Pepperdine University celebrated Black History Month by screening the film “Something the Lord Made” on Thursday Feb. 3. The director of this Emmy-winning movie Joseph Sargent was recently named the first Distinguished Filmmaker-in-Residence at Pepperdine. The Office of Intercultural Affairs and The Center for Entertainment Media and Culture (EMC) sponsored the event.
Joseph Sargent is most known for such memorable movies as “MacArthur Nightmares Jaws: The Revenge” and “The Taking of Pelham 123.” He started his entertainment career as an actor in small Broadway roles; however he was fascinated with directing and screenwriting opportunities and got involved in television shows and movies such as “Tribes” and “Maybe I‘ll Come Home in the Spring.” During his career Sargent won four Emmy awards and recently became a Senior Filmmaker-in-Residence at the American Film Institute.
One of Sargent’s most recent movies is “Something The Lord Made” with Alan Rickman and Mos Def. The film won three Emmy Awards and a number of other prizes.
“The script for ‘Something the Lord Made’ was sent to me by HBO my favorite producing entity and a premium channel that truly deserves the mantra ‘It’s not TV it’s HBO'” Sargent said. “The producers dedicate relatively larger budgets to their films and the projects usually contain content that is meaningful substantive and exciting. I was instantly drawn to the richness of this script because of the gripping medical giant step that Albert Blalock (Alan Rickman) took in tandem with the enormous challenges that confronted Vivien Thomas (Mos Def) as a brilliant African-American lab assistant in Jim Crow America.
“Working with actors like Alan Rickman and Mos Def made my job easy but also fraught with the usual problems and challenges that come with coordinating the various craft backgrounds and cultural differences that exist between British and American actors Sargent shared. In our rehearsals I was able to achieve a firm foundation of interplaying between Alan and Mos as well as the rest of the cast. Rehearsals sometimes can make the difference between disaster and success.”
Sargent is currently working on the idea of an independent film about the revolt of a tribe in New Mexico against the conquistadors of Spain.
“It’s an exciting piece of history that’s planned to be shot in the actual location. Also as a former documentarian I’m excited about several documentaries that I’ve been asked to consider Sargent said. However my present excitement is looking forward in concert with our dedicated faculty to helping in the development of the state-of-the-art filmmaking potential that exists here at the core of Pepperdine.”
Sargent served as a judge in last month’s REELSTORIES Film Festival. As Filmmaker-in-Residence he will be mentoring senior film students on thesis projects as well as judging various film and music festivals. He is also expected to be authoritative arbiter at Songfest 2011.
“I look forward to encouraging each of the filmmaking disciplines as well as the theatre department to develop a blending of their talents in a full expression of what we really mean when we say ‘Making a film is a collaborative art'” Sargent said. “Writers actors and ultimately producers share each other’s creative challenge problems and craft contribution which is what truly emerges as the final cut of a complete film.”
The master class sessions will be known as “The Big Picture” and there will be an initial preamble at the Raitt Recital Hall with the Theater Department on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
“As a Telecommunication major I am very excited to see Sargent as a senior advisor senior Mathew Robinson said. Pepperdine’s film culture has really risen just in the few years I’ve been here; I believe if [the University] continues on this path one day Pepperdine will be a place filmmakers flock to much like USC and UCLA.”
Associate Professor of Communication Craig Detweiler expressed excitement about Sargent’s move to campus “The real beauty of the decision to have him as a senior advisor on campus is that Sargent has great experience in films acting and music. He will be involved both artistically and relationally.”
“We are very lucky to have him at Pepperdine.”