If Maya Angelou were 20 and living today
One of the benefits of staying after a film shown at the Fort Myers Film Festival is the opportunity to participate in a Q&A with the filmmakers. Following the screening of Maya Angelou and Still I Rise last night, for example, one audience member wanted Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack to speculate about what Maya Angelou might be doing were she 20 years old and living 
today.
Hercules and Whack have been asked lots of questions by media, film festival organizers and audience members, but this one took them both aback. “That’s a question we haven’t scripted for,” Hercules chuckled, as he gathered his thoughts. But he wasn’t shy about providing an answer.
“If Dr. Angelou were 20 years old and living today, I think she’d be very active with the Black Lives Matter movement,” he replied.
“Absolutely,” Ms. Whack concurred. “She was a protester.”
That remark elicited enthusiastic applause from the FMff audience.
“She’d be out there,” Hercules amplified. “That’s one of the things I really admire about her. A lot of people are talk, but we need people out there doing the work every day. In some ways, I liken her to a community organizer. I did a film years ago about Saul Lewinsky, the father of community organizing, so I’m sort of obsessed with it, and I see in Maya Angelou a bit of a community organizer. When she worked for Dr. King, she was doing that for him – organizing, 
raising money, and doing more organizing. Organizing work is not exciting, and nobody sees you doing it, but I think that’s what she’d be doing were she 20 and living today.
Related Fort Myers Film Festival Articles.
- Film and event schedule for Thursday, April 7, 2016
- Film and event schedule for Friday, April 8, 2016 – Davis Art Center
Film and event schedule for Friday, April 8 – Lee County Alliance for the Arts- Film and event schedule for Friday, April 8 – Downtown Fort Myers Library
- Film and event schedule for Saturday, April 9 – Davis Art Center
- Film and event schedule for Saturday, April 9 – Lee County Alliance for the Arts
- Film and event schedule for Sunday, April 10
- Regal Cinemas Belltower 20 Screenings
- Marcus Jansen documentary chosen as opening night film for Sixth Annual Fort Myers Film Festival
Spotlight on ‘Examine & Report’ filmmaker John Scoular- ‘Maya Angelou and Still I Rise’ screenings
- Filmmakers Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack talk about the making of Maya Angelou documentary
- Meet ‘Maya Angelou’ filmmaker Bob Hercules
- Meet ‘Maya Angelou’ filmmaker and director Rita Coburn Whack
- Embrace the Serpent
- Llama Nation
- Proud to Serve
Suited- Time Simply Passes documentary
- The Making of ‘Time Simply Passes’
- Touch
- Meet FMff’s sponsors, partners and beneficiaries
About the Author
Tom Hall is both an amateur artist and aspiring novelist who writes art quest thrillers. He is in the final stages of completing his debut novel titled "Art Detective," a story that fictionalizes the discovery of the fabled billion-dollar Impressionist collection of Parisian art dealer Josse Bernheim-Jeune, thought by many to have perished during World War II when the collection's hiding place, Castle de Rastignac in southern France, was destroyed by the Wehrmacht in reprisal for attacks made by members of the Resistance operating in the area. A former tax attorney, Tom holds a bachelor's degree as well as both a juris doctorate and masters of laws in taxation from the University of Florida. Tom lives in Estero, Florida with his fiancee, Connie, and their four cats.