Libsyn Directory

Passing Pt 2: The Roles We Play with Chaz Ebert and Brenda Robinson

Release Date: 06/15/2022

FOOD: Creating Connection Through Story with Chef B.B. Huff

Lagralane Spirits

Is food central or trivial to the formation of identity? In our final episode of the season, hosts Jason and Yvonne Lee welcome Yvonne’s sister, Chef B.B. Huff to the show. Chef Huff left the corporate world to begin her own company, , which is a boutique catering firm specializing in storytelling through food. In this episode, these three bring food into the story of our lives. They ask questions like how do we use ingredients and dishes to tell a story? How does art and the story of food connect us to the past? What is food’s role in preserving culture? This spirited...

ACTION: Re-framing and Reclaiming the Narrative with Nambi E. Kelley

Lagralane Spirits

How do we personally take action to shift the narrative? With an energetic calm that is both inspiring and soothing, playwright/actor/producer Nambi E. Kelley (Native Son, Re-Memori, Jabari Dreams of Freedom) joins hosts Jason and Yvonne Lee for a discussion about how we take action to shift the narrative from one that is exclusive and often incorrect, to one that is authentic to ourselves and our stories. Knowing that small change can make a tidal wave of change, these three discuss their personal journeys as examples of how they have individually taken action to change the...

Creating Access Through Film with Angela C. Lee

Lagralane Spirits

Why is film such an important medium for creating access? How can we use empathy to expand vision? Hosts Jason and Yvonne Lee share a moment with Spirit Award nominated producer (Songs My Brothers Taught Me), Angela C. Lee who also is the Associtate Director of Artist Development at Film Independent. By examining the ecosystem of filmmaking and producing, these three discuss the larger notion that access to “Hollywood” doesn’t come just because we deserve it. They explore how we can find (or even create) traction within a film system by showing myopic gatekeepers the capability of...

Blast from the Caste with Lagralane Spirits Production Team

Lagralane Spirits

Can we move away from caste to create a more equitable society? How do we understand racism by looking at caste and class? Pull up a seat and join us for a special roundtable episode with the Lagralane Team. Using the book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson as a source of exploration, we help define what caste is, and discuss how race has become the basis of our caste system in the United States. We also talk about how caste affects each of us personally – and what we can do to bring about meaningful change. Through the lens of...

Passing Pt 2: The Roles We Play with Chaz Ebert and Brenda Robinson

Lagralane Spirits

We return to explore the theme of passing – and the duality of preserving one’s identity while being forced to navigate the world in certain ways. Joining us for this episode are producer and philanthropist Brenda Robinson and CEO and civil rights attorney Chaz Ebert. As Executive Producers on the film Passing (2021), Brenda and Chaz have so much to share on their respective roles, as well as the vital importance of the critically-acclaimed movie. Together, we examine systems of oppression and share personal stories of what we gotta do – and what we’ve had to do – to...

Passing: A Path to Equity with DeMille Halliburton and Monique Marshall

Lagralane Spirits

What does it mean to look at yourself through the eyes of the ‘other’? How do you maintain a sense of self in this process? How do you build social equity to match the room that you are in? Hosts Jason and Yvonne Lee examine the pathways to equity in this season two debut of Lagralane Spirits. With guests Monique Marshall (anti-bias/anti-racist educator) and DeMille Halliburton (champion of access and equity), they discuss the historical perspectives of ‘Passing’ which is the ability of a person to be regarded as a member of an identity group that is different than their own. This...

Storytelling: To Honor or Exploit with Kemp Powers

Lagralane Spirits

In this final episode of the first season, Jason and Yvonne spend valuable time with Oscar-nominated, “brother” Kemp Powers -- journalist, screenwriter, playwright, journalist and now, director. This grounded, yet uplifting conversation circles around this notion: to maintain truth and integrity in storytelling, we must bring ourselves into the story and we do so by holding steadfast to emotional honesty and by creating empathy. This way, we create a great story, and a great story brings us together.

How Do We Author History with Jacqueline Olive

Lagralane Spirits

In this episode, Jason and Yvonne sit down with Jacqueline Olive, a friend and a filmmaker. All three met through her documentary, “Always in Season” at the Sundance Film Festival. Here, they sit down and examine the meaning behind the question, “Who’s telling the story, and does that add or take away from the story?” Through the lens of storytellers and their own experiences as People of Color living in America, they respond.

The Responsibility to Author History with Erika Alexander

Lagralane Spirits

In this episode of Lagralane Spirits, Jason and Yvonne sit down with critically acclaimed actress and documentary filmmaker, Erika Alexander. The three discuss taking control of our storytelling destiny, being the narrators of our own history, and the meaning of true power and agency in the filmmaking industry and beyond.

Origins P3: Adoption in Black and White with Lisa Cole

Lagralane Spirits

In this 3-part series to Episode 3, we deep dive into three very different adoption stories to explore the topic of biological identity and origin. In Part 3, Jason and Yvonne sit down with Lisa Cole, a writer, mother, filmmaker, and global nomad. Lisa discusses how her writing about strong and disenfranchised women has been her way to find herself and shed light on the people who need it.

More Episodes

We return to explore the theme of passing – and the duality of preserving one’s identity while being forced to navigate the world in certain ways.

Joining us for this episode are producer and philanthropist Brenda Robinson and CEO and civil rights attorney Chaz Ebert. As Executive Producers on the film Passing (2021), Brenda and Chaz have so much to share on their respective roles, as well as the vital importance of the critically-acclaimed movie.

Together, we examine systems of oppression and share personal stories of what we gotta do – and what we’ve had to do – to survive and thrive historically. We also examine Modern Day Passing and the many ways we might pass (intentionally or otherwise) outside of skin color.

What is modern-day passing and what are the roles we play to gain equity? How do you find ways to fit into the dominant culture? How do you stay true to self and show up empowered and authentic to everything that you are?

QUESTIONS

Power-producers Chaz Ebert and Brenda Robinson join hosts Jason and Yvonne Lee to talk access. In this mini-reunion, these four friends and film professionals share why they do what they do – and that is to lift and provide opportunity for voices of color working in film. By highlighting impactful projects like Regina Hall’s award-winning debut film, Passing, to new projects like veteran Lisa Cortes’ documentary Empire of Ebony which covers 70 years of culture from Ebony and Jet magazines, we learn from the inside what it’s like to operate from what can often feel like the outside. We also learn that what matters in this industry is being empowered from within, showing up to the table as your authentic self… and knowing that the table you’re at is THE table.

What do you gain by not having to pass as anything?

In our very first episode with a delicious mocktail, we acknowledge the increasingly popular addition of inclusive mocktails as a beverage choice in social situations. Jason whips up a non-alcoholic French 75 and the conversation flows, as always. Knowing that modern-day passing takes on many, many forms, our guests also share personal stories of how passing has affected them and how it has shown up in their own families. Yvonne poingantly presents Chaz and Brenda with their confessional question, what more needs to be done so that people of color can show up authentically and not have to pass for anything?

For more spirited discussions, make sure to subscribe to the podcast.

And if you’ve enjoyed thinking and mocktailing along with us, we’d love for you to leave us a review.

Cheers … and Please Drink Responsibly!

Links:

Guests:

Brenda K. Robinson

https://www.filmindependent.org/people/brenda-robinson/

Chaz Ebert

https://www.rogerebert.com/contributors/chaz-ebert

Book:

Passing by Nella Larsen

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/passing-nella-larsen/1001883168