Dein erstes Forum » beautiful to see.espnW: Playing chess changed

In October, espnWs weekly essay series will focus on heroes.A runner knows her city: Block by block, she knows where the uptick of a curb tricks her feet, where the slow, mean slope of a final hill can make her lungs heavy.This is how I learned Memphis. Late summer mornings, I ran through our gated neighborhood down a narrow road lined on one side by chain-link and on the other by extraordinary hydrangeas peering atop high, solid wood fences. I traveled patiently, alone, to the crosswalk at the intersection of Poplar and Lafayette, then crossed to a long lawn of yellow grass and the track at East High, a monolith public school I have never set foot in. I looped circle after circle around the black kids playing football, practicing marching band, then weaved my way back through the high fences to home.That was 15 years ago.I learned to run in heat. Salt streaked down our foreheads, we met at closing bell, a row of us girls on a row of houses, feet tottering on the curb. We started with a 2-miler. Our careful line of small, white girls moved in steady puffing breaths down the city blocks. The adults gave us maps, small laminated things that could be held in our hands while we ran, winding the almost-suburbs of east Memphis, continuous loops around our beautiful school, its Bible Belt spiritualism.We could hold it ourselves, our pathway through a city they told us at any wrong turn could be dark. Black.The way we lived in Memphis was on purpose. A white life, something evangelical and wonderful for us -- it is daily decided on. We liked our class differences right between our fingers: in our clothing, our food, our cars, our houses, our booze. New money brought a new God, and year by year we were cleaner and brighter.The woman who taught us French was brought up in Memphis by a mother from New Orleans. White, working-class Catholic Memphians, a small but stalwart clan, their stony churches and thronging, imperfect gardens. Her name was Nanette.In the fall of 2002, Memphis opened its first half-marathon, and Nanette took it upon herself to lead a group of us. For the first time, we had to leave the knot of well-kept residential lanes around our campus for some real distance. We ran through the Tennessee wilderness outside of town at Shelby Farms. We ran through midtown, red and gold leaves making slick the cypress-covered paths of Overton Park. Through downtown, its empty blocks and dead neon signs, crossing Beale Street to where the city opens into the delta, the Mississippi brown and endless, our horizon.After that first race, Nanette and I went on to do New Orleans, this time without the army of girls accompanying us. With my Northern parents and my godlessness, I was no ones favorite in those years. Except hers. Nanette taught me to love these Souths, her homes, this brassy, sturdy woman who ran through, with me by her side. Nanette taught me how to use my body to love a city, to find home by the unfailing rhythm of feet on ground.In the fall of 2005 when we found out she had cancer, the letters came in enormous drifts. When I left school in the afternoons to see her, first at the hospital and then at home, fresh piles came in daily, students from decades past, younger students who hoped to get into her class in the years to come, neighbors, churchgoers, acquaintances.When we buried her one February morning, her South and her God were never more evident. Her priest swung his incense down the stone cathedral aisle, its waft something old. After decades of teaching us and praying to the bright white vaults of our Protestant haven, this time we came to her, droves of us in our pressed clothing, soft hair falling right. Girls she taught. Girls she led on runs.In the days and months that followed her death, my mailboxes too filled up. High, threatening piles of unread emails, card stock I left scattered on the shelves of the East Los Angeles apartment I never cleaned. I opened none of them, turned over no postcards. I was afraid to see the words of prayer of the women I grew up with, ran with. The sadness and the God that belonged to them did not belong to me. The sharp scent of citrus and rind came through my second-story porch windows, my overgrown lemon tree crawling upward through that spring, summer, and then the next fall.I waited 12 years to run the Memphis St. Jude Half Marathon again. This time, I did it with my mother. The faces of my high school classmates and teachers passed by me in uncanny blurs. This marathon was high-tech, massive in scale, a beautiful winding way through Memphis old residential gardens and its rapidly gentrifying downtown blocks. Well-designed, pressure-washed sidewalks and clever storefronts dislodge me from what I knew of that place.When I dont sleep, I conjecture about the somewhere else, as being a child down there taught me to do. What might have happened if it hadnt been that school, that life. That river, that town. Would she have died, and young? Would she have had those years of illness? Moll, she would often say, my oily cafeteria lunch in front of me, her empty classroom, the sounds of girls drifting along the walkway outside. Dont be in the business of comparing one life to another. She twirled in her desk chair, an old, mashed pillow underneath her. No one ever wins.Today on the day that I am writing this and some other day when you are reading this, a woman will run in Memphis. I do not know her. I do not know where she goes, where shes running to. Custom NCAA Jerseys . 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Her next project, Disneys Queen of Katwe,?which premieres nationwide on Sept. 23, has already garnered hashtag-worthy acclaim. Much of Nairs success can be credited to her approach to producing a Hollywood hit.The rule of engagement is simple: Be authentic. Whether shes discussing a former or current project, the movie vet uses the word authentic quite frequently. Why? Maybe its because the India-born and Harvard-educated director gets that showcasing a communitys truth is more powerful than appropriating it.For example, in Katwe, the real-life story of Ugandan chess phenom Phiona Mutesi, Nair not only shot on location in the main characters actual hometown, she also hired locals from the neighborhood, even Mutesis former team members and coach, to ensure ... you guessed it, authenticity. According to Nair, veracity is something audiences can feel and that, ultimately, the box office respects.Here, the celebrated artist talks to espnW about making films the Nair way and more.espnW: Women, especially women of color, are often overlooked for leadership roles in Hollywood. How did you go about bucking the status quo??Nair:?For me it is about confidence. You have to convince people that you have something to say and the talent and skill to be able to say it. I practice great humility with what I dont know. However, Im very confident with what I?do?know. It is important to be mentored and to be a mentor. In order for women to get over the shocking inequities in Hollywood and elsewhere, we have to organize, because there is strength in numbers. Vocalizing and reminding people that women are not just to be looked after; we bring an enormous commerciality to the table.espnW: You were confident enough to stand up and advocate for the film to be made in Phiona Mutesis hometown of Kampala, Uganda. Why?Nair: Authenticity has always been my treasure from the beginning -- and Ive been making movies for 30 years. I think cinema should capture truth. In this film, we shot it in the real streets, the real church where Robert Katende [Mutesis chess coach] taught. The community is a character in the film. The entire community came out for filming. You cant duplicate that level of embrace.espnW: You also have a personal relationship with the city of Kampala. Please explain.?Nair: Ive lived in Kampala for the last 27 years, and it is really my home. I have always wanted to tell the story of the citys people and where I live. Its easy to see the paucity of Africa from [publicized] images. Any depictions of the continent are always negative ones -- images of despair, suffering or dictatorships. Nothing resembles the everyday joy and dignity of the continent. So when I was offered the story of Phiona Mutesi, which is a remarkable [narrative] of an incredible girl who dared to have a dream, I had to work on it. Overall, she had the support of her mother, the rest of her family and a village that wanted her to reach her full potential. It was a beautiful thing to do. Theres a fantastic spirit of what I call?embracing life. I wanted to pay tribute to the spirit of not having self-pity, or waiting for a savior from the outside to come and raise you up, but doing it from within.espnW: Authenticity came with a price. You had to set up a boot camp to train local actors. What are some of the challenges that accompany your approach?Nair: Ive done this in all of my films, from Salaam Bombay! to Mississippi Masala. There was no question of me castting the Pioneers, a real-life chess team that lives in Katwe -- which is a community within Kampala.dddddddddddd. The children had a real grace and a sense of mischief that they brought to their performances because this is their home. They taught me how to be. There are essentially 90 roles in the film, and everyone cast is from Uganda except our two Hollywood stars, David Oyelowo [as Katende] and Lupita Nyongo [as Mutesis mother, Nakku Harriet], and they are also from the continent. They also bring a greater gravitas and truth to the project.?espnW:?Madina Nalwanga, the young woman who plays the lead role, was an unknown. You must have seen hundreds of girls for this part. What made you cast her?Nair: Choosing my Phiona was the most challenging of all. I think I must have looked for over six months and saw more than 700 young girls, most Ugandan. I knew that we would find her in Uganda, but the real issue was that on this young set of shoulders the whole movie would ride. So I had to fall in love with this young woman. I trust my own instincts with casting. Six months into [prepping for the film], my casting director was led to this dance company near Katwe and filmed this young girl, Madina, during dance rehearsal. They came and showed me her image and I kind of internally rolled my eyes -- another girl -- but I was riveted by her look, vitality and the luminosity in her. Madina had a very similar life to Phiona. She also sold corn for a living. She also lived with several siblings. She also followed a neighbor one day, like Phiona, that took her to dance academy in the neighborhood where she became a dancer at the age of 4. Then we met and it was a three-week testing process. We placed her in several scenes. We taught her chess.espnW: Speaking of chess, how did you teach the entire cast the game?Nair: We had only one expert on set, Robert Katende, who was Phiona Mutesis actual coach. He is the best teacher and consultant. Keep in mind these chess games were from actual matches Phiona played, so the moves had to be carefully recalibrated, taught and designed. Robert began to teach chess to the kids acting as the Pioneers four to five weeks before the shooting began. There were also several original Pioneers who were acting in the film. There was a strong sense of stewardship, and the kids got into it so much. When I would say cut, the kids would keep playing! Continuity was a big challenge because Id have to actually beg them to stop playing. The game really harnesses the mind. The kids became so focused. It was beautiful to see.espnW: Playing chess changed the entire trajectory of Phiona Mutesis life. What do you want people to get out of the film? Nair: I want you to be transported into a world that might have been far away, but when you enter it and see her family and teacher, you understand that genius is everywhere; it just has to be nourished. I want to inspire. I want to make people believe that dreams are possible and can be achieved regardless of how little you have. And I want to bring a portrait of a specific place on the large continent called Africa, which we never see everyday life in or folks achieving extraordinary dreams in the way we see in Queen of Katwe. Its full of music, style, vibrancy and real fun. In many ways, I shaped the story like the human heart, like an accordion, which expands and then squeezes, because that is what life is like.?S. Tia Brown is a pop culture journalist, licensed therapist and an avid believer in the power of Spanx. Follow her @tiabrowntalk ' ' '