DeMane Davis (‘Queen Sugar’ director) on Black family drama’s legacy of ‘knowing that these stories are worthy’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
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“The longest [running] Black family drama on television leaves a legacy of knowing that these stories are worthy, knowing that there’s an audience for them,” declares producer/director DeMane Davis about the legacy that “Queen Sugar” will leave on the TV landscape. For our recent webchat she adds, “It’s not a show that has a lot of bells and whistles. It doesn’t need it because it has these faces. It has this skin. It has this hair and then it has these directors of photography,” she says, “who know how to light that skin, know how to get light into the eyes, so that you see the depths of someone and you see the layers. There’s nothing like this on television.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
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In “Queen Sugar,” three siblings in rural Louisiana (Rutina Wesley, Dawn-Lyen Gardner and Kofi Siriboe) inherit an 800-acre sugarcane farm in the aftermath of their father’s sudden death. Based on the novel by Natalie Baszile, the OWN original series was created by Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Ava DuVernay, with Emmy and Tony winner Oprah Winfrey serving as an executive producer.
Davis (a Black Reel Award nominee for her work on the show in 2019) returned to the “Queen Sugar” fold after DuVernay invited her back for the show’s final season. The director helmed episode 11 “We Can Be” (written by Karen Corneille & DuVernay) and episode 12 “Be and Be Better” (written by Eddie Serrano & Alan Morgan), the two episodes leading up to the series finale (helmed by DuVernay herself). Davis was thrilled to be invited back to the “Queen Sugar” family and reuniting with cast and crew. “I was honored that Ava requested that I come back. It was really full circle for me since I got my start directing for television through Ava on the second season of ‘Queen Sugar’ and then I was producing director on the third. So to be there with those people, to see those storylines all the woven together so beautifully, was incredible. I didn’t cry during filming but definitely once I watched the episodes and watching the finale live, I live tweeted it, I just wept,” she reveals. “It was palpable that it was the end of the show. Everyone was emotional. They were present. They were excited to do the work and a little melancholy, but I think the themes of the show all culminated so beautifully.”
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