A conversation with Rebecca Hall and her new film PASSING, colorism and honoring her black history

[@MVAAFF]

Click this link to the Subscribe To the MVAAFF Channel: kzbin.info

[@Bailey2006a]

Rebecca’s mother was one of the finest Cherubino’s of her time. Beautiful mezzo-soprano , Maria Ewing…

[@TheMrsATL]

Compelling interview. I hope Netflix does enough promotion to encourage viewership. Well done director Rebecca Hall.

[@MVAAFF]

Very honest and compelling.

[@cherylreeder8369]

Viewers sharing about the movie will drive viewership. Most of the shows I watch on Netflix are from recommendations from friends.

[@meelegantdiva2]

My fathers older brothers left home at 18 and never returned becuz they were passing. I didn't even know his white lineage until I was in my 40s. I was seeking treatment for an ailment t hat normally does not happen to black people. The doctor did some tests an told me that I lacked melanin and talk to my parents to find out which one had at least one white parent. I was shocked to learn it was my dad (I knew my mother had mixed heritage, but she is a brown girl).. Even though my dad is extremely light and might have been perceived as white, he was the most blackity blackist talking and moving in life person I know. My dad was mostly white but choose the opposite path than his brothers. I have always been proud of my black heritage, as my dad had. I love my culture and people, that's all I know.

[@goldcherry103]

If you don't mind me asking about the illness. Is it called Familial Mediterranean Fever(FMF)?

[@SC-uq2jf]

Chaz Ebert, you and your husband , may he RIP, were my favorite film critics of all time. Chaz, as an African American female, with family raised in the Jim Crow South [ I am dark skinned like my mother, my father, may he RIP was very lightskinned, ] you handled this interview with sensitivity and compassion towards the film maker, Ms. Hall who has lived as a white woman for the most part....This film and the PBS Henry Louis Gates Interview to come out in Jan. 2022 must have been cathartic for Ms. Hall, in coming to grips with her own identity.

[@joannebaker4925]

The moderator is incorrect when she says she's glad that people don't have to question their existence today. Unfortunately,Today in the 21st century October 5,2021 for many a black people, our mere existance continues to be question on a daily basis whether it be because of passing or just existing. 🤔

[@LivingEmpoweredToday]

So correct. Today even within the Black community, mixed Black people aren't considered Black. Even if raised in Black environments. Goes to show bias and prejudice has no color.

[@AuthorLHollingsworth]

I agree. The most discrimination occurs in our black community. People are told who to be, and not to be. Rather colorism or mere prejudice of the many shades of black. The problem will remain a problem for years to come until people change the way that they think.

[@AuthorLHollingsworth]

@@LivingEmpoweredToday Some black people may feel that way, but in the south they are still black to me.

[@altovise14]

What makes a person White and Black? I don't think you are Black because your half Black. I don't think biracial people with Black parents should be considered as Black. Culture + melanination+ the essence + the spirit of Black people makes you Black. Mix people passing are not Black. Mix people who can't identify with the Black experience is not Black, especially those with White mother. Mother's are a very important part of the teaching of the culture, the experience, etc. There are so many biracial kids confused especially with White mothers. Go watch the TikTok which is on KZbin too, "When did you find out your White parent shouldn't raised/had a child of color."

[@tonyg.6148]

@@LivingEmpoweredToday well because their not black nor white their both and yet neither

[@flattfan162]

This is such a brilliant interview. It was honest and vulnerable, which I appreciate so much. Looking forward to seeing this film!

[@MVAAFF]

Indeed. Chaz Ebert was brilliant. Bravo!

[@robinalecia7554]

I lived this with my mother and grandmother. This is going on still to this day

[@RH-ub4bm]

I’m a big fan of Rebecca Hall, I’ve seen guite of few of her movies. Great actress and now to know she’s directing - fabulous!!! Definitely will be watching her movie “Passing”!!

[@sydneyhill658]

This was a nice interview and all... but..... Can we hear more about those passing women related to the co-founder of SEARS!!! That's the real tea.

[@MVAAFF]

yes, that sounded interesting.

[@AngelicTroubleMaker-LaVooDoo24]

THAT PART SIS!! LOL

[@grezsoy]

Wow never heard about that

[@2studiosinc62]

I, too, want to know the Roebuck sisters’ story! That’s some sweet tea!

[@MVAAFF]

@@2studiosinc62 yup.

[@stephsteph1338]

I had a relative that was able to pass for White. My first introduction to him was: he drove up and asked if my uncle was home. I went in the kitchen and told my aunt…”There’s a white man outside, looking for your husband.” And she replied--“That ain’t no white man. That’s your Cousin!” 🙄😮

[@celticmulato2609]

That's a stupid response, he is still White though a little admixture.

[@professlch6347]

Can't wait to watch the episode of Finding Your Roots.

[@jmlorenzo3639]

Rebecca Hall is stunning and she looks just like her mother. Maria Ewing was a gorgeous talented women and like Rebecca pointed out was obviously a women of color. I can understand why Rebecca was intrested in learning her Ancestry. Great interview 💛

[@TheLauren1113]

Very interesting. I didn’t know I was biracial (black and Ashkenazi Jewish) until I was 42. I just thought I looked black but was 100% Ashkenazi Jewish. I didn’t know I actually was black. So, I too spent my entire life passing - and not of my own volition. People knew and suspected, so query how successful I was at actually passing as white. But I lived life dreading that question, “what are you?” - it was fraught because I knew that my appearance didn’t quite match my identity. I am sure her mother felt the same way. I looked up Maria Ewing and saw immediately that she was mixed like me. I am sure that she too wondered and questioned but those questions are hard to ask when your family won’t give you the answers. And it’s a tremendous loss, as Rebecca said, to know nothing about your history. I found the movie incredibly touching - I cannot imagine willingly passing and giving up an entire culture, family, and history.

[@indigoblue91]

I always suspected Rebecca Hall had black ancestry. It is interesting how black people can recognize black ancestry with people with very white/european phenotypes. Same for Johnny Cash and his first wife black people knew they had black ancestry until it was recently confirmed by DNA ancestry. My paternal grandmother and her siblings could have easily passed for white but they chose not to. However, her other family members did. It was very painful but the ones that knew never ever exposed them to protect them.

[@gratefuldead3750]

That's what you say now. Has Vivian Leigh black ancestry? Jacky Kennedy? Peter Ustinov of course

[@OscarHernandez-sp6ho]

@@gratefuldead3750 What do you mean?

[@gratefuldead3750]

@@OscarHernandez-sp6ho I mean that many British or American White's have African forefathers. For example the Nobel laureate James Watson, who spoke very bad about American black people has 16 percent African DNA, according to DNA.

[@OscarHernandez-sp6ho]

@@gratefuldead3750 That ain't the same Watson who invented the reciprocating steam contraption is it?

[@thenewyorkcitizen]

@indigoblue91 what made you suspect that?

[@wrendor9465]

The Imitation of Life...yes! Pinky, i have not seen. Passing though...just the word itself is so relatable and is layered. This movie is so necessary. I love this movie soo much! I also love that Ethio jazz is being played a lot more now in black films!!

[@myswagobsession]

Don’t forget about “The Human Stain” starring Anthony Hopkins... interesting casting to say the least.

[@michellesamuels8435]

Wentworth Miller who played the younger Anthony Hopkins is mixed raced (Jamaicans on top of that 🇯🇲 ). That was a good casting choice.

[@oyaami1874]

That film was offensive to say the least. Written by a white man for a white audience.

[@myswagobsession]

@@michellesamuels8435 Anthony Hopkins played him as an older man, Anthony Hopkins is very white

[@janschild]

Very interesting...

[@michellesamuels8435]

@@myswagobsession yes I know. I wasn't talking about Anthony Hopkins casting, I thought that was strange and offensive. But I was happy that they casted Wentworth as that at least was appropriate.

[@tiger7914]

Excellent interview! Thank you! 😊

[@MVAAFF]

thank you:)

[@sashanoel8766]

This is important. While the drop rule was pervasive and certainly was meant to devalue us, I love the point Rebecca Hall made at 18:36. I felt like she emphasized the disadvantage to the black collective when ppl “pass” but also recognizes the nuance of its confusion and privilege at 19:52 while being able to identify how she can turn her confusion into something beneficial for the collective and herself. I love everything about this 💕

[@superamanda]

How is it a “disadvantage” when a multi racial person chooses their identity ? There’s no “confusion..” Many multi racial people didn’t “pass” they identified the way they wanted to. Rebecca has zero lived experience as Black OR multi racial so she drones on sounding like a woke UK person trying get ally of the week. She has a film to promote so suddenly the very remote black ancestry (her GF wasn’t even a 1/3) isn’t the laughable curio it was in previous interviews...

[@simonwinter8839]

@@superamanda If Jim Crow was still around now she would be black and believe me she would know all about being black. What do you do for a living as you appear jealous to me.

[@veronicakelly6898]

Fascinating interview! Cannot wait to see the movie AND her episode w Henry...👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

[@MVAAFF]

thank you.

[@LivingEmpoweredToday]

Something I noticed from my family's history of mixed race people, is White people really couldn't tell when some were passing, when we definitely can. That always boggled my mind. Like this character, to me is so obvious yet in that time it wasn't.

[@dangerkayutak2032]

Very true. Ninty-eight percent of people who say to me, "You're mixed, aren't you?" They are black or mixed themselves. Everyone else, clueless.

[@AuthorLHollingsworth]

Black folks know their own. Period!

[@pookiesis1465]

I remember getting in an argument with someone about people passing during slavery and afterwards. They were looking at it through a modern lens,because even if you had some of those African features, most white people couldn’t tell back then because it was inconceivable. It would have been like if a woman dressed up like a man back the. Obviously today most people would say “ that’s a woman in that suit” but because women didn’t normally wear pants,you would think,in passing,that was a man.There was a black woman who had ventilago ( I know I spelled that wrong) during apartheid and she had African features,but nobody questioned her because they thought she was white.

[@celticmulato2609]

Because Whites know what European phenotype looks like just like Black Africans know what Black people look like; the 1 drop rule has caused so much racial confusion among Black Americans only; that's a racially lost people. The average Mexican is ranges from 3 to 6% Black and other Latinos abt the same or higher and the 1 drop rule never applied to us!

[@simonwinter8839]

I am a "one drop" blackman and I don't try to pass and most darker,that is to say,black,black people think I'm white.However most of the people I'm describing are happy to accept that I'm not white when I tell them.I wonder if YOU would be able to tell as you claim.

[@coffeeeloverfree7309]

I adore that this film is in black and white, brilliant choice! So much to unpack in this film and heal the abyss of color lines

[@Mpirefilms]

as soon as she said---'my mum is from Detroit' I was already knowin' lol

[@elizabethgeoghegan5167]

Wonderful interview. She’s absolutely one of my favorite talents in film right now. Excited to see the film.

[@freemangriffin4953]

I just finished reading the novel (140 pages) and it is fascinating, interesting, phenomenal. I just can't wait to see this movie adaptation - the trailer looks beyond amazing! I want to see how the adaptation fills out the ideas in the novel. Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga I can tell give phenomenal performances and I can't wait to see the full movie. Wish it was out now!

[@MVAAFF]

soon come...glad you enjoyed the conversation:)

[@theorderofthebees7308]

Check out Nella Larsen the author life it’s incredible

[@sharonbrow8680]

I love how this brings forward the conversation of the depth and complication of racial discourse, even within individuals. The Henry Louis Gates journey discovery was very good.

[@mbaemberdavidwuam8377]

It's about time and I am ecstatic about the movie. I can't wait!

[@MrAaliyahfan01]

Seeing the film at London Film Festival in October. Can't wait!

[@freemangriffin4953]

Did you see it? It looks amazing!

[@MrAaliyahfan01]

@@freemangriffin4953 On October 10th I will be 😊

[@njemilenantan2269]

She was very honest about her heritage and history. It would be good if she found her grandfather's family that still exist today.

[@fatuma2954]

I loved this book, so happy she made this movie

[@dawnlee1243]

I love how smart and humble she is amazing.

[@MVAAFF]

Yes, indeed.

[@Kscomelli]

I agree with her. Her mother definitely looks like she has black features. Even her skin complexion has color to it that resembles light complexion skin.

[@gratefuldead3750]

Could bei Indian or Asian too

[@MA-yh2ko]

I think her mother looked Latina as opposed to Black. Interesting if say you compare Rebecca to say Meghan Markle .

[@normankelley]

The supreme irony of this film is that neither of the two female leads, Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson, are Caucasian-looking enough to pass as whites. They look like ambiguously beige women of color. However, I suspect that the producers of the film didn't feel comfortable to actual cast white women to portray black women who are passing as white. Well, we all can imagine the accusations regarding that if they had happened, right? I suspect this is why the film was also shot in B&W; it sort of camouflages skin tone contradiction.

[@MVAAFF]

Rebecca discussed her decision to shoot in B&W.

[@redgirl19]

In a different interview, Rebecca said that she chose Tessa and Ruth because they were recognizably black actresses and she wanted the audience to know that there black and she wanted them to see how they pass and how they interacted with people who thought they were white.

[@normankelley]

@@redgirl19 That then pretty much undermines the premise of the film. If they still have a specific phenotype of a group of people who can't "pass" for white, what is the point of the film? So the audience is supposed to believe that other characters in the film don't see them as being black but white? I guess this supposedly undermines the concept of "race" but this reads as BS.

[@rosegold2025]

I felt this way as well as someone with a daughter who is actually white presenting while being mixed raced. It just took me out of the story. I’m black and the passing characters looked like me! It made the other characters in the film appear oblivious to the point of ridiculousnesses.

[@pookiesis1465]

@@normankelley The thing is , we are looking at this movie through a modern lens. Their are plenty of black and biracial people that passed back in the day that if we looked at them now,we would say they are obviously black. Think of it like this. If you put a woman in the early 1900s in a pants suit, they would think it’s a man,because women running around in pants was inconceivable. If you brought that same woman here and now,we would automatically know that she was a woman. Even with our noticeable features sometimes. There was a woman who had vintilago during apartheid in South Africa,and she talked about using it to her advantage.She had to cover parts of her arms,but her employer believed she was a white woman.I’m not saying people were dumber back then, to some,a black person in their space,under their nose,they wouldn’t believe it. It’s a hard pill for most to swallow.

[@MsConstantComment]

Can't wait to see this film. There's another film they didn't mention about the topic: The Human Stain.

[@Earthomo]

Why are mixed people just not mixed? Why are they only black? If they pass as white, do they not also pass as black?

[@aissatamuhammad2581]

I always wonder the same thing...if a person can pass as white, they can't be black.

[@patriciazandilencube4597]

I think thats because race in America is so complex. It's steeped in the one drop rule where if you have even the slightest black then you're just black. It affects how people identify themselves now. I come from a country where mixed raced people are acknowledged as such. They are called 'colored people' and they identity as mixed. Some people in America called black would be classified as colored or mixed in my country. But it's different contexts. Colonisation esp southern Africa classified people that way : Black, white, colored, Indian (south east Asian) etc..

[@emmas9928]

It's time for "mixed" people to embrace their full heritage as "mixed", *biracial* *dual heritage* or *mixed race*. (whichever term they prefer) They are not *black* or *white*, they have their own unique identity which needs to be recognised, accepted & celebrated. It's 2021 and imo DNA =identity = the truth.

[@darnabedwell2115]

Excellent observation! As a bi-racial person this term "passing" turns my stomach. No one has the right to dictate to another who they are and how they should live and identify themselves. Historically I see this as an evil propoganda of persecution to obstruct bi-racial people from their God given right to the pursuit of happiness. Bi-racial people are far more liberated in America now and we don't play by someone else's "shame game rules".

[@MrBjorn6]

@@darnabedwell2115 I think it is very different for biracial people with one black and one white parent. Or for those light like leyna Horne, or Vanessa Williams, who are light skinned with 2 black parents, who have generations of light skinned black or considered themselves black, and are considered light skinned black in the black community.

[@nubiana75]

Her family history is so interesting. That should be the movie!

[@bobbyschannel349]

Not really, well... Maybe, and the reason why I say that is because. Millions of black people passed for white, And each and every one of them have their own unique stories.. Although Rebecca Hall does have a very interesting background story to her family legacy. But it's just that millions of black people passed, millions! with an M.

[@RememberKatrina2005]

Out Standing!

[@sonyaburton649]

Its still going on till this day.

[@kmrolland67]

The race this women belongs to is the human race, pure and simple. Am looking forward to the movie, the book was brilliant and timeless

[@sweettreatsoverload4296]

I wish that was a true statement. But in America its far from true. There are advantages to passing and or being white. Doing so increases your pay, changes how your treated, changes what you are given access to. Their are benefits.

[@pookiesis1465]

That’s a cute sentiment,but unfortunately there are people in this world that would kill me just for being black

[@getitgirl60]

Human is a species not a race. Color is a construct. So, were actually all part of the same species. You probably don't see color either.

[@simonwinter8839]

And with your one statement racism is over !! Time and time again over here in England I have heard white people say I'm not racist and that's the answer I give them. "With your I'm not racist proclamation racism is over". It may indeed be true that everyone is from the same human race,that's not the problem. The problem is the social construct so you making your human race statement has nothing to do with eliminating racism.

[@kimweidner7351]

I was just about to say - Freddie Washington was very proud to say that she was black - when she played Peola in the original movie on this subject ‘Imitation of Life’. I was a little girl when I watched it. That movie made me understand my family. I tried to force my girls to watch it, but we live in a different society now. They have no idea the struggle....they just reap the benefits of not having to explain who they are. There is a huge difference between passing for white and white passing. My children are the later. I did try, but our society is so different leaving this void in our culture disguising it as something that should be forgotten.

[@purplelove3666]

If she has to say that she is black then she must not be black,does Angela basset have to announce to the world that she is black?

[@kimweidner7351]

@@purplelove3666 please learn your history and the miscegenation laws that were created to continue the racial struggle beginning in the 17th and 18th century into the Jim Crow years. There are so many people on the planet that are racially ambiguous, therefore it is important to highlight the silliness of racially identifying. It further perpetuates division. But does this racial ambiguity allow us to not celebrate our blackness? Of course not! There are segments of our global population that would love to eradicate our history. If we decide to ignore our blackness just because we may not look black, will erase our greatness. That's what they want.....

[@purplelove3666]

@@kimweidner7351 I am talking about AMERICA!.if someone tells me their nationality I will immidiately know that they are black, because the diaspora is not confused like the way a lot of African Americans seem to be ,with their one drop rule.if someone like her came to me and said she is ethiopian or Somali or Eritrean or north sudanese I will know immidiately that she is black!, because they are not confused like a lot of yall and if they were mixed, they will NOT FAIL to tell me what they are mixed with , because they will not just say that they are Somalis.what blackness are you celebrating?. The one drop rulled one?. Because last time I checked REAL BLACK WOMEN with two black parents are fighting to not have people that look liKE THIS WOMAN( who DOES NOT EVEN HAVE ONE BLACK PARENT AND THOSE WITH ONE BLACK PARENT) to not represent them! With Aftican

[@purplelove3666]

@@southernindigo1973 yeah I know.i am.not stupid.but how many African Americans on average look like this woman.dont sit there and act like most of you look like that.thats why we have the word ambiguous.

[@sunnie231138]

Why was the introduction of the interviewer cut out? I would have liked to know who she is.

[@v.a.l.5165]

I found this book quite fascinating. It packed a huge punch. Even the idea of saying people that are mostly white are 'passing' is so strange. The fact that they can't just be who they are is just a reflection of the strangeness of 'race' and it's intersections in the west. Saying they are black passing as white is wildly inaccurate. They are people of mixed, mostly European heritage hiding or disregarding their non European ancestry. But the one drop rule prevails and they are 'black'. This director is a white woman that embraces the non-European parts of her heritage.

[@1Beauty1]

I love the space making here! The carefulness of your response here help me to dig into how uncomfortable Rebecca Hall made me when it was announced that she would direct. She's not trying to pass into Blackness and reap benefits that aren't hers (though her tan here is rather rich). She seems only to be a white woman acknowledging that she has Black ancestry and not in any malicious way. I appreciate your take! Thank you for sharing it

[@lanafalana]

@Jessica It sounds like you’re saying because she doesn’t look black she isn’t qualified to be black which is strange to me. We watched this movie as if to say the ladies in it don’t look white so. . . clearly they couldn’t have passed back in the day. I’m confused for sure. I would have perceived Rebecca as having black heritage but once you know she does you cannot say she doesn’t qualify just because she doesn’t look the part. Also she doesn’t have you justify not looking black as none of us were capable of choosing our parents or how we would end up looking. @Jessica this is just my opinion and not an indictment. It just speaks to how confusing race can be. When I had my second daughter a Chinese woman insisted my daughter was Chinese. That is how we became friends. She even gave my daughters traditional Chinese clothing which was very endearing to me.

[@karenharris2298]

I cannot agree with you. I come from the African-American prospect. And in America race matters greatly. And the one drop rule is still in existence. So you’re saying that she is simply a white woman acknowledging her non-European ethnicity does not sit well with me. It seems like she isIn denial of her blackness, just like the woman in the movie “Passing”. I do think the director was the wrong pick. It should have been a black woman from a America. Someone from any place other than America can never understand race in America and the pain associated with race in America. I take the you are nonblack, whereas I am black American and have had black family members pass for white. It is hurtful and fracturing to the family.

[@v.a.l.5165]

@@karenharris2298 I am both black and American. The heritage of the director is not the same as that of the characters in the book.

[@v.a.l.5165]

@@1Beauty1 thank you for your understanding and kindness of your words.

[@bobbyschannel349]

I just Googled Rebecca Hall's mother, Yo, that's a black woman. She's just super light skin.

[@MVAAFF]

Really? OK.

[@getitgirl60]

I did too and said the same thing ..she black.

[@sharonavictoria7155]

John Edgar Hoover was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States was passing ! 😱

[@MVAAFF]

passing as what?

[@charisascorp]

Hmmm?🤔 Hoover was passing as what?

[@getitgirl60]

He was passing as white.

[@Kabeyavictoria]

I cant believe this book is 100 years OLD

[@MVAAFF]

100 years old...WOW!

[@Kabeyavictoria]

@@MVAAFF yes, almost 100 like it's 92 or 93 years old . By the end of this decade it will be 100... the power of books my friend wow wow wow

[@MVAAFF]

@@Kabeyavictoria agreed.

[@hugyface]

When i saw Rebecca Hall in The Prestige in 2006/07 i said to myself this woman has black in her blood line... little did i know.

[@gratefuldead3750]

She looks like Keira knightley for example. Elizabeth Taylor or Yvonne de Carlo look more mixed

[@getitgirl60]

We can always tell and they know we know🤷🏽‍♀️

[@doremi_tido]

I’ve read Passing, several times, and I’ve read Quicksand. There’s a definite feminist edge to Nella Larsen’s writing and several people have interpreted Passing as a queer text; that’s not news, look it up. More importantly, Larsen focuses on ‘intersections’ of womanhood and race and how they affect women’s life chances. Please read Quicksand! I like that Hall captured the slippery nature of ‘identity,’ especially in the dance scene, but, in her effort to visualize Irene’s emotional breakdown she may have sacrificed some nuance that would help audiences better understand the repulsion/jealousy/desire Irene externalizes throughout the story. Also, Hall’s choice to cut Irene and Clare’s childhood relationships made the story more linear but sacrificed detail. A lot of people have strong opinions about Hall making this film. I don’t even know her and haven’t seen her in anything, so I don’t feel qualified to assess the merit of her creating this film as a clearly white or white-passing woman. I do agree with the point some have made about Passing being an ADOS story, even though Larsen was half-Danish, and how the main performances could have been grounded by the perspectives of ADOS actresses, but let’s play “Casting Director” for a moment: who would you have cast and why? With hair and makeup, Ruth Negga looks like the Clare in the book, and she’d already established herself in Loving, so it makes sense within industry logic. Tessa Thompson better watch out; her buttoned-up performance reminded me a lot of Sylvie’s Love and she might end up typecast as a tragic mulatto… I’ve also seen the same person comment in multiple videos on Alexander Skarsgård “being racist” in the film. Okay, we understand that he was portraying a racist. Care to elaborate?

[@gypsyvanneraddict]

I’ve always loved Rebecca Hall and now she is blowing my mind!!!! At first I thought,” why is this white woman directing a black story?,” and now I’m schooled!!! She brilliant’

[@victoriafristensky1601]

Me o my….so many of us and our families…we’re passing…this just brings it to the for front….😉 what’s the surprise?

[@dennisnelson8207]

It's a fact sad but true,that there is a divide within the Black Community,that black people have for some reason which I find perplexing,a discriminatory bias against people of mixed race,and being mixed race I can attest to experiencing this,my mother was white and I was raised on her side of the family,my father had nothing to do with my upbringing what so ever,he's never been a part of my life,and frankly I've never been curious,or felt any urge to seek him out,nor rightly or wrongly have I felt any affiliation with black people as a whole.

[@sandrajackson8996]

They are unable to tell if a black person is passing because it is kind of like finding out you have a twin and one day you see this person in passing.

[@pookiesis1465]

I remember getting in an argument with someone about people passing during slavery and afterwards. They were looking at it through a modern lens,because even if you had some of those African features, most white people couldn’t tell back then because it was inconceivable. It would have been like if a woman dressed up like a man back the. Obviously today most people would say “ that’s a woman in that suit” but because women didn’t normally wear pants,you would think,in passing,that was a man.There was a black woman who had ventilago ( I know I spelled that wrong) during apartheid and she had African features,but nobody questioned her because they thought she was white.

[@audiobooksmovingpics4734]

Unfortunately people still pass for race, careers, relationships, school, etc.

[@sandraatkins2539]

💯💯💯 TRUTH

[@jenisejackson5408]

@Audiobooks. I know someone who is passing. I was shocked when I was told.

[@LivingEmpoweredToday]

My question is, is it more about that persons self esteem or how society sees color? Would someone feel they have to choose to pass to benefit if all of our society, Black and White weren't anti-black? And Black culture not recognizing those Black skin colors closer to whiteness as truly Black even though they identify as Black? It's a double edged sword of non acceptance and racism for the mixed race human.

[@jacquelinepeoples379]

I can’t, l’m too dark!

[@jenisejackson5408]

@@LivingEmpoweredToday. Good questions. Since, I know a couple of people passing this very moment. I would say, they pass because society is more accepting of "white skin", all structures in society deem white as right. I mean just going to the damn store can be an issue as a person who cannot pass. The only problem I see, is the same people that pass as white, when they get around black people they are telling them they are black. That is when the problem occurs, people who cannot pass, cannot chose which race they will be in a given day, week, or minute. It is almost as if the people that are passing are playing a game. I am speaking about the people I know.

[@leboholmes6576]

The one thing she says she can’t control is the ONLY thing she actually CAN control, her passing

[@teeshbaby6953]

The imitation of life was the most cringing horrifying and sadness movie i ever seen in my life … i wanna watch this movie but i am scared its gonna take thru the motion like imitation of life

[@darnabedwell2115]

I hated that movie! It was propoganda to cause discention between the black culture and bi-racial people. The very root of this "passing" ideology was evil and meant to shame and obstruct mixed people from their God given right to the pursuit of happiness. Yes it was truly horrifying to see how poor Sarah Jane suffered just trying to pursue her own happiness. Of course this was a script but it promoted sympathy for the mother and dehumanized the daughter. As a mixed person I personally hated this film and the evil propoganda it promoted.

[@4pao03]

Detroit!!

[@victoriafristensky1601]

How about the ‘Librarian….. To one of our famous presidents……there is a book now…she is biracial….Her father was one of the few, if not 1st black Americans to attend Harvard…….problem with Americans…we don read and look at the history!,…everyone has a story…about those days of denial and passing…

[@iamenough6958]

Great interview.....

[@MVAAFF]

Thank You:)

[@theorderofthebees7308]

You can always tell when someone thinks linear and when someone thinking is circular and more expansive - The interviewer” No one passes anymore “ Rebecca Hall / I can control how I am seen “ People will be passing as long as their privilege attached to a way of being / and there is societal pressure in being a particular way .everyone in the film passes / the book is amaZing / the film fantastic too

[@superamanda]

Rebecca has a film to promote. Stop the clown show and Neo eugenics. She has known for years her mother was a multi racial white identifying person.

[@lucindaealy7127]

"Presenting?" I think the moderator didn't quite know how to directly ask Ms.Hall which identity she has chosen to live daily. It appears she is still "passing."

[@backto-il9ne]

Lawd! Y'all are doing too much. Ms. Hall is NOT black, so she is definitely NOT passing. She has a white father and biracial mother. That makes her white. Americans and their obsession with this one drop rule. Ridiculous.

[@lucindaealy7127]

@@backto-il9ne It would be nice if this were only an American phenomenon.

[@MVAAFF]

@@backto-il9ne agreed.

[@Earthomo]

@@lucindaealy7127 it mostly is an American phenomenon. In other cultures, mixed are considered mixed.

[@real8551]

And if Ms Hall claim to be black folks like you would be the first to remind her that she is not . Y’all just project your own insecurities and unhappiness on people who are stable and happy with who they are. Lastly, people get to identify how they want it’s really none of your business.

[@expatlifestyle6069]

Excellent discussion

[@monicahill9741]

Authentic!!!❤️❤️❤️

[@MVAAFF]

indeed!

[@mirmir4003]

No one is taking about Alexander Skarsgård being racist. Even if it is for a movie that doesn’t make it right. 🤷🏽‍♀️

[@lilliansteele7165]

Nella Larsen was one of my grandmothers favorite authors. Here parents were educators who founded a school and she was very interested in this type of thing plus also history. She knew who she was and was also proud of her family. It took almost a hundred years to make this film but it has been made. Also black people please get over all of us who are biracial because we are all from God and matter.

[@thomasitataylor6450]

Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

[@auroraseyets8516]

I have a whole branch of my family that left us and "passed" for white. The two actors who play the main characters in this movie could not have "passed" in the USA.

[@rruusseell9948]

It's an intelligent choice Hall makes to cast Negga and Thompson in their roles - to 1) bring the audience into the more hypercritical eye of the 20's, where someone who looked like Rashida Jones could be quickly ousted 2) highlight the precarious lives these women lived and 3) address the ultimate question in ourselves of how we enable and enact racial divisions. You're so close to understanding a huge aspect of the book/film.

[@rruusseell9948]

Additionally, Nella Larsen herself was mixed race, struggled with the concept and act of passing in her own life, and looked not unlike Thompson and Negga.

[@kimweidner7351]

I think her point was to cast black talent because similar movies made in the past casted white women playing black women passing.

[@auroraseyets8516]

@@rruusseell9948 I'm sure the book and film are fabulous. I was talking about real life...my family's life and that I fully understand.

[@auroraseyets8516]

@@kimweidner7351 I'm sure she had a point, as do I. They're just different points... which is okay.

[@josiegee2]

The fact that she found out her dna was important because, if she has a child even if the child was with a Caucasian man, that child could come out looking black and then she wold have some explaining to do, now she don’t have to.

[@gratefuldead3750]

Impossible. Except the husband also had non European ancestry

[@rosegold2025]

That is not how genetics work. I doubt very seriously this lady has even 1 percent of black blood. Her grandfather was mixed NOT black. The last black person in her family was probably her great great grandparent. If you think that makes her black, ask yourself if a black person with a great great white grandparent is white?

[@jsbrules]

Josie Gee: what an ignorant racist comment! first of all she already know she was part black before she had her DNA examined and second of all it’s clear from her non-racist attitudes that she wouldn’t feel like she needed to “explain anything” and thirdly it is a ridiculous nonsense that her child with a white man would necessarily “look black” and lastly the term Caucasian is racist pseudoscientific itself (correct word is “white”)

[@simonwinter8839]

She stated her Mother looked like a black woman so I don't think her DNA results came as a shock to her. I think she always knew about her ancestry.

[@Mojojazzonline]

I never knew of anyone who passed

[@rosegold2025]

Well that would make sense. If they successfully passed you would be white presenting instead of black. Once they cross over they do not publicly or ever consort with blacks. It would give them away.

[@happynappy4244]

This a whole WW

[@MVAAFF]

what does "a whole WW" mean?

[@happynappy4244]

@@MVAAFF Whole- Entire...... WW White woman - A European female person

[@MVAAFF]

@@happynappy4244 OK.

[@rayarena879]

I haven't read the book and I plan to see the movie, but I'm wondering, how did she pass? All of the relaxing and bleaching of hair must have been maddening! How the hell did she hide that from her husband? How about on humid days when her hair started getting kinky?

[@dardardarification]

In the book I believe she is naturally blonde. You know how some mixed people have dirty blonde leaning hair shades as well as brighter blondes.

[@rayarena879]

@@dardardarification Okay, thanks.

[@jx14aby]

I wondered whether it was even possible to hide that from a husband. But I considered it as fiction, so anything's possible. But I've ordered the book and we'll see.

[@rosegold2025]

My daughter is mixed and blonde haired blue eyes. Her give away is her kinky curls. If she ever did a permanent straightening procedure. It would be impossible to tell. Even more confusing is she’s not trying to pass ( just a kid) but state records marked her as white. If I put black they cross it out and put white, saying they have to go by what the father is. I have no doubt if she appeared black or even mix they would not insist on labeling her as white. Quite the opposite. This is in Tx of all places.

[@baileysmooth97]

Another woman wrote a book called passing here Maryland and when she talks about passing she's talkin about the social economic status a black people and it's not based on color it's based on money and where you live in school your kids go to in the 1950s and 60s is very interesting book it's like the Murphy's to Mitchell's the bells is all the big powerhouses here and Maryland that crazy Afro-American magazine is very interesting and influential because I do believe that even in the black community status economic status negate color

[@jenisejackson5408]

No matter how much money you have, such as Oprah and Jay Z which are both billionaires, one still experiences racism it is just more nuanced. Even Oprah when she went overseas shopping many years ago she was discriminated. Also, Serena Williams almost died, doctors ignored her when she kept telling them something was wrong and she was feeling really bad. Just to name a few examples. LeBron James, years ago someone wrote N word on his fence.

[@caramelcosmo71147]

AINT NO WAY they didn’t know Maria Ewing was Black 👀😂😂😂 people see what they WANNA see, that’s all bcuz even her daughter is clearly mixed with Black as well 🤦🏽‍♀️ the ignorance is astonishing

[@fld1374]

Plot twist and the end with the Executive Producer. Hall has PASSED the white threshold thanks to the efforts of her male relative in shedding his Blackness. She can and should keep learning her history and ancestry, but she isn't white "presenting". She has white skin. Flip this and think about the response if Hall was a very brown Black actress and found out she had a grandfather, great-great-great etc who was white (which does often occur). No one would accept that actress as a white person. They haven't even begun to do an analysis. Her personal discovery is hers and hers alone, but Blacks in this country have this tendency to support anything and everyone to our detriment. We have to set better boundaries about who gets to be US. The other MAIN PROBLEM in terms of authenticity is this is almost an exercise in awareness that may have been better suited for therapy and must have open dialogue with her family. That doesn't have anything to do with us. Hall is divorced from real understanding of these complex issues and is playing catch up. Would a Black American actress have been able to write and direct this movie and be funded? Casting a foreign biracial (Negga) and an Afro-Latina (Thompson) but writing the characters as Black American is a mistake. I don't know who's supposed to be interested in this (whites??), but the average Black movie patron isn't going to be interested. This reeks of an insider vanity project for a potential award nomination. Don't tell stories about Black Americans while EXCLUDING Black Americans!

[@real8551]

Wow you are one angry bird . Seek prayer, meditation and some Metamucil. Geesh you are seriously unhappy and pressed huh

[@fld1374]

@@real8551 Wow you are VERY ignorant, but I don't expect complex situations and comments with nuance to connect with simpletons such as yourself. Isn't it interesting how not being impressed and setting boundaries pisses some people off????? Sexist AND racist!

[@real8551]

Booooooooooooooooo with that useless , tirade and typical response. No one got pass the first angry five words

[@sistahb5159]

F LD Thank you for your very real and insightful comments. It's truly amazing that the movie industry loves American Descendant of Slavery (ADOS) stories WITHOUT ADOS - as though we do not know, do not understand, and cannot portray our own struggles. This has become the norm to the point that ADOS actors are shut out. And yes, Hall is not Black and passing, but a White woman with Black ancestry.

[@gratefuldead3750]

@@sistahb5159 there are so many Afro-American producers, music etc. Why Noone wants to make such movies

[@sheritamitchell1036]

I am only at 15:00 of this interview and I am so exasperated with the lack of skill shown by the interviewer. She seems to be having a really hard time with the subject and talks more than she asks. I will view the film as this subject is of interest to me.

[@MVAAFF]

ok, you're entitled to your opinion...namaste'.

[@barbarahourigan8462]

❤️❤️

[@MVAAFF]

:)

[@werqzeleke2815]

I see a mixed race woman not a white woman

[@ShyRonnie13]

That's maybe that black people can catch this more easily. I also think she's giving Maghan Markles.

[@gratefuldead3750]

@@ShyRonnie13 Like sopia Loren or Gina lollobrigida.

[@Caughtuoncamera]

If you can pass you would, because life was easier being white then.

[@shauntikayvette]

The moderator asked why this white woman is making the film: So she doesn’t have the black experience but she does have black heritage. I wonder if she has processed that yet? If her grandfather was black she’s 1/4 black and would be a quadrone back in America.

[@Earthomo]

Oh please! That would make her black in America! Incorrectly so.

[@shauntikayvette]

@@Earthomo This is the reality of race and racial stigma in America. Our laws dictated who was black and by those standards she would be a passer here which is probably why her mother left Detroit (which is my hometown).

[@lscott4092]

OK, HER MIC WAS CUT B/C THEY DIDN'T WANT PPL. TO HEAR HER ANSWER; SHE PICKED BACK UP WITH A DIFFERENT ANSWER WHEN SGE GOT ANOTHER MIC.

[@steelethescene]

I loved this film - except the end, still trying to reconcile that.

[@TriniCrew]

i knew she was not American long before she spoke

[@lanafalana]

Ok, so the first thing that hit me in this clip was the interviewer statment, "I guess they have us far enough apart that we don’t have to worry about wearing a mask." Is that how she wants to live her life “masked “ up; literal and physical? I don’t get it but it’s kind of ironic considering the subject. Then her assumption about someone she didn’t have a clue about hence her saying Rebecca wasn’t qualified to direct the picture because of her prejudice about her being “white “. She brought her prejudice to the table as an interviewer and that’s what a lot of people do in life. They think they know people and they’ve never taken the time to look closer at a persons life to see them on a human level. Instead its based on their on feelings and prejudice towards people. Take the mask off lady and maybe the blinders will fall off as well. We don’t get to choose our parents and having people try to put you in a box or category is uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable because it seems people are trying to make Rebecca be something to fit their narrative. She has a story but it isn’t my story. However, it doesn’t hinder others from being able to emphasize and understand it although they didn’t live said life. That is not about a person whiteness or blackness; it’s about their humanness. Besides the world isn’t just black and white but that is another conversation.

[@thenewyorkcitizen]

The most famous American who was passing was J. Edgar Hoover. Most people do not even know that. Look it up.

[@LanceCorporalKitty]

Absolutely awful interviewer, I feel like she should have had her questions written down and just read from the cards, good grief!

[@iamthesolitarymaninblack]

The rightwingers/white supremacists will be triggered by the film.

[@k.t.6497]

Why focus on directing but not the movie..poor quality questions

[@sonyaburton649]

I have a question...why is this important? Just asking....i dont think has any importance at all....i believe blk ppl has more to do and/or accomplish then to worry about ppl passing. Its an under study....there nothing to understand. Megan marco, primary passed but England reminder her whom and which her birth mother is a blk woman. Why does this matter? You choose who you want to be....period. this should not hold so much importance because someone choose to be someone else. I can careless if you claim or not claim but the truth always comes out.

[@forensicaccountant259]

It is important because it often resulted in the breaking of familial bonds, which is tragic. Imagine loving someone as a young person, a favorite aunt or uncle who seems to disappear into thin air, only to hear that they left you and your family in an attempt to live a better life and associating with you would "blow their cover." The true richness of million of families has been diminished by racism and the very real phenomenon of passing is a by-product.

[@darnabedwell2115]

I absolutely agree that this is an unworthy topic to dwell on. As a mixed person, it's nobody's business how I choose to identify myself. The word "passing" turns my stomach because it represents an evil persecution of bi-racial people. It's a "shame game tactic" to obstruct them from their God given pursuit to happiness. There is no truth to come out. If I am born of mixed parentage I can be whoever I want to be. And I don't give a damn what anyone thinks. By the way Megan Markle was not passing. She never denied being mixed. She did not have to play some "passing" game to get her Prince. She is more anti-social with her white father and siblings than her mother. Her mother was at the wedding, remember. But that is not a story that I am trying to champion. Just to clarify that she has not played the "passing" game.

[@forensicaccountant259]

@@darnabedwell2115 If it means disassociation for no other reason than "convenience"-real or perceived, then I have to disagree with that. It's no more acceptable than a man walking away from his family because being a husband and father is just too hard.

[@getitgirl60]

Eventually they all get their N word wake up call...just ask Meghan Markel and thats why its important to know your history, if Meghan wasn't raised by her black mother she would have passed as well.

[@kkw-pal1178]

The actresses didn't really look like passers to me.

[@czrfg2]

You do realize you're black. I I heard you say that you wanted to say to your mother you do know you're. Black. So. Are you passing

[@charissaluke9348]

She definitely looks mixed or having “something” in her blood.

[@purplelove3666]

She is not black.her dad is white and her mom is mixed

[@charissaluke9348]

@@purplelove3666 Literacy is sooo important don’t you agree?

[@gratefuldead3750]

She looks like Keira Knightley. Liz Taylor looks more mixed

[@normanhirschfeld3823]

This woman is not black. Nor was her mixed race mother..

[@ninasimone1207]

Agreed, its a lie that blk men tell themselves after producing mixed kids ,in calling them blk.when in reality their one generation from white.

[@corrieclaiborne]

Rebecca Hall’s mother was definitely black and could not pass anywhere in America. When do you become black, at what percentage? Most people in America are some mixture of something. I cannot find a white person in my family for 5 generations and a DNA test tells me I’m still 25% European.

[@normanhirschfeld3823]

@@corrieclaiborne It's hard to draw a line of course, but have you even seen photos of her mother( Maria Ewing)? She had extremely pale skin, lighter than many Europeans in fact. And I found a site that listed her father as "mulatto" and her mother as Dutch(white), making her 25 percent black at the most! It's not easy to draw the line but it's easy to determine that at least people like Ewing don't belong in the "black" category. Just because she couldn't pass for white doesn't mean that she looks black. Her only African feature was her nose. How can she be called black when there are literally millions of white Europeans with darker skin? Even up north you can find darker skinned people. Personally I'm 89 percent west African( found out through DNA testing) and when I traveled there and walked the streets I was never once taken for a foreigner unless I spoke. Maria Ewing however would stick out like a sore thumb! Sorry, she's just not black!

[@jenisejackson5408]

@@normanhirschfeld3823. This is why the concept of race is ridiculous. Race is a social construct, the fact there is a debate on "the percentage" of what makes one black is absolutely insane, and keeps us divided. That is the ultimate goal of WS.

[@normanhirschfeld3823]

@@jenisejackson5408 50/50 black/white people are considered biracial, and you're telling me that Maria Ewing who's 25 percent at most is black? No, I'm not saying that this is some mega important topic. I just find it odd that people who are more European than African are lumped together with those of us who are actually pure or close to pure. And I couldn't care less what you think about it 👍

[@simonehardy4668]

So now she can make money exploitng a side of her "history" that she can bring to the forefront. I already saw Pinky and Imitation of Life. I'll pass on Passing. Smgdmfh

[@jx14aby]

It was an interesting movie.

[@wrnr_mn]

Guess she's "passing" as black now

[@lscott4092]

THER IS NOTHING BLACK ABOUT THIS WOMAN

[@moss320m]

Actually there is, her mother. Americans are so confused about DNA, GENETICS and race.

[@TheMusicmakesmehigh]

I think the interviewer wanted to ask about her family from the beginning but didn’t know how. I’m not sure if Rebecca Hall made the film Passing before or after learning about her Mother’s ethnicity

[@jsbrules]

made film after she knew but before she knew WHO her ancestors were; Hall explains about that. that’s the reason she was interested in the book