Dee Rees initially wrote Pariah as a feature script to work through her own coming-out process. Hailing from Nashville, she’d been living in New York and wrote the script during lunch breaks while interning on Spike Lee’s Inside Man. She shot a short version as her thesis project for NYU’s graduate film program, which did very well on the festival circuit. Rees was later invited to participate in both the Screenwriter’s and Director’s labs at Sundance where she work-shopped the script and began the plans to shoot the feature. Next up for Rees is a thriller called Bolo and a scripted series for HBO. We’re looking forward to more amazing work from this talented artist!

Maori: How did you come up with the title for the film?

Dee: Each of the main characters is a “pariah.” They all have their fears, desires, strengths and weaknesses, and isolations. One thing I worked on in the writing was showing the characters’ struggles to connect, and their worlds away from their families – where there are attitudes and expectations that they might not know how to handle.

Maori: Is the protagonist Alike’s story at all in line with your own coming-out story?
 

Dee: It’s semi-autobiographical. As I was coming into my sexuality, I started to become comfortable with who I was. But I didn’t know how to express that. Alike struggles in the same way. It seemed like you had to check a box—butch or femme. And I’m neither one of those things. I finally came to the conclusion that I don’t have to put on any personae; I can just continue to be who I am. And that’s what Alike comes to realize in her journey.

Maori: How different is Alike than a 17-year-old Dee?

Dee: Alike knows who she is. She’s assured about her sexuality even though she doesn’t know how to consummate it. She has this friend that is pulling her in one direction and her mother in another, and she’s caught in a tug-of-war and comes to realize that ultimately she can be who she is on her own. We are similar in that I liked poetry and was always a writer. As Alike discovers herself as a woman she also discovers herself as an artist, which I relate to.

Maori: Why did you decide to set the film in Brooklyn versus where you grew up in Nashville?
 

Dee: I set in it Brooklyn because I’d seen out and proud teenagers who were unafraid to be themselves, whereas I came out at 27 and struggled. Brooklyn provided a world where these girls could be themselves. This isn’t a story that could be set in the South. These clubs wouldn’t have existed.

Maori: Have your parents seen the film? What do they think?
 

Dee: They saw it in New York a month ago and their reaction was amazing. They told me they were proud of me and that they loved me. I hope that other people’s parents see the film. When I first came out to my parents they weren’t very accepting, and for them to now accept me and see this film—I never thought I would change their minds.

Maori: You earned a graduate business degree before going to film school—do you have any words of advice for folks who maybe think it’s too late to follow their dreams?
 

Dee: I got an MBA because I didn’t think it would be practical for me to be a writer, and I did what was expected of me. I thought I could write on the side. In my career, I wasn’t doing the creative things that I wanted to do. I wasn’t happy. Once I went to film school I was happy. I was fulfilled. Life is too short to not do what you were meant to do. I think that to the extent that you can, you have to make what you live for what you do. It’s never too late to start.

Maori: What’s your opinion regarding comparisons of Pariah to Precious?

Dee: I don’t really have an opinion. I think the films are compared because they are black films. But they are completely different experiences. Both stories are needed. They provide different voices and opinions. Mainstream films don’t get compared to each other. They are individual pieces of art. We should let both of these films exist on their own merits.

 

Maori: A lot of people are saying that you’ve made one of the most important films for LGBTQ folks of color—at least in this century—how does that feel? What kind of films do you want to be known for?

Dee: We just wanted to tell a story that meant something and would touch people. It feels good that it feels authentic and affirming and that it has been embraced by the community and outside of the community. I want to be known as a filmmaker that tells stories we don’t always see and that are interesting. I want to create stories that live in people’s minds and inspire them to look at themselves differently.

Maori: What do you hope Pariah accomplishes overall?

Dee: I think questioning and affirming your identity is a universal theme, and I hope that Pariah changes people’s minds and helps them to know that it is okay to be themselves no matter where you are coming from. There doesn’t have to be a binary presentation of gender. It is okay to not succumb to peer pressure. It is okay not to check any box and instead exist somewhere on the spectrum. I hope that the film causes some healing within families that are broken and that it heals hearts.

Pariah is now in theaters! Check it out here:

Landmark Theatres

Ritz at the Bourse

400 Ranstead Street

Philadelphia, PA 19106