Rosario Dawson on ‘Our Words Collide’ documentary, her love of poetry and concerns about AI
“Every point of this creation has been so marvelous, and perfect and necessary,” Dawson says about the film, which profiles five young poets in L.A.
Executive producing the poetry documentary “Our Words Collide” was a natural fit for Rosario Dawson.
Since first moving to Los Angeles years ago, the actress-producer, has involved herself in the world of poetry. Dawson, 45, who is originally from New York City, met actor Dante Bosco shortly after she arrived in the City of Angels. She was soon immersed in poetry when Bosco opened up an artistic space for poets called the Poetry Lounge.
“He ended up starting the Poetry Lounge out of a big house in the beginning and then out of Fairfax High School,” she shares in an interview with theGrio. “So, it’s been a space that I’ve kind of been hanging out in for many years.”
This early exposure to poetry led to Dawson’s involvement in the Freestyle Digital Media documentary “Our Words Collide” as an executive producer. The film, directed by Jordan W. Barrow and Matt Edwards “highlights the poets of Get Lit, a non-profit organization in Los Angeles, which uses the art form to educate and empower young people,” according to a press release.
Five young poets, Tyris Winter, Cassady Lopez, Jason Alvarez, Virginia Villalta, and Amar Turner, are profiled in the documentary as they “navigate their final year at high school exploring many challenges that face young people today – including identity, expression, transitioning into adulthood and overcoming mental health issues – through the unique prism of their poetry.”
Dawson could relate to the young poets’ journey and the use of art to express one’s feelings. The actress often uses her skills in the arts to address her own mental health journey. Dawson says she “empathizes how important our creativity is in our ingenuity, mental health and emotional health.”
“We’re designers in our lives. [Artists are] mirroring the internal world to the external world and then relating to each other in that way. It’s so beautiful,” she shares.
Dawson is particularly shocked how schools across the country turn to cutting the arts from the curriculum first. She hopes “Our Words Collide,” which is available to watch now on VOD, will show audiences how essential the arts truly are.
“[The students] are in this program; they’re getting to know each other, they’re finding their voice, they’re finding strength in their voice,” she explains. “They’re finding the directness in the individuality of their voices, and they’re friends. You’re all in the same class or all of the same space, but look at how completely different their expressions are. They find comfort in that and they find confidence in that.”
“Mental health [struggles] have gone through the roof,” Dawson adds. “What a brilliant avenue of expression it was to have all of these young people faced with these cameras, and in front of them, being on this journey and adventure of sharing that with the world. Having the opportunity to do so … and how remarkable that is.”
Dawson emphasizes that the students’ love and pursuit of the arts is especially important during the time of artificial intelligence, when many industries are threatening to replace creatives with AI, use their art to train AI systems, and/or diminish their roles in the creative process.
“People’s art being used to educate the AI or just regurgitate it back to us,” Dawson says. “What does that mean? It’s the creative arts and suddenly it’s being taken out by this thing and replacing people. It’s a specific conversation point like, ‘Wait a minute … allow me to have the space to express myself politically with imagery and all these different things.’”
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“AI seems to be a knowledge based system,” she continues. “We actually have to push back against the way we’ve educated ourselves in our populations for generations now. It doesn’t make sense when there’s AI that you will never be able to compete with in its knowledge base. So then what does that truly mean in our society moving forward?”
Dawson hopes that “Our Words Collide,” which premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in April, will show how poetry and the arts are irreplaceable in our society. She shares that the producers, directors, and the five poets featured in the doc have put “all of these different skill sets and tools together” to create “a brilliant film.”
“Every point of this creation has been so marvelous, and perfect and necessary,” Dawson says. “It’s a great conversation starter and a great example of the necessity of engaging in creativity with young people.”
“Our Words Collide” is available to rent/own on all digital HD internet, cable, and satellite platforms worldwide, as well as on DVD. The film is available through Freestyle Digital Media, the film distribution division of Allen Media Group, whose founder, chairman and CEO, Byron Allen, owns theGrio.
