Ep #85 - In Conversation with Howard Davis on Creativity, Queerness, Black Joy and MixedUp

The Happiness Project

There are so many titles associated to our guest speaker today! We have with us Howard Davis who aka HAUI, who is a diverse multidisciplinary entrepreneur of many artistic trades, including performing, directing, design & visual arts. Howard J. Davis performs professionally in Film & Television and Theatre. A graduate Ryerson Theatre School of University in Toronto in 2014, he has acted with companies such as the Shaw Festival of Canada, Native Earth Performing Arts, Cahoots Theatre, Paper Canoe Projects, Factory Theatre, Neptune Theatre as well as in film and television. In the summer of 2020, he was slated to design the world premiere of Anne Marie MacDonald's play Hamlet 911 at the Stratford Festival of Canada. His work as a filmmaker emphasizes how the past can inform our current sociopolitical climate to build a practice in telling stories of his heritage, marginalized cultures, and original modern works that bridge classical, theatrical, and historical context to contemporary cinema and stage. In this episode, HOWI takes us through his journey of being ‘Mixed’ and how it inspired him to create this incredible film called Mixed up. 2020 wasn’t an easy year – not for me, not for you but for some people wonderful things came out of it because they got into their creative potential and inner voice. His feature-length film debut entitled MIXEDUP explores the isolation of being BIPOC and LGBTQ+ and demands that we celebrate what is unique about each of us. The film was co-produced with trans producer/filmmaker Jack Fox and premiered November 2020 on OUTtv and OUTtvGO network television and at Image+Nation LGBTQueer Film Festival. Howard is part of Wildseed Black Arts Residency in association with Black Lives Matter Toronto - a 20-month paid residency and space for interdisciplinary collaboration through arts and activism. In 2019, He was the recipient of ByBlack's People's Choice Award for Best Director. In 2020 he was nominated for a Montreal English Theatre Award for Outstanding Contribution to Theatre. From being queer, to an artist – his life story has been pretty interesting. We discuss about his work that revolves around race, gender, orientation and how he beautifully brings it up in his movie MixedUp. He talks about his struggle of coming out and the support that he received from his family and friends. As an artist, his life journey has shaped his perspective as an Actor, Film maker, and Director. I am so delighted to have Howard on my show who takes us through the nuances of his queerness and mixed heritage. There’s so much that we discover and learn about Howi in this episode. Tune in to the entire episode to know more about creativity, queerness, happiness, black joy and his film MixedUp (ps - please check out his film - it's incredible) To know more about Howard Davis Social handles are @hauidavis / @mixed_upfilm Website: www.haui.ca