Critics and audiences are raving about A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One starring Teyana Taylor. The film opened at number 7 at the U.S. Box office over the weekend, raking in $1.8 million in its opening weekend – a big success for an independent drama about the strength of motherhood against the gritty unforgiving backdrop of Harlem in the mid-90’s.
Whereas most writer/directors who base their stories on and around life in NYC frame it as a love letter of sorts to the grit and beauty of a city romanticized as a hub of melding cultures and endless possibility, Rockwell wrote hers as a sort of heartbreak letter for the vibrant place she grew up in that has made it clear it no longer holds any space for our communities.
“I knew that I wanted to tell a story that was going to be about my coming of age in New York City, and kind of a farewell to what that era was. But I think that what really compelled me to tell this story so urgently was seeing firsthand the impact of gentrification on the Black communities of New York City,” Rockwell says.
“No matter where I was, I felt like I was getting the same experience. And it felt like we were being targeted, and our communities were being erased from the city altogether,” the director explains. “How does it feel to know that I loved this city so much, but it never loved us, essentially?”
With that said, the writer/director knows that some walking into the film will have the assumption that her Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning film is just another “struggle movie” about Black people from underserved communities fighting obstacles at every turn.
“I mean, they’re certainly in for a treat,” Rockwell says of people going into the film thinking they have it all pegged. “I think that this movie has tons of surprises in it, and it takes people on a full emotional ride, and there’s so much to gain from seeing the movie.”
“I think it’s truthful in the ways that you do see the challenges that we face in our community and every new thing that’s thrown at us. Because it’s a story about a family versus a city, and we see how they rise above all those things. But you see the force of nature in us, especially the Black community in particular – especially Black women.”
“In the bedrock of it, is something that acknowledges something we don’t talk about enough as a community, which is our generational triumph,” Rockwell says, noting that the family at the center of the tale come through the hardships of the crack epidemic of the 80’s and the situations it thrust them into – foster care, houselessness, the penal system – and manage to build a more traditional life with greater possibilities.
For Rockwell, it’s a testament to the talent of her cast, made mostly of relative unknowns and actors new to such heavy, dramatic material.
“I think it’s a challenge casting any movie, but particularly in the pandemic,” she says, noting the timing of filming. “We just had to really just hunt, and hunt, and hunt for people. I was so grateful that we did find the gems of people that we did.”
“Our cast is a balance of people that are well-established and have done many things, like Will Catlett. But then you have people that are beginners and first-timers, that just haven’t really gotten that shot to shine. So I’m really proud of everyone, obviously. And Teyana, she just delivered such a stunning, incredible performance. I’m so proud of her, and I’m so proud of what this moment means for her and for all our actors.”
A Thousand and One is now in theaters everywhere.