Questions to Dawn Westlake from MAKE ART NOT FEAR
November 13, 2023
Los Angeles, CA USA

MANF: What does Cinema mean to you?
Dawn Westlake: Cinema is a moving picture that moves you…to laugh, cry, learn, empathize,
appreciate…to take some sort of action!

MANF: You believe in Utopia?
DW: I’m not sure that I do. There is always some conflict in every society…not violence,
necessarily, but some sort of stressor or problem. Confronting problems is the only way we grow
and better our condition and that of others. Art is a good outlet to suggest how we might
approach “utopia”, but I’m not sure societies are ever capable of reaching true Utopia.

MANF: You display several beliefs that are spread worldwide. Do you think Art
can modify those beliefs?
DW: Art is a great vehicle to get people to see themselves, reflect on their assets and
shortcomings, and to try to improve their conditions. As Anton Chekhov said, “Man is made
better when you show him what he is like.”

MANF: The text is perfect to the images. How much time did it take to make the film
For the Skeptical?
DW: Thanks very much! It just took two weeks; about four days to shoot inside a big tent in my
backyard, and then, ten days to edit and do the visual effects. I’d written the poem a year before
and then realized it was a rap 8 months before we filmed and edited, so I’d been mentally
planning for awhile what the imagery would be like. The old films are things my great uncle took
of my dad and his siblings, his cousins, and aunts/uncles and grandparents, so I already knew I
had a lot of strong material from the family archives.

MANF: Do you think dogma is a disease?
DW: It’s definitely a terrible handicap that’s caused endless, senseless wars, misunderstandings
and general suffering around the world. Also, when dogma causes one group to be considered
“inferior” to another, whole civilizations are reduced to performing greatly below their potential.
For example, when women’s contributions are minimized (or in some places not even allowed),
countries are functioning at only 49% of their potential…where women make up 51% of the
population.

MANF: What are your influences?
DW: My favorite films are those that employ what I call “The Four Es”: They evoke emotion,
educate, enlighten, and entertain. One of my all-time favorite films is “Sophie’s Choice”.
(Another is “Lost in Translation”.)
MANF: What is your next project?
DW: It’s not developed enough to discuss yet.
MANF: Do you believe that we are changing to freedom or to oppression?
DW: I am very hopeful that we are progressing and insisting on more freedoms and equality for
all. You can see it in the marches, manifestations, and the engagement in causes promoting
human rights and climate science. Also, we are seeing higher voter turnout than ever before in
democratic elections. There’s also a palpable outrage about authoritarianism. There is a huge
problem with disinformation, however, and with media moguls who think their profits rise by
creating angst amongst their audiences and/or who float false narratives to rile up extremist
“bases”. I think the audiences are actually starting to see through such stunts, however. Clowns
like trump and other international crime bosses masquerading as “world leaders” have exhausted
people trying to keep up with their lies, impossible conspiracies, and crimes against the citizenry.

MANF: What is stronger, text or image?
DW: I think images have always been stronger than text because not all people are literate, or
they have differing levels of literacy. From the time we are very little, we consume and digest
imagery, analyze it, react to it, and apply it (or reject it) in our worlds