By Natasha T. Brown
Slow motions-quick dramatics-occasional trauma-a dose of darkness and always interesting.
The work of Filmmaker Tanecia Britt, known by most as “T. Britt” can be accurately described as all of these things – but this 27-year-old creative is starring in her own unscripted, not-yet-completed feature film, and it’s an interesting one.
“I’m lively, zealous, and very brief,” she chuckled. And oftentimes, so is her work.
Britt is the founder of the DMV International Film Festival (DMVIFF), created in 2009. She made her first feature film in 2003, has worked as an independent artist for years and is now a visionary bringing to life many stories that could otherwise go untold. The foundation of Britt’s talent sits in the neo-artsy Washington suburb of Hyattsville, Maryland, spanned across the globe to London, England, was cultivated at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, and now reaches audiences globally through her work as the curator of the DMVIFF, and director of movies, music videos, and a new web series’, the Life Diet, that account for her most cherished loves.
The unscripted life of this filmmaker has various characters, plots and lots of creativity. She might wake up in the DMV, and end up in Delaware or New York City by the end of the night for a last-minute production gig.
“My passion for wanting to be a filmmaker came out in the ‘80s, because my mother use to watch The Color Purple, repetitively, and so I always wanted to create what I saw on television and my own stories,” Britt explained. In 2011, “The first time I ever got a script option, (by Casting Director Winsome Sinclair), who casted Belly, (Waiting to Exhale, Malcolm X, etc.) and most of Spike Lee’s films was one of my best moments, and the first time that someone had actually sent over contracts, and paid for my work.”
“When that happened, being at the top of my class wasn’t good enough (anymore)…. Because I still had to do a lot of rewrites (to the script) and I realized that I was not so hot. I had enough talent to get in the door, but I’d still have to do a lot of more work. It was kinda like adjusting to my expectations, which were being raised. I had to hit my head a lot of times for my ego to be humbled, and chill out… to be honest.”
Britt studied communications at Johnson C. Smith and created her first film, A Hustler’s Diary, in 2003. It was shot on campus and the plot told the story of a young urbanite who had to sell drugs to pay his college tuition. From Hustler’s Diary, to the London-based film School Without WaLLs, one can tell that Britt has a knack for bringing stories to the big screen, and the proven ambition to make her dreams happen.
“London was the best experience of my life. It solidified that I was going to do this for the rest of my life, because I sacrificed a lot to make that film,” she said.
“I went out there with a goal to make a feature film, and I realized that going to school was the best way to do it. I met some of the best people, who made me who I am today. If I didn’t go to school in London, I don’t think I would’ve been able to do what I’m doing – period,” she said. Her master’s degree is in Film, Video and New Screen Media from the University of East London.
School Without Walls is set in an urban London neighborhood. The opening scene shadows a teenage male down a street and into an alley, being followed by two police officers. Less than two minutes into the film, the character is demanded to, “Turn around, put your hands on your head! Put your hands on your head! Put your hands on your head!” The screen suddenly goes black, gunshots fire, blood splatters on concrete, women scream, a crowd of onlookers and the police officer stand in shock. One of the officers checks the guy’s pulse, but he’s dead. The plot thickens from there with character conflicts and an unfortunate turn of events, as six students find themselves locked inside of the School Without Walls, with various issues, far less complex than the turmoil outside of the school.
The 50 some odd-minute film was certainly a winning effort by the young filmmaker.
She explained, “I want to be that American filmmaker, in foreign countries shooting films.”
Since her first few films, Britt said that her work has become more disciplined, and the eagerness of wanting to tell compelling stories has gone away. She takes her time and has fell in deep love with the theory of film.
“I realize it’s a marathon and not a race. I pace myself more now,” she said. “Now I know the theory around filmmaking, and I know I can be a professor of film and be happy forever in life [if I wanted to].”
On being in her creative zone…
She said, “I feel serene, ‘yo’. I feel like I’m lying in a field on a hot summer’s day, with warm raindrops falling on my forehead. I feel untouchable, like I’m creating the inevitable. I’m creating something that will be archived way beyond my years. I feel like when I shoot, I will never die – immortality.”
Tanecia Britt plans to widen her portfolio in the advertising realm and to open a major film and production studio later in life. Get in touch with her on Twitter @TaneciaBritt, Youtube, and watch School Without Walls, here.
Natasha Brown is a writer and founding communications strategist of Think Brown INK, a creative think tank and strategic communications agency in the Washington area. Follow her on Twitter @TBINatasha or @ThinkBrownINK.