5Q's w/: Zeinabu Davis "Pandemic Bread" Director

QUESTION#1: How do your top 3 favorite films influence your filmmaking?:

Daughters of the Dust because it an epic historical drama about a Black family and migration that is cyclical and unconventional from director Julie Dash. This film inspires me to continue to tell stories about my community and to be bold and uncompromising with representations of women. Meshes of the Afternoon, an experimental film by Maya Deren because it explores a woman's interior world and pushes me to think how to use composition and actor movement in the frame. The classic African feature film, Touki Bouki by Djibril Diop Mambety because it is original and continues to inspires me to use unconventional methods and a killer sound design to tell a story about world politics, intimacy, desire and longing.

QUESTION#2: What do you wish someone would ask you about your film and why?:

Since our story is sad, I want someone to ask how we found joy in making this film.

QUESTION#3: What scared you the most about making this film?:

Filming during the mid-point of the COVID-19 pandemic was the scariest since we still had to mask and constantly check people for COVID-19. Thankfully, there were vaccines by the time we were filming, but we still had the additional worry and anxiety of our cast and our crew getting sick and possibly infecting others. We had trouble getting extras for some of the scenes due to a resurgence, but gratefully, we got it done.

QUESTION#4: If you can only pick one of these options to make your next movie: 1) unlimited budget but only a single take of every shot 2) Academy award winning composer, but they're not allowed to watch the film 3) A-list cast, but they're directed using only charades - then why would you make that particular choice?:

I would do an unlimited budget with a single take of every shot because then I would have all the financial resources to pay and feed my collaborators, cast, and crew with all they deserve. We would have reasonable hours, eat well, and have people and resources on hand so that everyone was well taken care of physically and mentally. I can do enough pre-production to ensure I get all I need in a single take!

QUESTION#5: What's does the future hold for this film and you?:

We hope to attend as many film festivals as we can. We want to interact with as many live audiences as possible since we feel that it is a part of the healing process from COVID-19 to experience this film with live audiences. We would like to see this film have a long life and get some type of distribution. We hope that this film may offer us future opportunities to tell additional stories related to the pandemic.

Please add any social media tags/usernames that you'd like to share with our readers:

IG: pandemicbreadfilm; FB:pandemicbreadfilm

Cool BTS images and videos here: