When Baton Rouge native Van Lathan was raising money for his fledgling movie company’s first film last year, he wasn’t shy.
“I was telling people, ‘Hey, I’m telling you right now, if you get your company or your organization or group involved in this, you’re buying an Academy Award. If we can execute what’s on this page, we have a knockout, slam dunk idea,’” Lathan said.
Sunday night, the Oscar judges agreed. “Two Distant Strangers” won the Academy Award for live action short film.
Lathan, 41 and a McKinley High School graduate, was executive producer for the film about police violence against black men. Produced by Six Feet Over productions, “Two Distant Strangers” is available on Netflix.
Co-directed by Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe, the half-hour film depicts Carter, a black graphic artist played by rapper Joey Bada$$, who is caught in a “Groundhog Day”-like time loop where he tries to get home to take care of his dog but repeatedly is killed by a white police officer (played by Andrew Howard). He tries everything he can do change the ending, but can’t.
The film, which its directors say is about the inevitability of racially motivated police violence, was inspired in part by the death of George Floyd while being arrested by Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin. Its Oscar was presented just days after a Minnesota jury convicted Chauvin of murder.
The issue is not an academic one for Lathan, who said he was once handcuffed by police while doing homework in his driveway because he fit the description of a suspect.
“I’m a black man from south Baton Rouge, Louisiana,” Lathan said. “Systemic racism, oppression, inequality, I understand it in an intimate way from my father’s family from Maringouin to my mother’s family growing up in The Bottom. It’s different ways, but we’re speaking the same language as far as what it means to be black in America.”
Lathan’s believe in the film also was tangible. He and Free both invested their own money, and in addition to providing creative input, Lathan sought investors. The most notable one he brought on board was rap impresario Sean Combs. Lathan also credits comedienne Amy Schumer with helping the production company connect with the Tribeca Film Festival and boosting interest in “Two Distant Strangers.”
Lathan formerly worked with the celebrity show “TMZ.” He is best known for confronting Kayne West during an interview in which West suggested that blacks being enslaved for 400 years reflected “a choice.”
Lathan said he was encouraged by the extremely diverse group of people who came together to film, produce and promote the film. He wants viewers to understand the trauma black Americans feel from repeated examples of violence at the hands of police.
“It’s asking the question if you see somebody going through this loop every single day who just wants to get home to their dog, the question then becomes as an American community and society, how much do you care whether or not one of your fellow Americans gets home?” Lathan said. “And, if you do care, what are you willing to do to help.
“At the end of the film, Carter says, ‘I’m going to get home to my dog.’ We are going to get home. We are going to fix it. We are going to figure it out. The question is who’s going to be part of building that society? Who’s going to be part of us moving forward?”
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