Melina Matsoukas Dedicates Her IndieWire Honors Award for ‘The Changeling’ to ‘Mothers Everywhere’

Wilson Chapman
·4 min read
Melina Matsoukas Dedicates Her IndieWire Honors Award for ‘The Changeling’ to ‘Mothers Everywhere’
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Melina Matsoukas has already produced a body of impressive work before she even made the jump to scripted fiction, via her Grammy-winning music video work for massive stars like Rihanna and Beyoncé. And 2019’s “Queen & Slim,” as well as her work on TV shows like “Insecure” and “Master of None,” affirmed her talents as a visual stylist. This year, on the pilot of Apple TV+ series “The Changeling,” Matsoukas applied her gifts to a completely new aim: making a fairy tale.

For her work on the series, Matsoukas received the Auteur Award from IndieWire Honors, alongside “The Changeling” creator Kelly Marcel. Matsoukas appeared at the Los Angeles ceremony to accept the award on her and Marcel’s behalf. Both women executive produce the series, which is adapted from the 2017 dark fantasy novel from Victor LaValle and focuses on the love story between Apollo (LaKeith Stanfield) and Emma (Clark Backo), two Black New Yorkers whose joy at bringing a child into the world turns into horror when Emma becomes convinced that the baby they brought home isn’t actually a baby at all. The series premiered on Apple TV+ in September to positive reviews, and is currently awaiting renewal for Season 2.

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In her speech, Matsoukas discussed the definition of auteur, pushing back against the idea that auteurs are singular figures, but instead framing an auteur as a leader.

“A lot of people think that auteurs are singular figures, that they create in a vacuum and all of their art is a product of their imagination and their imagination alone. I disagree with that notion,” Matsoukas said in her speech. “True auteurs are leaders and intentional collaborators. I would not have the career I have without the love, support, and collaboration of other auteurs I respect. When it comes to ‘The Changeling,’ it was truly the collaborative effort that made the series so powerful.”

Matsoukas went on to thank LaValle for writing the book, and sharing how Marcel read the story and was inspired to adapt it to television while pregnant with her own newborn. Matsoukas, who herself is currently expecting a child, joked that the story was “not the best book to read while caring for a newborn,” but said they were “grateful to have read it and loved it.” Matsoukas further joked that Marcel’s script “forced her to say something I rarely say: yes,” saying that in spite of her “high standards,” she had to join this project.

“I don’t gravitate towards most projects, but when a script forces me to lean in or when it speaks to a part of me that hasn’t been spoken to before, I can’t help but want to join the creative team and bring the project to life,” Matsoukas said. “And the creative team of this show was incredible. All the projects were masters of their craft, and brought specificity, intentionality, and nuance to every frame. Auteurs in their own right.”

Matsoukas further spoke about the significance of a story about parenthood during the current moment saying that she “wants [her] work to feel like timeless art, as a reflection of the times in which we live” but that “right now, those times cannot be more horrifying or more unsettling.”

“What could be scarier than a couple whose child brings more terror into their home than joy?” Matsoukas said. “And now, as I prepare to bring my own little joy into the world, I hope my work will be a reminder to my child that her voice is more powerful than any mom. I hope she can look at my work and see that her mother used her voice to speak during times of unrest, through art and through protest. That she didn’t stand idly by, and used her work to speak for those who have been silenced.”

Matsoukas finished her speech by calling “The Changeling” “a testament to mothers everywhere, and love stories that can stand the scariest of storms,” before thanking IndieWire, Apple TV+, Annapurna, LaValle, Marcel, and the parent of her child.

In an interview with IndieWire ahead of the ceremony, Matsoukas spoke about what attracted her to the material, speaking about how it resonated with her own life and background, while providing Black people with a place in a genre they’re usually excluded from.

“I get a lot of scripts and most of them are bad, but I read this piece of material and it was the most intriguing, mysterious, authentic story that I had read in a long while,” Matsoukas told IndieWire. “It really touched home with me, because it was about my home, New York, and the stories that happen there with Black people falling in love. And then, [as a matter of genre, it had] people of color being able to inhabit spaces that they don’t normally inhabit.”

IndieWire Honors was hosted at Neuehouse Hollywood. Other recipients who attended to accept their awards included Lily Gladstone, Greta Gerwig, Lee Sung Jin, Cord Jefferson, Benny Safdie and Nathan Fielder, Todd Haynes, Chad Stahelski, and Jharrel Jerome.

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