We’re lucky to have the Brattle bringing us exciting independent premieres, and this weekend’s selection is no exception. The Black Sea is a self-described ‘cinematic freestyle’ from directors Crystal Moselle and Derrick B. Harden, a Bulgarian journey through the eyes of an unconventional and improvisational Brooklynite. Below is our chat with the directors, who will be attending tonight’s Brattle premiere at 7:00pm!

BOSTON HASSLE: Crystal, I recognized your name because I watched all of Betty as it aired.

DERRICK B. HARDEN: You know, through The Black Sea, we’re getting to reunite the Betty audience with Crystal Moselle. It’s been an honor. She hasn’t been able to tell you guys thank you so much for loving her show.

CRYSTAL MOSELLE: Thank you!

BH: When I was coming up with questions, I was thinking about Betty. I feel like it was one of the first shows I saw that really took the pandemic and made it part of the story in a way that didn’t feel trite or cheap. Like when season two started and immediately they just were wearing masks, skateboarding, I was like, oh, I see what we’re getting into. It really worked for the story itself.

DBH: Her style of making Betty, of course the other films as well, came into her input into Black Sea when we started to collaborate to make this film happen. TV experience is now under her belt. It was a whole different mode of filmmaking, being with such an experienced person. I don’t even know how to explain it. I like that you started off with talking about Betty because some of Betty is within the spirit of The Black Sea.

BH: Can you tell me more about where the inspiration for the film came from? 

DBH: I just want to say one thing because Crystal is going to go into it, but going back to The Wolfpack and Betty, she has a way of meeting these sparks, but this spark happened a little differently for Crystal. So I’ll let her tell it herself.

CM: Derrick and I had been working on other projects. The minute we met, we were vibing on creativity. I instantly knew that he had main character energy when I met him. I thought, this person can carry us through a movie. No problem. And we had a TV show that was in development at a network, which can take a long time to come to fruition. Then the strike happened and we couldn’t write a script. So we said, let’s do an improv movie. I think our original idea was actually very complicated. There was just too much going on. So we were like, okay, how can we make this very simple? He’s stuck in Bulgaria and can’t get back. For some reason we had to figure that out. Derrick came up with the idea with the fortune teller.

DBH: Like, “Yo, listen, lady, it’s all over. What do you mean? It’s all over. It’s all over. Call it life itself. Got a few days left. What can I do? Well, there’s one thing you can do. But we don’t have Black people in Bulgaria! Like, where do I find this? Facebook. Yeah.” There we go.

BH: That’s so funny. I love it. It just works so well as a setup. Just get this guy over there. But then once Khalid is over there, he’s just like, okay, I have to do what I normally do, which is just get people on my side, really connected to everyone. But obviously he doesn’t speak the language. So I just want to talk more about the music of the film, just because it seems one of the very first things he does is see a guy with a DMX shirt. He’s like, oh my God, DMX. I know him. And the guy’s like, oh yeah, yeah. And it’s just proof that music connects us all, obviously. That’s the easiest thing.

DBH: The music side, when you’re abroad as an African American, you know, you can be anywhere. You see a Tupac t-shirt, you automatically say, “Oh yeah, they know. They know our product.” Oh, you got the DMX on, that’s our product. Can we come in for a second? Let me talk to you.

CM: Derrick always says America’s biggest export is hip hop and urban culture, which is fascinating. And there’s this sort of interest in Derrick. He has a bop about him that is attractive in a way where like, who is this guy? Where’s he from? 

DBH: But what you realize is that when you get to Bulgaria, even as a Black man with all these cultural influences and America being a leading cultural influence, if not number one, I’m not Black in Bulgaria. I’m American. In America I’m Black. But we export this out and we sell this to the people. Abroad, I’m American. You know, like Stephon Marbury playing basketball in China is an American playing basketball in China. But back home, he’s a Black American playing basketball in China.

BH: It’s like a bigger hump for the Bulgarians to get over the fact that there’s an American in town than an African American. 

DBH: They just like, oh, wow, this is one of them. This is the real deal. 

CM: Because in places like the Black Sea, there’s really not that many Americans there. I feel like we didn’t see anybody.

DBH: Tourists were like Germans, Russians, Italians, French people.

CM: Mainly they’re from the city. Mainly they’re Bulgarians from Sofia that were in this little place.

DBH: Just having a great time at the beach and just relaxing and enjoying their little vacation time. 

CM: There was a lot to learn from each other. Cultural exchange, I think, was really a big part of the story.

DBH: The town that we filmed in was called Sozopol. And the name Sozopol actually means “salvation.” So it’s a big part of the Christian faith of this town called Salvation. One of the towns where John the Baptist’s remains are kept. This town is a part of that actual story. It’s a historical fun fact. 

BH: That’s so fascinating. I know so little about that whole area, really. Did you meet the townspeople first and then you were just like, “Oh, do you want to be in the movie version of this?“

DBH: A lot of natives. We met them while shooting. So we met them while in motion.

CM: Sometimes in the moment. Sometimes, they make their way into our frame or we’d be like, hey, come over here for a second.

DBH: Then they made their way back into it. It was like a documentary. I love to coin the phrase with me as a person that makes hip hop music, and Crystal as a notable documentary filmmaker with Wolfpack and stuff. With this type of improv movie, we created cinematic freestyling. 

BH: I didn’t really know where this was going to go next. When he brought up matcha, I was like, okay, now he’s going to sell matcha to everyone.

DBH: It’s like when you listen to your homeboy in high school, and he’s rapping. And you’re like, I didn’t know you could rap, but you’re following it. Like, this is crazy. You know, you got it all together. So that’s what the whole film was like for us.

BH: It works so well for the character and just the situation he’s in where he’s just like, well, I have no money. I don’t speak the language. I don’t know anyone here. I guess I got to start meeting people. And it’s just like following that path and really carving out this place. 

DBH: You got to keep it going. And that’s what we do. People, you know, we survive and we collaborate. That’s what the strike was about for a lot of us. The Black Sea was made during the strike. Crystal was also doing some fundraising for people during the strike. So when harsh times come, these are the times when you collaborate, that’s the real creativity of the arts and entertainment. That year of those ups and downs of the film industry, we were able to create things to support others.

CM: We did. Myself and some other filmmakers created the Union Solidarity Coalition, which helped crew members who didn’t have enough funds to keep their health insurance or pay rent or whatever. We raised over a million for that.

BH: That’s amazing. I remember the name now.

DBH: So we were doing that. Well, she was doing that. That was her thing, but all that was happening that same year. And we made the film. So we were really trying to support each other. The reason why I bring that up is because we were really trying to support the indie film market, not just create products. So when you see Crystal’s new work, it’s not just product. There was some backing. There were some charitable moments for her community that she shared before this project was created.  And I think that’s one of the great things about Mozelle is that, you know, during hardship, she was banding together.

BH: That’s what I always think about with independent film. I love when I can watch something small and just be like, how does this even exist? Like I talked to Amanda Kramer a while back for Please, Baby, Please. I feel like all my questions were just like, how did you pull this off? And so I’m always really excited to meet filmmakers who are really, really doing it. That’s why I loved The Black Sea. 

CM: We were like, oh, we need to start this. But a lot of the places that we were having meetings with were like, “Oh, when are you shooting?” “Oh, next week.” “What? No, I can’t help you.” So we just kept going. We found people that wanted to support art, which I think is the future of indie filmmaking. Do you want a piece of this art? And you’re going to make this and you’re going to have an ownership of this. It’s going to be something that you can create and tell stories and inspire people. I think that that’s really working because we all want film to live. There’s important things for people to say. It’s good to be able to sit down and watch something all the way through instead of just scrolling this and that. Our brains need to pay attention to things longer.

BH: It’s so important to just be able to sit still. And watch something like this and watch movies that aren’t just the biggest thing that’s happening in the world. That’s what I’m always trying to do. It’s easy to rest on your laurels and be like, well, I’m going to see this because it’s coming out on Friday. If you look for more than like two seconds, you can find these things. I’m so glad that I did. 

How do you know when, with this sort of cinematic freestyling, a scene is complete in a way where you’re like, yes, this is it. This will be part of it. Does it come together like in the edit or do you know in the moment where you’re like, well, I love this, so I want to use this?

DBH: I would say it’s like a shooting range. When you get your shot, you totally know when you got it and you gotta have confidence in your shot game. It’s not for the faint of heart. It’s shooting with purpose. Some of the takes that you see, we find our rhythm in like three or four tries. And then by the fourth going into the fourth to the sixth and possibly seventh shoot where we know what we’re going for. And now we’re just trying in our tone and our style and our way that we’re trying to communicate, we’re just looking for it. 

CM: It’s no different than shooting something that has a script because once you’re on set, there is no script. You know what you want. The difference for our film is that in our first three takes, we’re just writing the script. And then we’re like, oh, let’s do that.

BH: I’m very excited that The Black Sea is coming to Boston.

DBH: If we can include this in the article, I love the Boston Red Sox. I’m a born New Yorker. I’m from Brownsville, Brooklyn, East New York. Born in King’s County Hospital. I’m from New York city like thoroughly, but I’ve always loved the Boston Red Sox. I’m so excited.

BH: That’s amazing.

DBH: I don’t know why, but I’ve always loved the Boston Red Sox. 

CM: He wears the hat to piss people off in New York. All the time.

DBH: Just in case you wanted to mention that I have no problem with that.

BH: I absolutely can do that. 

DBH: I am a Brooklyn director. Yep. I love the Boston Red Sox. No matter if I have a film in theaters or if I’m just quietly tucked away at my own house. I love the Boston Red Sox. 

CM: We want people to have a good time and we think that this film will bring that. Everybody that watches this just feels great afterwards. And I think in these times, and it’s getting cold, you can come and have a nice time with us.

The Black Sea makes its Boston debut at the Brattle Friday, 12/6 at 7:00pm with Crystal and Derrick in attendance then continues through Sunday, 12/8. Click here for showtimes and ticket info.