American Cinematographer - January 2021 - 35

AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER ASCMAG.COM

Hiring an
Inclusive
Crew: It's Our
Responsibility
A Call to Action By John Simmons, ASC

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOHN SIMMONS, ASC.

E

ver since my early days working out of a grip truck, I
knew that when I was in a position to make decisions,
it would be my responsibility to assemble crews that
looked like the world we live in. I wanted to help create environments where any 12-year-old girl, no matter
what color she was, or any 12-year-old boy, no matter
where he came from, would be able to walk onto my
stage, stand in the doorway, and see the possibility of a future.
My career began while I was in undergraduate school at Fisk University, located in Nashville, Tenn., which is one of the oldest historically
Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the country. I was taking still
pictures and painting - it was a very embracing environment. While
there, I met a man who would become my mentor, Carlton Moss, who
was a film director, writer and historian. He wrote and starred in a picture called The Negro Soldier (1944), a follow-up to the Why We Fight series the U.S. government commissioned during World War II. It's about
Black soldiers behind enemy lines in Europe, and it has been preserved
in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Carlton - without saying it - was an activist. He took a look at my photographs and
said, " Whoa. You've got the eye of a cinematographer. "
I had never heard that word before. I didn't even know what a cinematographer was.
A filmmaker named Ousmane Sembène - the father of African
cinema - came to Frisk to screen two pictures he'd made, Black Girl
and Mandabi (the latter based on his novel The Money-Order). Carlton
brought him by my little 50-dollar-a-month apartment, and through a
translator, Ousmane said the same thing Carlton had when he saw my
paintings and photography. Before I knew it, Carlton was sending me
a subscription to American Cinematographer, and shortly after that, he
sent me a 16mm Arriflex S with a 400' magazine, some film, and written
instructions on how to load the camera. The camera came from Roz and
Cal Bernstein, who owned a production company called Dove Films.
After I graduated, with Carlton's help I received a scholarship to USC's
film school; my application included a presentation of my work that I
had done with him, and with the little 16mm camera. At USC, I was the
only Black kid in the department. It was interesting considering I grew
JANUARY 2021 / 35



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American Cinematographer - January 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - January 2021

American Cinematographer - January 2021 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - January 2021 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - January 2021 - 1
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American Cinematographer - January 2021 - Cover3
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