With 'The Photograph,' starring Issa Rae and Lakeith Stanfield, writer-director Stella Meghie hopes to usher in a renaissance for the black romantic drama, a genre that has been neglected onscreen since the '90s and early aughts.
, Meghie drew narrative inspiration from her own life after witnessing her grandmother reunite with a daughter she hadn’t seen in nearly 40 years.
“I was quite drawn to the story,” agreed Stanfield. “My desire was to get into the love genre but in a way that reflected my love and my past loves with black women. It’s nice to see cinema finally starting to catch up and it’s because people like Will Packer and Stella are taking a chance. It’s going to continue to take that for us to continue to blossom.”
That nuance and reliance on character development and story progression are why the director takes personal offense when romance and romantic movies are written off as being cheesy or cloying. “To really love someone you have to be open and allow them to possibly judge you,” said Meghie. “And if you’re not willing to show the worst parts of yourself you can’t be in love.”
Stanfield also managed to find commonality with his character’s experience as well as to the notion of passing down generational curses — or being the first person in the family to break them.
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