Premiering tonight on HBO is 'The Blacklist: Volume Three,' which profiles some of today's most dynamic African Americans.
The film is a collaboration between distinguished portrait photographer and filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, who serves as the show's director, and award-winning journalist Elvis Mitchell, who interviews the subjects, which include Oscar-winning actress and TV host Whoopi Goldberg, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter John Legend, United Negro College Fund President Dr. Michael Lomax, actor Hill Harper, fashion model Beverly Johnson, CEO of BET Debra L. Lee, actor LaTanya Richardson and director-producer Lee Daniels.
At a recent screening in New York City at the Paley Center for Media, Black Voices briefly caught up with filmmakers Mitchell and Greenfield-Sanders on the success of the new volume.
What was the goal for Volume 3?
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders: I think the goal this year was to have 50 people in total when you combine the other volumes. The first one was so good with 23 people, but it wasn't a bigger statement, as we are making now. With 50 people under our belt, it's really an accomplishment.
What's different this year from the previous two volumes?
Elvis Mitchell: Well, we have the second African American director to be nominated in the Oscar category. The fact is that the world is different. When we did the first one, Barack Obama hadn't been nominated. People thought it was a big thing to support him rather than Hillary Clinton. The world has changed so much since then.
Did you come across many challenges when filming?
EM: The challenge is still the same. To select a group of African American achievers and to let them tell their stories, which is always compelling.
TGS: It's always a challenge to get them in the studio, but once they get there, they get it. Having done number one, it made number two easier, and also with three.
Who do you want for the next volume?
TGS: It's hard because they are so many people in the entertainment world, and I'm always pushing to get other individuals like a surgeon and people who are in the trenches more. It would also be interesting to get some younger people who have accomplished a lot.
