Give Me the Backstory: Get to Know J.M. Harper, the Director of As We Speak

By Bailey Pennick

One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival is having a front-row seat for the bright future of independent filmmaking. While we can learn a lot about the filmmakers from the 2024 Sundance Film Festival through the art that these storytellers share with us, there's always more we can learn about them as people. This year, we decided to get to the bottom of those artistic wells with our ongoing series: Give Me the Backstory!

As We Speak, a film that premiered as part of the U.S. Documentary Competition section at this year's Sundance Film Festival, might be J.M. Harper's debut feature, but 2024 is far from his first foray into the world of Sundance.

I had the pleasure of editing Don't Go Tellin' Your Momma, a short documentary by directors Rubberband and Topaz Jones that won the Short Film Jury Award: Nonfiction at [the 2021 Sundance Film Festival], and jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy by Coodie and Chike, which premiered at [the 2022 Sundance Film Festival], the documentarian says when asked about his history with the Sundance Institute. Even with these two editing projects as part of the Festival's 40-year history, Harper knows that this one is special for him.

Both [of those] were pandemic years for the Festival, so this is my first Sundance in person and my first feature documentary as director. I wanted the film to premiere at a Festival that understood how important the issue is and how special Kemba is as a person. I'm thrilled and honored that the Sundance programmers felt the film worthy of this amazing platform.

This deep well of knowledge and appreciation for his subjects and his craft is par for the course for Harper, who dove straight into filmmaking after college when he was inspired: After graduating Princeton, I answered a Craigslist ad from a drug dealer to shoot an unpaid documentary about youth culture,' in West Africa, which introduced me to the world of Senegalese pirates and underground protest hip-hop. He covered my room and board, so I took the offer (without asking too many questions) and never stopped making documentaries after that.

Jump in with Harper to learn more about the process and inspiration behind As We Speak below.

LINK:	https://www.sundance.org/blogs/give-me-the-backstory-get-to-know-j-m-h...
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