By: Michael Reel
Day two of the S.E. Manly Short Film Showcase featured a bold lineup of films featuring young actors who breathe new life into creative and captivating storylines.
“If you can tell a story, tell it!” advised Robert McCung, Director of the Youth Diversity Film Festival. “Your voice, your story, your situation is exclusive to you but not exclusive to the world. The people in the same situation need to hear your story and Black Hollywood Education and Research Center is here to help you.”
The BHERC step and repeat was all the buzz on the mezzanine level of the Regal LA Live Theater complex. It is also where we chatted with several of the actors, writers, producers and film directors responsible for some of this year’s must-see films.
“Color,” writer and director Carly Rogers’s latest offering is an eight-minute dramatic film that features a black rookie LAPD officer who is forced to make a choice when her partner corners a suspicious black teenager.
“I think there are a lot of wonderful voices here that have a lot of opinions on film,” said Rogers, a graduate of the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. “To be able to submit something for the festival and have it seen by a lot of people I respect and love along with a lot of other collaborators, I think is a wonderful experience.”
“With Salt” lead actress Dominique Denny and director Phyllis Bancroft director engaged the audience following the screening of the powerful and poignant film that explores the ugly and horrific side of dating: Forced coerced sex. When ambitious college student Natalie’s impromptu date takes an unexpected turn, silence is easier, but at what cost?
“It really became obvious to me that this had happened to so many women, but they never really talked about it,” explained Bancroft.
Casting for “With Salt” was conducted via Zoom. “I was lucky to get a callback,” said Dominique, who brought Natalie to life. “As soon as I read what the film was about, I was sold. I needed to be a part of this important film.”
“I think fear often holds back people from achieving their goals and what they want to do in life,” said Herbert Sims, a BHERC volunteer and mainstay. “For a young person trying to navigate this world of Hollywood and filmmaking, I say absolutely go for it! Believe in yourself and take the first steps.”
Writer and director Clyla Destiny was excited to have her new film “Professor Blackteach” screened at the S.E. Manly Short Showcase.
“It’s about a young black professor, Tiara Blackteach who really has a master’s degree in Astrophysics but is hired by Preedom White University to teach African American Studies, said Destiny. “She has a disconnect from her own history due to her upbringing,”
Destiny embodies a wide range of talents. “There’s not one specific thing that I do. I’m involved in various mediums of the creative process.”
In this 20-minute film Tiara Blackteach, played by Destiny, is trying her best to provide real-world enlightenment to her students. “She brings black colloquialism to her classroom in turn trying to teach her students a lot of the microaggressions that we experience as black people. It’s done in a fun and comic way.”
“This is often called the film festival of a purpose,” said Sandra Evers-Manly, President and Founder of the Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center. “A purpose of bringing black individuals together to celebrate all that we have accomplished but also to educate and bring forth great change.”
