2008 Woodie Awards
"Hollywood" comes back to Prairie View campus
Alumna premieres first movie Thursday, Nov. 10
Alanna Jones
Issue date: 11/9/05 Section: Arts and Entertainment
Robinson's advisor at the time knew the Byrd incident could not be ignored and told her to take a school camera from the radio, TV, and film department at PV and go to Jasper and film everything she could. The advisor encouraged Robinson to take on this project because she knew that Robinson would be able to capture another side of the story that other affiliates wouldn't be able to. Robinson took the advice and began her journey into something she knew nothing about.
Still enrolled at PV, Robinson stepped foot on territory that she thought she would never see in real life, but only in books that her mother made her read as a child: "It's like the stories in the books I read were coming into fruition. I sat on my front porch and watched the Ku Klux Klan walk up and down my street. I had the Black Panther Party, Al Sharpton, and Jesse Jackson sitting at my breakfast table. It was unreal."
Robinson filmed and interviewed as many people as she could, and upon graduation from PV in December 1999, she kept the footage but decided to work for the Houston Independent School District. After two years of teaching, she continued to have an itch for filmmaking, and says, "I was destined to make films." She decided to attend Howard University's filmmaking school to live out her dreams.
Robinson knew that she had to do something with all the footage she captured in Jasper, therefore, she made the assignment the topic for her thesis as a requirement to graduate from film school this fall in December.
Although Byrd's death has been the topic of an HBO special series program, Robinson knew that she would be able to tell another side of the story: "My grandfather, R.C. Horn, was elected as the first black mayor of Jasper in 1997. What would make my story different is that I could film from the inside looking out, and I am able to relive moments when the media, the KKK, and the Black Panther infiltrated my town."
On The Inside Looking Out has been constructed with 14 interviews by Robinson asking what are the feelings these people have about Jasper now, and also to give a voice to Jasper and dispel the myths that media have placed on this small Texas town: "The voice of this film will speak to everyone and show that every town has a meaning. Racism is everywhere and this could have happened to anybody. If it wasn't James Byrd, it could have been me. If it wasn't Jasper, it could have been PV."
Still enrolled at PV, Robinson stepped foot on territory that she thought she would never see in real life, but only in books that her mother made her read as a child: "It's like the stories in the books I read were coming into fruition. I sat on my front porch and watched the Ku Klux Klan walk up and down my street. I had the Black Panther Party, Al Sharpton, and Jesse Jackson sitting at my breakfast table. It was unreal."
Robinson filmed and interviewed as many people as she could, and upon graduation from PV in December 1999, she kept the footage but decided to work for the Houston Independent School District. After two years of teaching, she continued to have an itch for filmmaking, and says, "I was destined to make films." She decided to attend Howard University's filmmaking school to live out her dreams.
Robinson knew that she had to do something with all the footage she captured in Jasper, therefore, she made the assignment the topic for her thesis as a requirement to graduate from film school this fall in December.
Although Byrd's death has been the topic of an HBO special series program, Robinson knew that she would be able to tell another side of the story: "My grandfather, R.C. Horn, was elected as the first black mayor of Jasper in 1997. What would make my story different is that I could film from the inside looking out, and I am able to relive moments when the media, the KKK, and the Black Panther infiltrated my town."
On The Inside Looking Out has been constructed with 14 interviews by Robinson asking what are the feelings these people have about Jasper now, and also to give a voice to Jasper and dispel the myths that media have placed on this small Texas town: "The voice of this film will speak to everyone and show that every town has a meaning. Racism is everywhere and this could have happened to anybody. If it wasn't James Byrd, it could have been me. If it wasn't Jasper, it could have been PV."
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