Amber & Ebony, two members of the indie art film house House of June, are also the minds behind Table Manners. This narrative short lends a liberated view of black female sexuality by shattering taboos and truly holding nothing back. You can read more about these two up and coming filmmakers below.

What is your connection to the South?

AMBER: My maternal roots lived in Alabama during Reconstruction Era and my paternal side is from Florida. My parents retired from the military in Decatur, GA, where I have lived for more than ten years.
EBONY: I was born in Atlanta, GA and my family is from Alabama. My connection is family roots.

Where did you get your inspiration for this work?

AMBER: I was inspired by the style and tone of “My Dinner with Andre'” a film directed by Louis Malle.
EBONY: I really enjoy penning conversations that are unpretentious and unapologetic. My homegirls and femmes I share sacred “girl talk” with are unfiltered and frank. I’m inspired by the wholeness of our dialogue. Also, I thought it would be interesting to place such a visceral conversation in a juxtaposing space.

How did you start making films?

AMBER: I started as a bts videographer for music videos in Atlanta, Ga.
EBONY: I’ve always written short stories. My mother was my first audience and she loved Hitchcock films. I believe I started making films in the simplest way as child – I didn’t have all the tools to execute but I had a typewriter and a mom in particular who really watered my imagination.

Did anything interesting or funny happen on set during the shooting?

AMBER: This was pretty straight-forward shoot, considering the conversation of our characters. This production was a new experience for me due to not DPing this film, I typically do the cinematography for all our projects. We worked with Laura as our director of photography, she understood our vision.
EBONY: My sister, 15 at the time was our script supervisor and we’ve seen her grow on set. This script isn’t PG-13, it was comical to see how she choose to feed actors lines when certain words were mentioned.

What do you look forward to the most during Indie Grits?

AMBER: Experiencing the works of other filmmakers, this will be my first Grit experience.
EBONY: Meeting other filmmakers on a personal level and seeing their work. I walked away from the Nickelodeon Theatre last year for Daughters: Celebrating Emerging Female Filmmakers of Color really full. I felt stimulated and more focused and I hope the same for this experience.

Why should someone see your film?

AMBER: What Ebony said J
EBONY: I think someone should see our film because the narrative of the film isn’t prominent in cinema. Rarely do we see women, and especially black women, in front of the camera conversing about intimate sexual matters outside of male gaze.