Margaret Blair Young is an award-winning short story writer, playwright, essayist and novelist. Several years ago, she also took on the mantle of filmmaker when she and Darius Gray created the documentary Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons. After centering her writing and research on Black Mormons in America for so many years, it should come as no surprise that she’s now turning her attention to Black Mormons abroad– her new film, Heart of Africa, is currently in production. It centers on the question of whether a former revolutionary from Congo and a farm boy from Idaho can transcend their pasts to become mission companions. There’s a kickstarter campaign for the film going on right now, and Margaret joins us at Segullah today to talk about the story.

What inspired you to undertake the Heart of Africa film?
My husband and I were in a French-speaking MTC branch, and sent many young men to the DR Congo mission.  I adopted these particular missionaries.  (Anglo women are not yet called there.)  I wrote to at least fifteen LDS missionaries and to their companions over three years, and so I went through at least fifteen missions in the DR-C via email.  We are STILL family, and these young men are very much involved in the film.  When I began writing to Aime Mbuyi, a Congolese companion to one of “my” young men and a former revolutionary, I saw the rich possibilities for a film. Aime had been a revolutionary, trained at a boarding school to distrust white people, and he’s paired with a naive kid from Idaho who doesn’t realize how deep his own prejudice is.

Aime’s decision to join the LDS Church and to serve a mission was counterintuitive, but spiritually based. Since some of the young men I had written to had told me about their struggles to overcome prejudice–their shock at recognizing it in themselves–I saw a classic conflict which the Mormon framework enhanced. Since Mormonism has a long and troubled past with race issues, the conflict was  instantly magnified.

Who is your intended audience with the film? What is the message you hope to convey?
We know that Mormons will be interested in this film, but we hope to go beyond the Mormon corridor.  We will have two production teams, one of them in South Africa, headed by Kweku Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s grandson. We have one primary objective in common: We want to show Africa in its beauty and in its dignity, not as a place of horror with man-eating gorillas.  We also plan on releasing the film in Africa and other French-speaking languages before bringing it to the States.  The film will be primarily in English, but also in French and Lingala (dialect of the DR-Congo).

Some of the important messages in the film include the idea that Africa will never be permanently conquered. There is hope for all.  Prejudices can be dissolved as we work together. I suspect various audience members will get messages intended for them specifically–and only they know what they need. We hope to make a timeless film to which people will return.

How is making this film similar/different from your first film (Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons)?
The biggest difference is that Nobody Knows is a documentary, and this is a narrative feature.  I have taken experiences from what the missionaries experienced and thrown in a fictional twist to bring all stories into one story, complete with a dramatic arc.  The music for this film will be particularly compelling.  We consider the music to be one of the characters. It should linger with the audience.

What have been some of your greatest challenges related to the film?
Finding the director.  No question.  We are beyond thrilled to finally have Sterling Van Wagenen, who is, in my opinion, one of the great filmmakers in the world.  I’m quite certain that bigger challenges await us, but we’ll deal with those as they come. I personally learned to look closely at a director’s qualifications, what he/she has previously done, and at their ability to get along well with the team.  For me, this film is a personal mission, and it deserves the best team possible.

What have been some of the greatest surprises?
There have been miracles throughout this journey.  When Darius and I were working on our trilogy, we talked about manna falling into our hands. We’d meet people in grocery stores or wherever who would have information we desperately needed. Heart of Africa brought daily miracles as we worked on location scouting and b-roll last August.  I felt surrounded by angels from the time I set foot on Kinshasa soil.  I felt it even after I returned to Utah, but it didn’t last.

Because of that sense of security, the feeling that I was being protected, I had no fear.  Within twenty minutes, I had abandoned all fear of the Congo.  I recognized it as a third world country with third world challenges, but NOT as the  horror fest I had been told it was.  Sure, you don’t want to be stupid and walk into gang-run areas after dark and alone, just as you wouldn’t do that beyond Eight Mile in Detroit.  But the Congo is full of magnificent people who are, for the most part, more spiritually gifted than most of us who live with comparative luxury. Many have had dreams and visions.  Darius Gray has often said, “The field is black and ready to harvest.”  That is absolutely true.

Another surprise was in how quickly and how easily I loved all of the people I met, and particularly those to whom I had written during their missions.

What stories have moved you the most?
The stories in the film which move me include the growth arc of a Congolese woman who refuses to be humiliated after she is raped. The episode where the Anglo protagonist gets lost in a slave castle and sees, or thinks he sees, a slave from centuries back, and then that slaves mother and his own mother coming together in a benediction over their sons–that moves me.

I was already moved by the arcs of the actual missionaries I communicated with throughout their missions, and those arcs move me still. Those who worked well with the people did indeed transcend their prejudices. The effort to progress in the Congo–with little support and little infrastructure–was and is heart-wrenching and also inspiring.  I absolutely believe that within a decade, the Congo will begin taking its rightful place as a country as rich in education and economic status as it is rich in its resources.  We plan to be a part of that rise. I am also seeing a rise in gender equality in the Congo, particularly among Latter-day Saints.  As I saw Aime Mbuyi court Steffy, I saw him honoring her–and not in any way that included a pedestal.

There have been unfortunate customs throughout Africa regarding bride price and female deference to males, but all of that is changing. I saw educated women teaching Sunday school; I heard testimonies from African sister missionaries; I saw strength in all of the women.  Steffy Mbuyi said that Congolese women are probably stronger than American women because they have had to survive on far less, and so they have used their imaginations to create what wasn’t immediately available.

What else would you like to say about the film?
It matters.  It is time to fully include Africa in the LDS narrative–and I’m also thrilled that Garrett Batty’s FREETOWN will be doing that as well.  Before we can truly include Africa, we need to see Africa as she is, not as we imagine her to be.

If you provide a link to the kickstarter, we are very happy to promote and link it.
Here:  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/868807300/heart-of-africa