After a most tumultuous Oscars ending where the wrong winner was announced, the great "Moonlight" last month took home the Academy Award for Best Picture of 2016. The incident not only sparked a number of Zapruder Film-style studies of the live telecast footage, but also capped a year of protest and debate around the #OscarsSoWhite label. Hollywood has been depended upon to hold a mirror up to culture and society, but unfortunately hasn’t been as diverse in representation as it should be.

New Orleans filmmakers Jonathan Jackson and Kenna Moore know something about that. They've often taken to social media to express their views on politics and culture. Whether chastising critics for perceived ignorance or expanding knowledge on mental illness, the pair stand at the forefront of a range of hot button issues, many of which they're exploring through film. The following is a Q&A I recently conducted with Jackson and Moore. We spoke about Trump’s America, post racial racism, inclusion, Hollywood and more.

Bill Arceneaux: First off, how have your respective first few weeks into 2017 been?

Jonathan Jackson: It’s been dizzying and frustrating. It feels like we’re living upside down. I spent the beginning of the year not looking at the news, because I was tired of listening to news on Trump, and it put me in a really dark place. We also reshot "Dvrker," changing a bunch of things to make the story better, making sure it was more focused, so it’s been a bit complicated. But protesting and watching people come together against this administration has given me hope. And as far as the film, every time Trump tweets, my film becomes more relevant, so it’s getting better. But I won’t be satisfied until impeachment hearings begin.

Kenna Moore: Much of my new year has been deafening. I’ve found myself tossed between endless opinions through waves of “alternative facts.” Forgettable images wasting moments of my life in every swipe. Most of the time, I can’t decide if I’d prefer to be a Vladimir or Estragon while “Waiting for Godot.” Thank you, Mr. Beckett. Yet, with all uncertain, I will reject fear. Faith keeps the ground appearing under my feet. Hope keeps the sky above my head. I’m positive my next project is amongst this mess.

BA: We’ve had another Academy Awards recently, and this year boasted some diversity in the nominations, more so than in recent memory. Are the Oscars, and Hollywood at large, doing enough to placate the #SoWhite protests – and is it enough to just placate? What more can and should be done?

JJ: I’m happy that Hollywood is giving credit to filmmakers of color. I’ve been a fan of Barry Jenkins for years, and am happy to see him get his due. I believe there still are “gatekeepers,” people who give access to funding and resources. These gatekeepers, who are usually women and men of color, continue to allow films to get funding that they believe will make the white men who supply the funding happy, so it’s not really changing. Films, whether Hollywood or indie, still lack representation of the American public, so what’s really changing? But, a little progress is better than none.

I think it’s funny how I’m being told that funding will dry up due to Trump and Republicans, but I, personally, have yet to receive a penny from a liberal organization, so what does it really matter to a black man who has to fund his own films? I think we have to continue to support the films that speak to us most, and to create more work that comes from the soul, stories that reflect our communities or communities we support. We also, as filmmakers, have to be smart about how to utilize the resources we have, and not look to anyone to finish whatever it is we set out to do. Find a community of people that support you, and they will make sure you get it done. That’s what I learned with Dvrker, thanks to my producers/actors Owen H. Dunne and Sarah Christine Hangartner. They helped me make a film I needed to finish, and wouldn’t let me quit.

KM: “Hollywood" must move out of Hollywood. Simply. This does not mean Hollywood diversifies by only shooting in destination-multicultural-New Orleans, La. He {Hollywood} must INVEST in destination-multicultural-New Orleans, La. He must find writers, directors, producers, etc. that fancy this “diversity” talk in destination-multicultural-New Orleans, La. He must do these things if his goal is to truly diversify the old. If not, it would be an incredible sight to witness destination-multicultural-New Orleans, La invest in itself. #HollywoodSouth

BA: Jon, your new project "Dvrker: Infinity Room" presents a future revolt in the making, where a gay black man is chosen to lead a group that’s been organized by the white daughter of an outspoken racist political contender (one whom New Orleans knows too well). It’s stylistically dizzying, often shifting perspectives and settings in a flash of light and memory, not to mention profoundly militant at the core of the story. What do you want the audience to grasp from this movie? Is this how you imagined post-Obama America to be like, and do you see youth rising above privilege and self interests?

Dvrker: Infinity Room Official Trailer (NSFW) from The Colored Section on Vimeo.

JJ: Thank you for noticing that! You’re the first one that got the connection between the lead character and her “father,” because I didn’t make it totally noticeable. The purpose of this film is to highlight a way in which white privilege can seep into a black pride/black power movement. It’s up to each individual as to if they believe it’s a good or bad thing, but the story itself is based on the way Black Panthers and the Weather Underground operated in the 60s and 70s. Most will see it as an anti-Trump film, but it really is a post-Obama film. It’s based on the idea that we, as African Americans, are left without a true black leader, and in a world where white men are able to not only create laws to hurt minorities, but are entitled in their rhetoric and treatment of minorities, where and how will it end?

My film is fiction, but is based on the idea of how we view minorities and revolution. Cinque, our main character, will become Fidel Castro / Che Guevara in one in the feature, and the examination is how America views this gay black man, who is forced to be the leader of a movement. He is hated, with the irony being that it all was started by a white woman. Even if America knows the truth, whom will they believe, and whom will they persecute? A major issue was making my actresses realize that. A lot of people want to see themselves as liberals, but are you willing, as a white woman, to understand the plight of a black man, and sympathize? Am I, as a black man, willing to understand the plight of a gay black man, and am I willing to sympathize?

At some point, we must take action, and this film is my way of taking action against conservatism, and the ideal in which minorities are not included. But, it is also my action against liberalism, and the idea that it is a movement of talk, but no action. I do believe liberalism is starting to change, because it is now a necessity to act and do, and not just talk.

BA: The election of Donald Trump has opened the floodgates for critical art, and has inspired some to call the next few years a potentially new era of punk media. How do you feel about this, to what lengths would you like to see it go and how inclusive and representative of all do you expect it to be?

JJ: I believe it is our responsibility to create art based on how we feel at any given moment. To represent who we are at any given moment. Once again, funding is literally impossible if you don’t fit into what these gatekeepers feel is acceptable. I do believe that this idea will reach the mainstream, but I think it’ll be written and directed by a white male. I’ve applied for grants, and haven’t received any funding, and am not expecting any. I funded this short with my own funds, and help from friends. Luckily, technology is in a place where we, as filmmakers, can do a lot outside of the Hollywood, or Independent system (it’s sad to say, but indie isn’t indie anymore). It may take a few more months or a year, but I am excited to see how minorities express themselves with their art in this scorched political landscape. What I believe we’ll see are lighthearted comedies, but I want to see a filmmaking revolution. I’d like to see my generation's "Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song."

KM: I love when critics/writers like yourself coin new eras with titles like “Punk Media" or “Punk Cinema.” Rarely do I use my lens to peer at my art so macro-like. But these macro-impressions are indeed reflections of life through our art. I’d like to see this era fight as far as it needs to… Fight to the end of an old age into the new. The oppressed are the masses. One could only be a fool to not expect a revolt. Duh.

BA: As independent filmmakers, what duty, if any, do you feel you have to criticize the establishment through your work?

JJ: I think the most important thing for a filmmaker to do is be true to themselves. With that being said, if your truth is resistance and revolution, then you should use whatever medium, including film, to say what you feel. I am in a position where I am free to show and say what I want to. So as long as I have that luxury, I’ll try to push the boundaries as much as they need to be pushed. It is our job to push the establishment, to spark people, through our lenses, to see the world in a different way, or to be a voice for those who are voiceless.

KM: To inform or not to inform? To entertain or not to entertain? These are my questions. These are my questions in discovering this “duty” as an independent filmmaker. Am I a storyteller today or am I a reporter? Am I screaming or am I mute? I think you get the point. Nonetheless, I must be all of it. No matter who is in charge, I am nothing without the establishment yet I strive to be greater than it in every frame of my work. So, I just keep swimming. Dory taught me that.

BA: Kenna, there’s been a noticeable pattern, thematically anyways, in that your films deal with stigmatized groups of people. From those suffering mental illness, being ostracized for sexual preference or just expressing themselves through cultural dance, you seem to have a specific mission of looking out for the marginalized and often ignored. How difficult is it to remain objective and composed as an artist when such groups are being singled out, exploited and/or harmed? Are objectivity and composure goals under such circumstances?

KM: You know, there was a very recent time that I hated going to the movies. Much of what was showing during that time (wink) was completely uninspiring and just lame. Thank God for Netflix and other VOD platforms that have come to save us. Anyway, I knew when I started Ghost of Elysian Films that I would have to be great. I would have to say something, move people, shock people and/or do anything more than what our then (wink) Hollywood industry was shoving down our eyelids and eardrums. Most importantly, I was bored a majority of the time. Redundant plots and stock characters had just infiltrated my date night so horribly. Or, maybe I haven’t been offered that big commercial/crossover check, yet.

Let me get back to your questions. The stories that I tend to tell are stories around me. They are stories that I’ve lived with, witnessed, cried about, loved and questioned life throughout. As our mission states under Ghost of Elysian Films, they are “uncommon perspectives”… at least from my viewpoint of Hollywood cinema. In my theatre studies, I learned very quickly to be quite unapologetic when telling a story. These “marginalized and often ignored” cases don’t need to be peered through rose colored glasses. So, no. Composure is never a goal. Now, objective is tricky. When my audience sees this, will that spark a real conversation? This is where I find objective.

BA: If you could pick any one movie to screen for our elected officials, what would it be and why?

JJ: It depends on the type of politician. A conservative politician could care less what I showed him or her, so I’d play Jean-Luc Godard’s "One Plus One," just to make the room uncomfortable.

KM: Easy question. It would be "The Lion King." At a very young age, Simba lost it all. Then, he went into the jungle, came out a Lion King and took it all back. The Simbas are coming. Politicians, beware.