Film festival reels in works with personal connections
For three Boston-based filmmakers, the stories of how they came to the art and overcame obstacles to get their films produced are in many ways just as compelling as their subjects.
Works by independent filmmakers Jibril Haynes, L.L. Lumpkins-O'Bryant, and Bill Willis will be among more than 50 films to be presented at the ninth annual Roxbury Film Festival, which opens Wednesday and runs through next Sunday at five Boston sites.
The event is organized by two nonprofit organizations: ACT Roxbury, which promotes arts and culture as a vehicle for economic development, and the Color of Film Collaborative, which supports media makers of color and others who have an interest in creating and developing new and diverse images of minorities.
The festival is the largest in New England dedicated to films that celebrate people of color, and includes full-length features, documentaries, shorts, and youth-produced works made locally and nationally.
The three Boston-based filmmakers will be presenting works with a personal connection:
"Bullet Full of Knowledge." Screenplay by Jibril Haynes and Devaughn Woods; directed by Jibril Haynes.
Devaughn Woods was 14 when he was caught in a crossfire and took a bullet that left him paralyzed. This narrative feature tells the story of the day of the shooting from two perspectives -- the first, the life Woods was leading at the time he was shot, when he appeared headed for problems, the second with the new outlook he gained in the aftermath of the shooting.
"Devaughn didn't know it, but there was knowledge riding with that bullet," said Haynes, 34, a Dorchester native. "In some ways, he's glad it happened. The knowledge he's gained has made him a powerful victim."
Woods, now 28, came out to the filming sites at the beginning and the end of the shoot and contributed a powerful monologue about "getting a second chance at life" that closes the film.
Haynes also found himself floundering at times as a young man. He attended three high schools, including Boston Latin, before graduating from Dorchester High. It was at the historically black Clark Atlanta University where he found a mentor, Herbert L. Eichelberger, an associate professor of film.
Haynes and partner Nicole Parker have produced 22 films under their Origin Nile Films banner; this one is supported by grants from the Lef Foundation and Color of Film Collaborative.
They have learned to be creative in getting their movies made -- for example, eating at a restaurant for several days to build up a relationship with the owners, Haynes said, "hoping they'll later let you use it for a location shot."
"Shot in the Hood." Produced and directed by Bill Willis.
Willis, 45, a Mattapan resident and a Boston police officer for 21 years, is assigned to the K-9 unit in Special Operations. When he decided to make a film, he hoped that the power of the story would make up for his shortcomings as a novice at the craft.
He interviewed adults and teenagers from Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan on the recent rise in youth violence, trying to get at the core causes and how the community could help stem the tide.
"I wanted to know what else we could do than simply lock them up," said Willis. "That doesn't deter them. They don't even fear death."
Willis hopes his film can shed more light on a situation where some kids are afraid to leave the neighborhood to go a few blocks to the Boys Club. Willis said one of the positive influences in his life was a fourth-grade teacher named Leslie Harris, who spent time with him after school and later became a juvenile court judge. Harris is interviewed in the film.
"You don't know who's going to make an impact on your life when you're growing up," he said.
Willis self-financed his film and is on a mission to get as many kids as possible to see it. "If I can save one kid, I did my job," he said.
"Fishers of a
The work of Lumpkins-O'Bryant, 40, a first-time filmmaker and a Mission Hill native who now lives in Dorchester, draws on her experiences working in television production for 14 years, and her studies in film, speech pathology, and social psychology.
It's the story of a beleaguered social worker, under review for the fatal beating of a woman in her case load, who caves in to pressure from a doctor urging her to remove a child from the home of a deaf couple.
The social worker's experiences end up deepening her resentment over the nature of the help given to families in the social service system.
"One thing I wanted is for people who saw this piece to walk away with an appreciation for the culture of deaf children and deaf people," said Lumpkins-O'Bryant, who used eight hearing-impaired actors in the production and added subtitles to the film.
She also explores such issues as communication, intolerance, and discrimination.
Lumpkins-O'Bryant, who has written several plays, saved money whenever she could to make the film.
"Everywhere I went for a grant, I got turned down," she said. "There's limited resources and a lot of people looking for them."
Finally, through the help of friends and family and a post-production grant from the Color of Film Collaborative, she was able to complete the work.
"I'm so excited over what I learned just making the film," she said. "I think I'm already a sure-minded screenwriter and I intend to keep working at my craft."
Updated information on tickets, schedules, special guests, panels, awards, and other festival events can be found at its website, roxburyfilmfestival.org. 
