DeVon Franklin (“Miracles From Heaven,” “Breakthrough”) joined GRAMMY Award-winning gospel artist Kirk Franklin and Pastor Michael Todd for a discussion of the new Netflix series “Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye West Trilogy” with the filmmakers. Directors Coodie and Chike and writer J. Ivy discussed the role faith played throughout their careers as well as how it motivated the 20-year journey of the series.
The evening was moderated by DeVon Franklin, with Kirk Franklin and Pastor Todd participating in the discussion on the role of faith in culture and how it can frame the way entertainment is discussed.
“People need hope and they need help, this event was proof that content can be used to provide both,” said DeVon Franklin.
Kirk Franklin elaborated on his views about being a good steward of the creative process:
“God loves me, but he don’t need me,” he said. “I think that with real creatives, there is sometimes a subconscious arrogance is because most creatives live in a space that is not yet created. That’s why most creatives have a hard time with normalcy. And so it’s sometimes it’s hard for us to be fathers and husbands and sometimes to be present because to be present, you have to learn how to not be all about you. But when you’re creating, everything is about you. And so it’s very necessary to understand that as creatives, we are the managers of everything, but the owners of nothing.”
Todd said of the evening, “This event was a culture shifter for me because everybody has faith in something. Whenever you put faith in God, mixed with entertainment and culture it is a beautiful intersection of humanity and divinity.”
Read: Will Audiences Embrace Kanye West, the Musical Evangelist?
The filmmakers were overwhelmed with positive emotion. “We spoke to the true purpose of what this film was about. The walk-in faith that this film is about. This film is about walking in faith. It’s about belief in the higher power, to remove all fear, to really discover your genius,” said Filmmaker Chike.
“When you move in faith, you never know what is going to happen…we couldn’t imagine us being on stage with DeVon Franklin, Kirk Franklin, and Pastor Mike talking about Christ Jesus all because of this movie,” said Filmmaker Coodie.
“It was important for us to do this event to connect with the people, connect with the community. To let them know that this film is God-driven. It’s all about this walk we’ve been on together as a family, as a village. And to be able to connect with the larger community. It was incredible,” said J Ivy.
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