Belafonte on his film: ‘Call to action’ for American youth

Park City • Susanne Rostock agreed to direct a biopic of the singer and activist Harry Belafonte, despite being immersed in other projects, for two primary reasons.The first was that the more she and Belafonte talked about his inspiring and incredible life, the more she told herself, "I cannot turn this down."
The second was purely "selfish," Rostock told The Salt Lake Tribune. "I have a 15-year-old daughter, and I care about her future."
Belafonte, Rostock and the film’s producer, Michael Cohl, talked to The Tribune in one-on-one interviews Saturday afternoon in Park City’s Bing Bar about the film "Sing Your Song," which screens at the Sundance Film Festival through Saturday. They spoke about the enthusiastic reception the documentary has received since the festival opened Thursday evening and Belafonte’s characterization of the film as a "call to action" for youth in an increasingly fragmented America.
Some of the most important milestones in 20th century America — battling Jim Crow laws, the end of segregation, ensuring the right of blacks to vote — were achieved only because young people raised their voices for freedom, Belafonte said. His gravelly, bold voice, together with the spark in his eye and a ready smile, belied his age of 82. The film, Belafonte said, shows that "the 20th century’s struggles are very important for the 21st century."
The film is only a beginning, not an end, Belafonte stressed. "Where do we go from here?" Rostock already has some answers to that question. After the film’s first two screenings, energized throngs of young people told her they have been emboldened to become activists themselves. Rostock said she told them it’s never too early to stand up for your beliefs, noting that Belafonte and Martin Luther King Jr. were only in their 20s when they embarked on a path to change the world.The idea for the film came when producer Cohl was finishing work on a 2007 documentary, "Pete Seeger: The Power of Song," a biopic on the man many consider the father of modern and activist folk music. Seeger, who was enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 (Belafonte spoke at the induction ceremony), told Cohl that his next biopic should focus on Belafonte. "[Seeger] said that his story needed to be told," Cohl said.