[Kelly]: Wow. That's quite a wonderful scene from the new movie Feeling Through, and you're watching the Oscar nominated short Feeling Through. It's an incredible film, a film about the power of human connection. And it's the first film ever to star someone who is deaf and blind, but an actor with so many talents, brilliant talents to bring to the table. So I want to bring them all in now. Joining me now is a prolific and innovative film maker, Doug Roland, and the films star Steven Prescod, who joins us now. Gentlemen, I want to thank you, and first of all, congratulations on this wonderful nomination for the Academy award, but let's go back to the beginning. How did you two meet and embark upon this wonderful journey to tell this remarkable story?
[Doug]: Well, first of all, thank you so much for having us today. It's really an honor to be here and maybe Steven, maybe I'll set up my side of how we met and I would love if you fill it in. But I actually had a lot of trouble casting the role to Tereek because I had such a clear sense energetically of what I was looking for from that actor. And I saw a lot of really talented young actors in New York, but no one was like quite fitting the bill for me. No one was like quite capturing that thing that I couldn't put my finger on, but I would know when I'd see it, to the point where we had a very narrow window to cast it and we were getting ready for the final callbacks. And I was saying like, we can't do final callbacks because I know he's not here yet. Like, I know I haven't seen him. So we got some last minute self-tapes and maybe I'll pause for a second and Steven, maybe, why don't you fill in your side of this story?
[Steven]: So after I submitted my self tape, I remember getting a call back and that's when I was able to have a face-to-face audition with Doug. So when I got there, actually, it was funny thing when I actually got there, I met Doug in the elevator before actually getting into the actual auditioning room and asked him and I said, Oh, well I knew who he was, but he didn't know who I was, because I looked him up and I was like, Oh, do you know where I have to sign in? Like where I have to go? He's like, well, yeah, the sign in sheet and everything is right over there, and then we're going to be setting up and everything, whatever I was like alright, cool. So, yeah, when I went in there, actually the person who I had in my mind when I went into this role was this kid named Noroxin that I randomly met in the street. He actually been going through like the same things that Tereek has been going through. So, that was sort of the energy that I had when I walked in and filmed for my audition with them. And I will say Kelly, that like no exaggeration here. It's one of those moments when you're casting something where the second Steven walked in and opened his mouth, I'm like we got it. And it was that clear, literally he probably said one word. He probably didn't even say a full word. He probably like made the sound of part of a word. And I'm like, we got our guy and he was the first actor up that day. So it was like such a relief knowing we had like one more shot to find our guy and that it happened to be Steven whose first stopped that day. So it was definitely kismet. We later found out that we have birthdays a day apart and a lot of other things I kind of cross over. So we're like, we feel like we were like orbiting kind of the same system here. And it worked out perfectly.
[Kelly]: Yeah. I'd go one step further. You two are brothers,
[Doug]: I definitely, I'd say there's certainly that connection going on for sure.
[Kelly]: Yeah. What a great connection. So, let me get this straight then because Doug, you created some groundbreaking opportunities in this film, tell me about that because it will lend itself now to a whole lot of opportunities for other actors.
[Doug]: Yeah. And that's what we're certainly hoping from this. And I had this chance encounter in real life 10 years ago that inspired this. And I knew from the start of making it that I wanted to cast a deafblind actor in the role of the deafblind character already in the film. And fortunately I was able to partner with Helen Keller National Center throughout this entire process and still three years down the line, I'm still still close partners. And that allowed me to gain the knowledge and the connection and the real meaningful relationships with the deafblind community to not only cast Robert, who's our deafblind actor who does an amazing job, but to really make sure that the film was done authentically and that it was something that would do justice to this community. That's unrepresented. And we all know the responsibility anytime you're representing a community that's underrepresented or not represented at all, even with the best intentions, if you're not creating something that's authentic, you can inadvertently be really setting back the perceptions of a community in certain people's eyes. If you don't do it justice and do it authentically. We've taken one excuse away from people who are making films, they can't say that you can't do it with an actor who's deafblind, cause we've done it and we've done it successfully. And we're hoping that this is the start of many opportunities for people not only in the deafblind community, but many other parts of the disability community that had been historically had almost no opportunities.
[Kelly]: What an amazing film. I guarantee if you go see it, you will walk away and you will feel very, very inspired. And the two gentlemen who are making this possible. And by the way, congratulations gentlemen, on your Academy award nomination, it's so big and it's so right, and so deserved. I'm talking to Doug Roland and Steven Prescod and Steven, what does it mean for you to be a part of this groundbreaking film, and also to bring your talents to this effort overall, to really awaken the world to say, don't discriminate, don't disregard, don't count me out because of what you think you might know about me.
[Steven]: Oh, that's a beautiful question, Kelly. And it just puts a battery in my back to just keep on driving, keep on rolling that way. Because like, honestly, especially with this business, this industry, I'm looking to embark into, it can be pretty difficult and overwhelming and sometimes you can second guess yourself, like, am I what I'm meant to be doing? Am I doing the right thing? And then like seeing the feedback that Feeling Through, how it has been affecting, like people that's been watching, it's like, wow. I feel that I am doing what I am set to be doing in this day, time and history. So I'm excited to just keep on going and keep pushing.
[Kelly]: Doug, look, you're out there and you're producing films and you're working in Hollywood, which can sometimes, and oftentimes be very mean place. But here you are finding these wonderful moments of inspiring people through your artistry. How did you come to that conclusion that this was your Why?
[Doug]: I think a lot of what you could very much label as failures or the things that didn't happen or the things that have served me by far the most of my journey. And I think I've always thought of myself as a late bloomer and not, I don't mean that in a negative connotation. And I think what the failures or rejections of the past provided for me was first and foremost, the need to look in the mirror and really ask myself, do you want to do this? And why do you want to do this? But the what, but the resounding answer back was I'm doing this for reasons deeper than outside validation or a certain paycheck though. Those things are nice to certainly not saying otherwise, but there, there were certain things that would come up in my stories that were things that were from a much deeper place that I felt really compelled to capture and do my best to make and share with people there's a universal resonance. And I think that's what we've been most grateful for is the fact that this is a film that has meant just as much to the deafblind community that's experienced. It that's really at the heart of it than it has to any other kind of person that's come across it. And particularly through the lens of pandemic and a really divisive time over the last year that we've been showing it, we've had hundreds and hundreds of people reach out to us and say, this is exactly what I needed to see right now to turn things around.
[Kelly]: I want to thank both of you for staying true to your story, true to who you are, and let's see what happens. Again, congratulations on getting the nod from the Academy award Steven Prescod, as well as Doug Roland. Thank you so much, gentlemen.
[Steven]: Thank you. Thank you.