# HOW TO: Swing Big With a First Feature, and Win (w/ Elijah Davis)

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-50-50-podcast-7299121/how-to-swing-big-with-a-first-feature-and-win-w-elijah-davis
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-50-50-podcast-7299121/how-to-swing-big-with-a-first-feature-and-win-w-elijah-davis.md
Podcast: [The 50/50 Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-50-50-podcast-7299121)
Published: 2026-03-03T15:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://the-5050-podcast.castos.com/episodes/how-to-see-film-as-a-collective-effort-w-elijah-davis
Audio file: https://episodes.castos.com/67e9c4924ee350-83326482/2381352/c1e-4wv1db8g189h9d7jm-kpj81djrcv3d-y6ig21.mp3
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Duration seconds: 3877

## Resource

This week, filmmaker Elijah Davis breaks down how he swung big on his debut feature, Three Colors: Pan African — and what it actually took to get it made. We talk about the influence of French cinema on the film’s visual language, and Elijah’s larger mission: creating real authorship opportunities for Black creatives across every department. He shares how funding the first portion of the project as a proof of concept unlocked momentum — and why fundraising proved to be one of the most difficult stretches of the process. We also discuss representation theory and Elijah’s perspective on the relationship between Blackness and media — who gets to tell stories and who controls the frame. Finally, he opens up about balancing all of this while working full-time as an assistant at WME — and what it means to build a filmmaking career from inside the industry machine. THREE COLORS INSTAGRAM/TRAILER THREE COLORS IMDB THREE COLORS LETTERBOXD SUBMIT TO 50/50 FESTIVAL

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## Transcript

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