In the early years of the film industry, Hollywood powerbrokers produced films that propagandized a racially hierarchical American society, wherein African Americans were depicted as subservient to whites, and therefore systematically defined as inferior. The enormous potential for the medium to promote, distort, and sway public opinion is evident. The world still suffers from its impact today. Degrading stereotypes serve a dual purpose. They work to demean African American life to other cultures. More importantly, they corrupt the way blacks view themselves.

All marginalized communities struggle to improve their status, image, and perceived contribution to society. I yearn for positive, ambitious, honest portrayals of American success. My mission, however, is not only to make films that project the African American experience, but present all people in a light that provokes serious thought. I formed Onward & Upward, LLC. with the sole purpose to produce pictures portraying positive images of American culture that uplift and inspire. 

I joined forces with Roger Guenveur Smith, Ruth E. Carter, and cinematographer Jeremy Royce, to produce Thoughts Are Things.

The film depicts a Horatio Algier-style success story that stresses literacy, hard-work, self-reliance, and altruism to spread hope like sunlight. Thoughts Are Things was developed with my sunlight in mind, my two daughters Carter Kauren and Judaea Samuelle, who also play key cast members. My grandmother always said, “Readers are leaders.” That and the film’s title are two values I instill in my own children. 

Movies communicate and define cultural attitudes both within and across cultural lines in America. I directed Thoughts Are Things to utilize the most powerful medium of influence over people to tell them books are magic. I did this in hopes that it might ignite a burning desire for great achievement. 

- Christopher Thomas Brown