The Conservatory featured four films from past Black Harvest Film Festivals. Those films were Prom Date Blues by Martisse Hill released in 2015 and three films from 2013; The Bathroom Attendant by Deon H. Hayman, The Chicago Boyz by Tiara Epps, and Perfect Day by Derrick L. Sanders. I was able to catch the latter two films and joined in with a question and answer session with the two directors. Tiara Epp’s film The Chicago Boyz highlighted the story of an acrobatics team from Chicago’s Englewood area and showed how their skills landed them On America’s Got Talent. Derrick L. Sander’s film Perfect Day gave a unique perspective on the tragic tale of Derrion Albert. Derrion was a Chicago teen who got killed in 2009 in a fight that took place outside his school.
Both films took the stance of showing positive images of otherwise bleak and negative situations. In the case of Sander’s film Perfect Day, he chose to focus on the scenario of teen romance and the simplicity of youth as opposed to youth violence. In fact, you don’t know the movie is about Albert until the end of the film. By the same token, Epps chose to center her story around people who triumphed despite being surrounded by violence and poverty.
The energy from the films carried over to the question-and-answer session. The attendees use the opportunity not only to ask questions but state problems in the Black community and offer solutions. You can check out the footage from the session below. Tiara Epps has a new film called ‘Sunday’ that is coming out. You can go to her Facebook page and check out the trailer @tiarathefilmaker. Derrick L. Sanders is also a play director and assistant professor of theatre at UIC. You can check out his credits and future projects @http://theatreandmusic.uic.edu/directory/derrick-l-sanders