DIONNE WARWICK: DON'T MAKE ME OVER Cinema Intro + Q&A | TIFF 2021

good afternoon good afternoon and welcome to the world premiere of dion warwick don't make me over yeah my name is cameron bailey i am the artistic director and the co-head here at tiff i want to thank all of you for coming out isn't it great to be in a theater again [Music] isn't it even better to be in a theater with a legend i think so we are thrilled to have this film by dave wooley and david haubronner here i want to just acknowledge this beautiful house that we're in we're really happy to be presenting films this year at the visa screening room at the princess of wales theatre we want to thank visa canada for making that possible this film is eligible for the amplify voices award presented by canada goose it's also eligible for the people's choice award uh in documentary and for the overall people's choice award as well you decide those prizes you can go online to tiff.net vote to make your choice we want to thank mr smith entertainment and endeavor content for providing us with this film and a big thank you also to the consulate general of the united states in toronto for supporting the q a for the filmmakers i guess that's that team over there [Applause] [Music] this was a hard year for i think most of us the tiff team spent most of the year at home working from home you know kitchen tables basement in my case you know lots of places where we don't usually do our work and we watched a lot of movies the whole team watched 7 000 films to put this festival together for you there was a moment where i was sent this film and i watched it at home and i just lit up i can't tell you it really just brought so much brightness into what had been a very um dark time to see the story of dionne warwick the musical skill she has her sheer talent her ferocious determination her generosity it's i felt like i'd died and gone to heaven honestly when i saw this movie and i'm so thrilled that we're able to bring it to you first you're the very first audience in the world to see this film and the filmmakers and a woman i consider both an auntie and an angel have come to present it to you so please join me in welcoming dave wooley david howe broner and dionne warwick thank you please be seated i've always wanted to say that first of all i'd like to thank the lord for giving us this blessing [Applause] second of all i'd like to thank my mother who is here because she produced me wisdom and my two lovely daughters vita and davina wooley thank you thank you tiff for allowing us this amazing opportunity a special thanks to cameron and joanna for believing in telling stories that usually go untold this is a film about bringing us together i also would like to thank my incredible co-director where's david give him a big round of applause thank you man [Applause] this was five years in the making and it was a joy it was a passion and simply put i think at the end of those five years i simply felt that the dion war don't make me over documentary is what the world needs now so we hope you enjoy it and we love you don't forget to vote [Applause] well usually when i stand before a microphone you expect me to sing but i'm not going to yet i'd just like to say how excited and thrilling it is to be here first of all you have no idea what it took to get here i mean they they want to know who you are why you are at any rate i also want to take a minute to acknowledge the 20th anniversary of something that devastated the united states 20 years ago we lost a lot of people through a lot of ugliness our world trade center so i want to take just about 30 seconds of silence in honor of those that gave their lives for me and for you as well if you don't mind if you take the 30 seconds with me i'd appreciate it yes it was 30 seconds i watched please enjoy take the journey with me and help you enjoy it as much as i had taking it myself if there's one lesson i've learned in making documentaries about amazing people and with amazing people it's sometimes your best best thing you can do is get out of the way so i'll see you at the q a that was something wasn't it [Applause] all right let's bring them back out we have the directors of dion warwick don't make me over david heilbronner dave wooley and dion warwick the star [Music] thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you so much [Applause] what you think [Applause] it's a lot of love in this room um i have so much i want to ask you and i know our audience will as well but uh dave and david maybe i'll start with you um how did the idea of making a documentary about dion warwick first come about and what was it like to work with this firecracker in this movie i'll start off okay dave well first of all did you enjoy you know i uh i told you at the beginning that i produced this but my mother produced me so i got to sit next to her and she said a fly crew flew in our eye a few times while watching the movie um but before we get started where's wes hall can you stand up for a second wes is our executive producer from from right here in toronto thank you thank you we love you and your beautiful wife and family well dion and i uh i had the pleasure of co-authoring her autobiography which i encourage you guys to pick up it's called my life as i see it and while we were writing the book you know i had all of these incredible stories and antidotes were part of the story and every time we write something i was like man that would make a great documentary that's a great story nobody knows this and that's that was ten years ago by the way and it took five years to do this so that's where it all started and david for you well started when uh dave wooley called me up five years ago and said hey man you know you want to do a dione warwick documentary and i was like come on who wouldn't want to do a deon warwick documentary but dion you know i knew what it would everybody knew that you know you're this incredibly successful charted singer who has you know changed the face of pop music over more than half a century but i didn't know and this is where uh i really became so passionate about making this film is what you've done for the world completely independently of your career i mean and i love that we can pay tribute to it so you know give it up for dion who has made made the world a better place that woman right there dion your story is so unique and when you see smokey and stevie and gladys and snoop everybody recognizes what you've accomplished and it wasn't just the music it was all of the ground that you broke in the pop charts doing things that other musicians had not been able to do can you maybe just take us back a little bit and in a bit maybe more than we saw in the film just talk about what it was like when you were starting out where there was a clear divide between black music and pop music which was not considered to be black and you you built that bridge you know first of all i'm happy you enjoyed it because i did too all over again [Laughter] [Applause] you know when i started in the industry in the early 60s long before a lot of you or even thought of that's less boring but i did not really know that there was a difference i was singing compositions that were written specifically for me by two of whom i still feel two of the most prolific composers of our time backrack and david excuse me um until i started touring and visiting places like south carolina and mississippi and arkansas and all those southern states of the united states is when all of a sudden there was something called segregation something i had never experienced coming from east orange new jersey where we did not have that kind of stuff and now i can't say that i take that back i'm certain that there had to be somewhere in those states that in the northern regions where i came from however i was never exposed to it the street i lived on in east orange sterling street and i still to this very day will tell you it was virtually the united nations we had all nationalities races colors creeds religions we all went to school together we had neighbors that would come to my house and put their feet under my mother's table and eat a dinner or a meal and i in turn would be invited to their homes regardless of what race it was put my feet under their table and eat a meal so i never felt this ugliness i call it stupid that is the ugliest word in my vocabulary stupid and i look at segregation discrimination and all those kinds of things as stupid and i like i say in the film and i say it frequently people know that i have never said anything that i cannot repeat but i don't truly i truly feel that what i do for living singing and bringing hopefully joy and peace and happiness to your ears i happen to be a messenger i'm very very careful about the message that i intend to bring to you through my music that will always be has been and i think that this is the responsibility that i took on when i said okay i'm gonna get out here and make some people happy make me some money but the main thrust of it is that you walk out of any performance that i've ever given with this a big smile because that's what it's really all about and it ain't healthy it's beautiful before we get uh to be honest i want to ask you just one more thing um you have taken over tiff's twitter today and that's because you are the reigning queen of twitter i want to ask you and i want to ask the filmmakers as well about you know this incredible figure dion warwick who has been a legend in music for many years and has reinvented herself again in the 21st century as a kind of a queen of social media that sounds like a leap but it comes so naturally to you it seems yeah you know i tell you my my nieces and nephews and my kids as well uh were at my home one one evening and they were having such a good old time in my living room they're giggling away and they were just the little thumbs were going crazy and i walked in the living room and said oh what's so funny what's going on here and brittany met the elder niece at the time said to me oh and dion would we're on twitter i said well what what is twitter she said oh it's an app and we're having a good time i said well well you're laughing at him so she showed me some of the things that were being said on twitter and i wasn't too happy about that i said well why why are they calling each other's names and why are they bashing each other this way what's the deal here so britain said i don't know this is what we do i said this was going to stop so she had asked i said well show me how to do it i want to giggle too she said you really wanna see i really wanna know so she did she showed me and i from that point on i made my presence known on twitter i let the babies know okay growing up is in your midst and y'all gonna respect this grown-up and the first thing this grown-up wants you to do is learn how to say what you got to say with a smile not a friend see cause frowning gives you wrinkles and smiling takes them away as you can see i smile an awful lot [Music] and you're going to say that jack who is the ceo of twitter he was thrilled that i found my way into the world of quoting where have you been where have you been he's thrilled and i am too that the shade has changed on twitter you know there now they understand you know like i told them from the very beginning that i'm going to be asking questions because i'm nosy i want to know and i want you to ask me questions and i will answer them and and they will they do i let them know too that i am learning as much from them as i hope they're learning from me and apparently it's working and i'm thrilled about it so i am the queen of twins we love it i just like to say you know dion as you know dion and i have this is our 25th anniversary this year of being a business partners can you believe that 25 years i started when i was two and i was just born [Laughter] but you know one of the things that kind of captured my attention is you know she's a trans when you think about a leader you know she's transformative she takes her followers and her followers become leaders uh and if you think about her career which you've just witnessed from the 60s to the 70s to the 80s to the 90s 2000 2010 we're in 2021 she has been relevant through each decade she never became an oldie but goodie act and if you look at her peers to be at just as relevant today as she was back in 1963 64. and now to lead twitter is unheard of i think we need to give her a round of applause again unheard of yes absolutely absolutely all right we have time for just uh one or two quick questions there's um i think there's a lady over there yep her name is dion thank you my darling for those who did not hear it's a a comment from dion who was named dion by her mother who's since passed and she just wanted to say thank you you're gonna make a mess of my mascara girl [Laughter] thank you so very much for that thank you all right there's someone over here question is now that this film is out will they re-release all of your music will you be able to hear it all well you know what that'd be wonderful if they did we're in a fight now within the industry of getting paid for those of you may not know we who record the only people that have been able to reap or benefit from it through radio play have been those who are the composers of the songs those who've recorded the songs have not ever reaped any kind of recognition monetarily from it and most people say oh every time you recognize lately i know you're gonna get some money if you know i wish i did but no but we are now in congress and it looks very close that we're now able to get our due i uh i of course wanted to know if we could do it retrospectively if we could go back to 62 but the answer was no but those i know basically i i know my my purpose basically was because we've lost so many of our really true true stars as far as i'm concerned recording artists people that have become friends over years their legacy should be recognized that means that whatever they're able to now reap the benefits from radio play their families now worry that so that's well we're fighting for that all right we have time for just one more is there anyone up in the balcony who's got [Applause] right there okay yes go ahead hello um what was the most difficult times i'll just repeat briefly um the uh the lady was asking um based on what she knows from her father's experience as a musician uh and back in the day in places like vegas the black musicians would have to go through the kitchen to get to the stage and she wants to know what for you was the most difficult or the most painful experience from that time and is that something you'd be willing to share sure you know first of all i fortunately was not a part of that particular era you're talking about the 30s 40s the 50s which i had i was not even thought of with indian street i was still in school at the time um it was it was not an easy time for them i learned that from people like sammy davis jr and lena horn and diane carroll those who did have to make the transition as they worked in vegas in the major hotels they couldn't stay in those major hotels there were hotels in the lower parts of vegas where they were black owned and that's where they stayed um [Music] just for your information we still walk through the kitchen we get to the stage they seem to have just forgotten about the entertainer altogether you know it's the only way in the backstage area it's gotta go through the kitchen to get to the stage it's just an ongoing thing it has nothing to do with what was going on in those particular years it just happens to be the route we have to take i fortunately have never experienced anything like that in vegas i wouldn't have changed it anyway like you said i'm crazy and everybody knew it so but you know there are certain things that you stand for and certain things that you will not tolerate that's another word that i've kind of negated for my vocabulary tolerate how you put that in your mouth so you're going to tolerate me you're gonna need to accept me or leave me alone okay so i i i've heard the stories you know and i'm sorry your dad to go through that stuff but you know it gave me the shoulders to stand on and i fortunately had made progress for our babies coming up in the in the business and i think my shoulders have gotten pretty broad and a lot of them have decided to jump on them which is a good thing so we're making our way totally out of all that madness you know like i said keep saying it's stupid and we got to stop with stupidity thank you one more thing you you were talking about all the years that you've been in the industry i know you are celebrating a milestone year for yourself you celebrated your 80th birthday not too long ago we wanted to help celebrate we're a little late but we wanted to help celebrate your 80th birthday and we have a little something for you so this is our gift from tiff to you dion warwick to celebrate your 80th birthday it's a real cake don't eat it now but we'll have it for you later happy birthday and i'm going i'm to eat it later and it's really pretty happy birthday to you it's coming happy birthday dear dion happy birthday to you thank you thank you so much thank you well listen [Music] okay when this keep this you got a little pencil and paper whatever you want to do write down the date december 12th and you can sing it in your house or you can tweet it or whatever you want to do it'll be the next birthday for me okay i feel appreciated though thank you thank you please join me in thanking again david halbroner dave wooley and dion warwick thank you so much for being here cameron thank you thank you everybody [Applause] don't forget to vote for the people's choice award

Channel: TIFF Originals

Views: 723

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: TIFF, Toronto International Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, TIFF21, TIFF Bell Lightbox

Id: abLUaJmBXVY

Length: 29min 47sec (1787 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 13 2021