It’s not Harris’ first feature film — you can get “Black Butterfly” on NetFlix and he’s produced a dozen that went straight to DVD — but Black Coffee is his first release in out-of-town theaters.
“It’s a limited theatrical release in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Chicago,” Harris said. “So far, D.C. is the top city supporting the film, even beating out my hometown of Chicago.”
In fact, Black Coffee — released exclusively in AMC theaters — didn’t get booked in a single theater within Chicago’s city limits. If you want to see it, you’ll have to drive to south suburban Country Club Hills or Crestwood.
It would be nice to have his newest flick on Chicago screens, but Harris, an Englewood native who now lives in Hyde Park, isn’t complaining.
“The budget for this film was nothing. Initially it was supposed to be a direct-to-video movie, but after [the distributor] saw the film they wanted to take it to theaters,” Harris said. “I don’t have any idea why it wasn’t shown in Chicago, at AMC River East, but I know people would have went. It’s doing extremely well for us.”
It has some pretty funny moments, including a scene where the main character explains why he’s not a serial killer this way: “Because I’m black.”
But Harris says Black Coffee is more than just an urban romantic comedy.
He hopes the story of Robert — a house painter who overcomes the loss of his job and his girlfriend on the same day to find new love and work in the coffee business — inspires under-employed folks in the audience to chase their own dreams.