Chicago Filmmaker Mark Harris 
April 29, 2010 – Mark Harris is no stranger to the big screen and definitely no stranger to telling compelling, true to life stories through his films. I Used to Love Her and Show Stoppers (2008) are just a few works that Mr. Harris has under his belt. His latest project “Black Butterfly” which Harris wrote, produced and directed recently premiered in Chicago and was flooded with local and national attendees. The film tells a provocative yet genuine story of beloved 16-year-old Olympic hopeful Ariel Simms (Mahogany Monae). While most goals of movies are to offer instant gratification, Black Butterfly decelerates enough to tackle the subject of molestation, the importance of family and love. The film sets off dramatic fireworks and its no wonder it has many talking. Mark Harris talks about his reasons for making Black Butterfly, the backlash he’s been receiving from the film, and his loyalty to his creativity and emerging cast.
Pub Report (PR): Your production company is named “1555 Films”, why did you choose this name?
Mark Harris (MH): In school, we were taught that in 1619 slavery started. Slavery actually started in 1555, which was the year the first slave ship arrived.
PR: Your latest film “Black Butterfly” just premiered at Chicago’s ICON Theatre with a great number of people in attendance. How do you feel about the turnout and responses you’ve received thus far?
MH: I love it of course naturally. But here is the thing, I love the support we are getting but what I hate – well I shouldn’t say necessarily hate but the response from the women who have seen this film is that they feel we opened up something in them that was put away and laid dormant. I’m still trying to deal with it, after Thursday I’m still getting tons of emails from women, dealing with things that women go through. Some say we see enough of depressing things in our community. I’m not a woman, and I was never faced with a situation with rape so I’m just praying that God gives me the insight to address those things. I continue to study and read scriptures to help me to maybe help women deal with this issue.
PR: You had your non-for-profit organization on hand at the premiere. Tell us why you felt it was important to have them there?
MH: The organization – Rape Victim Advocates, that was all set up by Alisa Inez (Honee Earth, LLC) and we all went through a training class with them. That training class allowed us to deal with women and people that may be affected by this film. I had no idea it would affect people like it did. I was sitting in the audience and women were covering their eyes. We can only assume why.
PR: Why the story of Ariel Simms, a girl who gets raped and abused?
MH: I wanted to tell a story about a sister who was molested and/or raped. If you look at how the media portrays black men - as beasts, animals and the reason why America is dying, I wanted to show black men in a different light. You had movies like Menace to Society (1993) that portrayed black men in a stereotypical way and what I wanted to do with this film was showcase black men who would kill to protect this young girl. And that is what I wanted to show particularly in our community that we have to protect our women. The woman is the first teacher. She is man’s gift. In this film I show that they would do anything to protect this young girl.
PR: How was this movie different from your other films in (casting, production etc.) and looking back would you do anything different?
MH: I wouldn’t do anything differently because everything happens for a reason. You know, I didn’t go to film school so basically when I shot my films, I was learning “how to” with on the job training. With every thing I’ve done it allowed me to grow from raising the money to casting. There is nothing at all I would change. Everything starts from a baby stage and you continue to grow. But we have a lot more to do. And God willing, we’ll do other things beyond Black Butterfly.
PR: You shot most of the film in the Englewood area of Chicago, which is an area known for its constant, crime filled stories in the media.
MH: A lot of the film was shot in Englewood and a lot of the Beverly area but we kept it an Englewood story. I’m from Englewood, that’s where I was born raised and I wanted to keep it in my community. The school you see in the film is my old grammar school. The park scene is where I grew up and parts where I played as a little boy.
PR: Not to give much of the movie away for those who haven’t seen it, but you include a very disturbing unrepentant scene in the film. Tell us why you chose to showcase this?
MH: That scene was necessary. The way I look at the film is like what I want the audience to feel. Its like with (boxer) Muhammad Ali. He would beat his opponent, but at the same time he teaches his opponent. It was definitely necessary. We were very careful when shooting and it was very difficult to shoot. But it was necessary. It happened 15 minutes into the film. We needed to show people this and what we don’t realize is that there is somebody who was a child molester or rapist. I had a brother that came out and based off the film he said he is going to be very careful with women. On top of the nature in which the woman is created – she is a very emotional being we have to be careful how we deal with her because a woman is God’s creation. I had women in my life who were trying to heal and a lot of those women are damaged, damaged. I wanted to shed the light on the story so as men we can understand. And it doesn’t matter what color she is or where she comes from, it’s going to take God to come in and heal that woman. And that is one of the things we wanted to talk about - the human process.
PR: Most independent filmmakers tend to use local talent to keep budget low, why do you choose to use local talent for your films?
MH: We had offers to make Black Butterfly out in LA but I turned a lot of that down. I was going to use some bigger talent, but they wanted to change the way the film was originally written. I didn’t want that. I choose to use local talent, like Sheree Bynum – she’s been there since day one. She believed in me and she was so supportive since day one. So I will always be indebted to her. But with this project when I started casting, even with a bigger budget I wanted to use local talent to get them some exposure. And it just so happened that it worked out in the way that it did, and thank God it did because I wouldn’t change a thing.
PR: What is next for 1555 Films?
MH: We are finishing up a Spanish film called “Over and Over Again” where I am producer, Ricardo Islas directs, and we have executive producer Fabio Hererera. We are in the last week of production. I want to do a football film starring Richard Gallion and use star names around him to build him up as an actor. “Good Life” in which we have music artist Genuine, and actress Teri Vaughn. Keeland Ellis Richard and Mahogany and the rest of the cast of Black butterfly is great and we sincerely have a deep love for each other and we will continue to work together with future projects.
For more information please visit:
Rape Victim Advocates
