Film
‘American Fiction’ director Cord Jefferson highlights the importance of diverse Black experiences after winning an Oscar
“American Fiction” director Cord Jefferson shared more about the importance of telling diverse Black stories after winning his first Oscar at the 2024 Academy Awards.
The writer-director, who won an Oscar for best adapted screenplay for “American Fiction,” spoke to reporters backstage and emphasized that the Black community is “just as nuanced, complex and diverse as any other group of people.”
“Showing people you don’t normally get to see on the big screen is important to me,” Jefferson said of his film. “I feel it is vital to indicate diversity inside diversity. I mean, it’s like people assume that diversity means one thing and that there is one Black guy in the room that makes for a complete Black experience.
He continued: “It’s vital for me to understand that there isn’t a one Black one who encapsulates the entirety of the Black experience; of course you will have people in the projects; of course you had individuals who were slaves. But between the pole of being a slave, here you will have the pole of being president of the United States. It’s part of the Black experience on this country. You have hundreds of thousands of stories to inform between these two poles.
Jefferson wrote and directed “American Fiction,” a black comedy a few black author (Jeffrey Wright) who decides to jot down a stereotypically black novel after becoming irritated by the racist systems and stereotypes which were imposed on him. Along the way, he strengthens his relationship along with his family, including his brother (Sterling K. Brown), and redefines what blackness and black success mean to him.
Jefferson’s Oscar win was the only Oscar of the night for “American Fiction,” based on Percival Everett’s 2001 novel “Erasure.” The film was nominated for five awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Jeffrey Wright, Best Supporting Actor for Sterling K. Brown, and Best Original Score.
Wright lost to Cillian Murphy, who won for his role as J. Robert Oppenheimer in “Oppenheimer,” while Brown lost to Robert Downey Jr., who won the Oscar for his role in “Oppenheimer.” During his acceptance speech, Jefferson thanked Wright and Brown, in addition to the rest of the forged of “American Fiction.”
“Thank you to everyone who worked on this film for trusting a 40-year-old black guy who had never directed anything before,” Jefferson said. “It modified my life. I really like you all. Thank you very much.”