceful activism and the need to continue to fight. So that's my spiel.
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