ReelHeART International Film Festival (RHIFF)
June 16-21, 2008, Toronto Canada

THE STARTING POINT

A few years ago, I held my usual open house for Christmas.

I invited people from work, music, school and film. Black, White, Gay, Straight, Singles, Couples, Teachers, Students, Geeks and Artists, Males, Females.

I was always darting in and out of the kitchen and at one point a flood of women rushed in to see what I was cooking. It was a Frittata. None of the black women had heard of the dish. The white women thought it was an omelette. So, I gave each woman a different ingredient and had them pitch in and finish the dish themselves.

Then the guys came into the kitchen to see where all the girls went. Around that time I was taking a Latin Pork roast out of the oven. Around all that food and exotic aromas, the conversations became more open and provocative. The guys mainly listened while black and white females cooked and ‘dished’ with each other.

I took a few moments and stood aside to listen objectively to the conversation. I heard a lot of “Really, I didn’t know that”, “That’s not what I thought it was”, “That’s not what I heard growing up” and so on. I was surprized to hear what each of these women did NOT know about her sister of the ‘opposite color’.

I thought to myself, “If I’m curious, then there's gotta be a whole lot of women and men out there who are just as curious as I am! This is a film!"

That’s the starting point of The DIRTY DISH…