Allen Thompson
As a self-taught filmmaker, Chris Phillips has a distinct perspective on the waves of protests that have come and gone since teenager Michael Brown was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson in 2014 in Ferguson: He was living in the same apartment complex as Brown when it happened, and he has been following the ongoing movement with his eyes (and his lens) ever since.
Phillips’ short documentary, Ferguson 365, puts the Missouri racial divide into historical context as it traces the momentum of the Back Lives Matter movement across the country. It premiered at film festivals around the globe and won Best Local Short at the 2015 St. Louis International Film Festival. His work was featured in the Oscar-nominated I Am Not Your Negro as well as J. Cole’s HBO documentary 4 Your Eyes Only. He’s contributed to stories for The Washington Post, CBS News, CNN, and BBC. Now, the director is working on an expansion of his project into a feature-length film of the same title, as well as another short film that looks at the current landscape six years after Michael Brown’s death. Phillips is tight-lipped on the new Ferguson 365 project but says it’s broader and more in-depth.
This summer, Phillips covered the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis before heading down to St. Louis, and then further down to Atlanta following the death of Rayshard Brooks. Of his second project, he says: “It’s not necessarily anything to do with Ferguson, but it’s looking at this moment when we have all these injustices and how there's been a shift with more white people and corporate American culture empathizing with the Black Lives Matter movement."
Ferguson was pivotal in that movement, and what happened at the Canfield Green apartment complex has energized Phillips creatively ever since. He says the uprising that followed Brown's death was disruptive but everything that took place was necessary, and the slight inconvenience of having to go around armored vehicles and roadblocks to go home was worth capturing the message and impact of local activists.
“While we have the eyes of the world, it’s an opportune moment to draw attention to the issues so that people have context to why protesting and the anger and frustration is happening,” he says. The “Ferguson 365 has a dual meaning: It indicates the year following Brown's death, but also that these issues happen year-round, continuously,” Phillips says.
One might be tempted to call Phillips an activist, but he is reluctant to do so himself. “They know through the work that I’m giving their truth and their perspective, and I think there’s an appreciation for that, so they include me or recognize me as one of them,” says Phillips.
One title he's happy to take on is that of business owner. Phillips started Maverick Media Group, which works on a range of different projects from video to motion design to animation. He says original programming is particularly helpful right now by giving dialogue, information, and perspective that mainstream media doesn’t always.
“Documentary work is important because I notice the insensitivity and inaccuracy in reporting, and the lack of perspective,” says Phillips. “For me, I have that community access. I can give that context.”
