Recapping… Soon after the Sundance Institute announced its 2013 lineup of films, I posted an entry here asking black filmmakers who submitted films for Sundance consideration, but who were members of the many thousand whose films were rejected by the festival, to email me and introduce themselves and their projects, so that I can share here on S&A.
I received a few replies, and, as promised, will share each of them right here, starting with the one I posted yesterday by filmmaker Darryl McCane, which you can read HERE if you missed it.
Today's response/intro comes from Pierre M. Coleman. And as I did yesterday, instead of me paraphrasing, I'll let the filmmaker speak for himself:
My name is Pierre M. Coleman. I'm a filmmaker from Newark, NJ. I'm a graduate of Howard University's School of Communication with a degree in Film. I've had the opportunity to work on HBO's The Wire and numerous 20th Century Fox projects. In 2007, I started Solid Brick Entertainment and working on independent project. I started following your blog(this year) Shadow and Act, and I came across your tweet today about Sundance. I don't know if you've ever seen any of my stuff but I wanted to reach out and introduce myself. I have two projects that were rejected at Sundance; Hello, My Name Is Trouble (2011 Festival) and Second District (2013 Festival).
Hello, My Name Is Trouble was written and directed by me. It was rejected from the 2011 Sundance festival but it played at the Martha's Vineyard African American Film Fest, San Diego Black Film Fest, Hamptons Black Film International Film Fest and it played on Verizon Fios on Demand for a year. I decided to release it online last year and it's reached over 63,000 views so far.. That was my first project that I spend all of my savings on lol. I still get emails from people who've enjoyed it and I'm thankful.
Synopsis: Jeremiah, a troubled young male, tries to deal with the cards he's been dealt with in life. He makes a decision to help his struggling mother, which ultimately leads to his demise.
Second District is a project that I produced. It was shot in Hartford, CT. One of my good friends, Rashad Frett (director of the film), brought the project to me. It's based on the corruption of the Hartford Police Department and it was created and written by an actual Hartford Police Officer. When we released the trailer it created a huge buzz in the CT/NYC/NJ area. They've been in talks about making it a series. I don't have a link to the full film online but I can give you a link to the trailer. It played in NY festivals and the Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival this year.
Synopsis: As a struggling police department in Hartford, CT fights to maintain order, rival gangs have seize control of portions of the city; leaving the public in fear and a once vibrant city without hope.
Pierre also shared that he's currently developing his first feature, as well as a web series; but I didn't want to reveal everything just yet. We'll highlight those eventually, when the time is right.
In the meantime, watch the short film he mentions above, Hello, My Name Is Trouble; and after that, check out the trailer for his other short film, which is not yet available online in full, Second District:
