Roger Ross Williams Talks Tackling U.S. Racism in ‘Stamped From the Beginning’: ‘As a Black American, I Am Always Under Threat of Death’ (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor Roger Ross Williams is having quite the year. So far, the Oscar-winning director has released his first fiction film, Amazon Studios’ “Cassandro”; the HBO documentary “Love to Love You, Donna Summer”; AppleTV+ docuseries “The Super Models”; and Hulu miniseries “The 1619 Project.” Joining Williams’ impressive output this year is Netflix’s “Stamped From the Beginning,” an adaptation of the eponymous bestselling book by Ibram X.

Kendi about the history of racism and anti-Blackness in the U.S. The film has its European premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam on Tuesday.

To have “Stamped From the Beginning” play at the festival is special to the American director, who now lives in the Dutch capital. “Amsterdam is my home, I love the city so much.

IDFA is such an important festival for the Dutch community but it’s also an important festival for me, personally, being a Dutch resident married to a Dutch person,” he tells Variety in Amsterdam. “IDFA is truly an international festival and spotlights international documentaries you never see get released elsewhere,” he continues. “For eight years, I was the governor of the documentary branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and my goal was to bring in as many international members to diversify the Academy.” Williams’ time at the Academy is the subject of great pride to the director, who emphasizes that by the end of his term the documentary branch was “the most diverse branch” in the Academy.