Tell Them You Love Me / Film School Radio interview with Director Nick August-Perna

KUCI: Film School

Nick August-Perna complex documentary feature TELL THEM YOU LOVE ME explores the story of Anna Stubblefield, an esteemed Rutgers University professor who becomes embroiled in a controversial affair with Derrick Johnson, a Black man with cerebral palsy, and who has been non-communicative since his earliest days. Using a highly disputed technique Anna says she unlocked Derrick’s mind from his body by teaching him to communicate using a keyboard. In addition to Anna Stubblefield, we hear from Derrick’s brother John Johnson, their mother Daisy Johnson and a variety of academics and doctors who lend their perspective on the relationship and what follows from it. The relationship eventually leads to Anna’s arrest and a high profile criminal trial that would challenge our perceptions of disability and the nature of consent. Through exclusive footage and interviews with those on both sides of the case, the film weaves a riveting and endlessly nuanced story about communications, race and sex. Director and co-writer Nick August-Perna (The Oxy-Kingpins) joins us for a conversation on going about gaining the cooperation and trust from the participants, including Anna Stubblefield and her mother, finding a balanced approach to telling the story and his joy at seeing how TELL THEM YOU LOVE ME seems to resonate with audiences at film festivals, 2023 Hamptons International Film Festival, and the 2023 Montclair Film Festival where it won the jury awards for Best Documentary Feature and now as the most popular documentary on NETFLIX. For more go to: nickaugustperna.com