We The Party | Interviews with Mario and Mandela Van Peebles

There are a number of legacies in Hollywood. Whether it is Martin and Charlie Sheen, or John Voit and Angelina Jolie, Francis Ford Coppola and Nicolas Cage, Jerry and Ben Stiller. But the number of African American Legacies are few and far between. Besides the new legacy started by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith and the father daughter combo of Sanaa and Stan Lathan, you can not point to too many families of color who have passed down opportunities. There is one family who now spans 3 generations, starting with the eldest Melvin Van Peeble who broke into Hollywood in 1971 with his blaxploitation film Sweet Sweetback's Baadassss Song which he starred and directed in and cast his son Mario Van Peebles to play his characters younger self in the film. Mario Van Peebles took that head start and went on to forge a great career himself in front of and behind the scenes, both starring in a number of films and directing such films as New Jack City, Posse, and now We The Party. Mario would mirror his father by giving the same opportunity to his son Mandela who plays the lead role of 'Hendrix', in the new coming of age film We The Party. A revealing look at contemporary youth culture, writer-director Mario Van Peebles' WE THE PARTY shows teenagers as they are, not as adults would like them to be. Set amidst the latest trends in music, dance and fashion, WE THE PARTY is a colorful, cutting-edge comedy set in an ethnically diverse Los Angeles high school during America's first black president. The film focuses on five friends as they deal with romance, money, prom, college, sex, bullies, facebook, fitting in, standing out, and finding themselves. Evoking such classic teen comedies as The Breakfast Club and House Party but with an attitude and style all its own, WE THE PARTY captures the hopes, confusion, challenges and dreams of today's teenagers as they plunge headlong into an uncertain future. The film features Snoop Dogg, YG, The New Boyz, The Rej3ctz, The Pink Dollaz, Mario Van Peebles, Michael Jai White, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Tiny Lister, Melvin Van Peebles, Mandela Van Peebles, Simone Battle, Moises Arias, Orlando Brown and Quincy Brown.MANDELA VAN PEEBLESHe doesn't see being named after Nelson Mandela, and following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather before him, as pressure. Instead, he sees these things as something that he is determined to live up to. Mandela Van Peebles possesses something that a lot of up-and-comers don't have at the tender age of seventeen—lush and varied world experiences. He's spent a school year in Costa Rica, a summer working on a farm in Panama, volunteered with children in South Africa, and astutely observed at nine years of age that the children playing in the rice patties in Thailand appeared happier than some of his American friends did—the ones who had all the toys and privileges the world could offer, yet still complained, whereas the Thai children had no possessions, but could still find joy in the small things. With this keen power of observation and a burgeoning awareness of human psychology, it's always been assumed that Mandela would be a third generation director. After all, he's grown up on his father's sets, and although he'd acted with his family in Judgment Day and had co-starred with Dita Von Teese in a short film in which he kissed her, Mandela had always thought that he'd find his place solely behind the camera. All that changed with WE THE PARTY. For the first time, he was able to experience the whole process of making a film. Not only was his interest in directing intensified, but he was also surprisingly bitten by the acting bug in a big way, and learned the ins and outs of producing. A BlackTree Media ProductionSegment Journalist/Producer Jamaal FinkleyFor more info follow us on twitter @blacktreetvand log ontowww.blacktreemedia.com