If you missed numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 in this series (Andrew Dosunmu's Ma'George, Shola Lynch's Free Angela, Byron Hurt's Soul Food Junkies, and Dyana Gaye's Des Etoiles) click HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

Here's number 5… 

The beat goes on for Mr Rodney Evans, the acclaimed writer/producer/director of Brother To Brother, his 2004 debut feature – a drama that looks back on the creative energy of cultural revolution during the Harlem Renaissance from the perspective of an elderly black writer who meets a gay teenager in a New York homeless shelter.

The moody film – an enlightening and entertaining work that explores issues faced by artists of the Harlem Renaissance that continue to be relevant today – starred Anthony Mackie before he became ANTHONY MACKIE, won the Special Jury Prize at Sundance in 2004, and was nominated for Independent Spirit Awards in four categories in 2005.

It should be on your "must-see" list of films, if you haven't already watched it, and it's enough of a reason to get excited about his next film – #5 on the S&A list of 2012 projects we're looking forward to.

Rodney is currently in buried in post-production on his 2nd feature film titled The Happy Sad, which follows two couples, one black and one white, whose lives collide as they navigate open relationships and sexual identity.

Further…

The Happy Sad explores the questions that alternative twenty- and thirty-year olds face in a culture where there appears to be endless possibilities for sex but also a resistance to any definitive model for a proper relationship.

Principal photography wrapped on July 30th last year, and I expected it to make its world debut at this year's Sundance Film Festival. However, as Rodney announced on Facebook the night before Sundance unveiled its lineup, he didn't even submit his film to the festival, and instead chose to take his time in post production, rather than rush to get it into the festival; and I'm sure the film will surely be better for it!

Our last post on it was in February when it was announced that the project had been awarded completion funds courtesy of Frameline. 

Rodney expects the film to be completed this spring, and  I expect a latter half of the year film festival debut – possibly Toronto.