When you think about it, there’s no better place to premiere Black Twitter: A People’s History than South by Southwest.
Hulu and Onyx’s three-part documentary series, based on Jason Parham’s similarly titled “Wired” story, exists at the perfect intersection of entertainment, the internet, and culture, much like SXSW itself.
“When I read the article, I realized that it wasn’t just something I was a part of that I loved, but the power of it,” director Prentice Penny told IndieWire during the conference. . “It felt like when her mother talked about the civil rights movement. That’s what I felt like was happening on Black Twitter.”
In addition to being an active user of the platform formerly known as Twitter, Penny (whose profile welcomes users with the subheading “FUX YO Blue Check”) has also posted a post-“Insecure” He was itching to do something different and it scared him.
“When Sarah Amos and the team at Condé Nast came to me with this article, I was so scared to work on the documentary because I had never done it before,” Penny said. “But I remembered that that’s the feeling I like. My favorite filmmakers are guys like Spike Lee, who did ‘Malcolm X’ and all these great movies. I was able to do that, and I was also able to do “When the Levees Burst” and “Four Girls.” I knew I needed to expand on that energy and my work. A career in that sense.”
Parham article published in 2021. The three-part oral history ends with the January 6 riot. By the end of the year, Penny was on board as director, along with showrunner Joey Jacoby, a documentary veteran.
“This is definitely something that I was really into,” she said of reading Parham’s article. “This is basically an opportunity to talk about history, our history and Black people over the last 20 years in the digital space, but in reality we. Another way to communicate who we are. ”
“Black Twitter: A People’s History” includes interviews with an impressive and long roster of writers, scholars, activists, and entertainers, with the full list to be announced on March 7, and includes interviews with W. Kamau Bell. , Rembert Brown, Roxanne Gay, and Jemele Hill. , Dr. Meredith Clark, Ira Madison III, Raquel Willis, April Rayne, and more. Many of them spoke about Parham’s original story, but to expand the scope of Black Twitter history, more voices needed to be added. Parham and Penny had extensive conversations about how to bring the words to life and what framework they would use for the series.
“Typically when you’re creating a document, the subject matter of what you’re talking about is in the past. It’s over, it’s over,” Penny said. “Jason was very prophetically recording the story of this moment. We’re sitting in the dark, in the digital space, in the internet, and there are so many things that exist today, and that tomorrow… You have to seize the moment because it’s going to be gone.”
Sometimes that meant having a finished cut and having to add to it, whether it was a new hashtag, a viral moment, or something pivotal like Elon Musk buying Twitter. . It also means the internet has moved on by the time “Black Twitter: A People’s History” streams on Hulu, but Penny says the overall story never changes.
“That’s also the beauty of the platform and the Black Twitter ecosystem,” Parham added. “You can’t fully define it, because Black culture is always moving and reshaping and adapting and remixing. This is so inherent to Black culture.”
Parham still works at Wired and is in his fourth year at SXSW. He first came on board as a journalist and editor, and now he’s debuting a series that he not only produced, but completely inspired.
“[It’s] It really means something to me,” he said. “Especially in South by Southwest, where different industries and cultures and identities all intersect, and I think that’s exactly what this documentary is about and talking about. The marriage is perfect and I’m honestly so excited.”
“It really is,” Jacoby added. “The craft and integrity of filmmaking has improved, but the technology part of our story is so relevant that we think audiences here will understand it in a way they don’t get anywhere else. I feel it.”
“Black Twitter: A People’s History” premieres Friday, March 8 at SXSW and Thursday, May 9 on Hulu.
