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Transcript of 1131 Daisy Lane [email protected] ... Evolution of Bert begins with Bert Hightower as a child...
Jazzy Tam Films, 1131 Daisy Lane, East Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 333-3474 / [email protected]
The Evolution of Bert A Film by Jeffrey C. Wray
USA 2014 75 minutes 16mm b&w
Bert (Randall Stokes) romances Nita (Nakeshia Knight). Stu (Volney McFarlin) makes a pass at Bert.
Nita threatens Bert in his fantasy. Bert in the future.
PRESS CONTACT Jazzy Tam Films
Tama Hamilton-Wray (517) 505-3497
1131 Daisy Lane East Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 333-3474/(517) 515-4455 [email protected]
Jazzy Tam Films, 1131 Daisy Lane, East Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 333-3474 / [email protected]
SYNOPSIS The Evolution of Bert begins with Bert Hightower as a child sleeping gently. He has a surreal,
troubling vision of his future possibilities: the black Republican, the company man doing a soft-
shoe, the working-class man or the thoughtful, conscious dreamer man. The blend of fantasy and
reality has begun.
Bert is a young man beginning his final semester of college. His mother wants to know why he is
taking more than four years to finish school, and more to the point, what his job prospects are
post graduation. Bert is the first of his black working-class family to go to college and though he
wants his remaining days on campus to be casual and carefree, they are anything but. He is
anxious to be rid of Nita, his poetic girlfriend of two years, even as his best friend and campus
DJ Maul cautions him against being too quick to let a good thing go. A passionate student of
history, Bert fights his professor for that elusive 'A' he has never received, but feels he deserves.
Duke, an old school, shades-wearing perennial student, advises Bert against ending up in a soul-
killing career rather than pursuing his passion. With decisions to be made and a future pressing
down on him, Bert escapes into moments of fantasy. In one sequence his girlfriend Nita wields a
knife under his chin helping him to understand the meaning of her latest poem. In another, Stu, a
gay psychologist, interrogates Bert on his regrettable break up with Nita, his secret desire for a
white female classmate and his tepid future aspirations. On graduation day Bert runs in cap and
flowing gown into an uncertain future carrying a sweet memory (or fantasy?) of strolling the
campus green with Nita at his side. She is asking him, “Bert? Do you still love me?”
The Evolution of Bert comes to a close with Bert asleep once again. This time he is in his future
at his office desk. Many years after college he is finally answering his true love’s question,
“Bert? Do you still love me?” with a firm “Yes”. Once fully awaken, his old friend Duke stands
before him, still in shades, challenging Bert on the choices he has made in life and what has
become of a passion that was so promising. Bert defends his choices to Duke, but this final
fantasy is interrupted by his boss’s stern edict to get back to work. The boss leaves, but then
pauses before Bert to perform a short elegant soft-shoe. As he reluctantly turns back to his work,
a silver plated sign on his desk reveals his job title: Bert Hightower Claims Adjuster.
The Evolution of Bert is a dramatic, comedic, musically infused surreal tale of love and fantasy
and of coming to consciousness. It is the story of a young man's evolution into himself.
Jazzy Tam Films, 1131 Daisy Lane, East Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 333-3474 / [email protected]
DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY Jeff is a screenwriter and filmmaker whose projects include China (2003), produced for PBS,
and The Soul Searchers: Three Stories (2008), which screened in New York and Berlin. Jeff,
born in Medina, Ohio, is an associate professor of Film Studies at Michigan State University
where teaches screenwriting, black American & African cinema and film production.
Jeff’s films have screened at the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, George Eastman House
International Museum of Photography and Film, Urban World Film Festival, Los Angeles Pan
African Film Festival, the Boston First Night Celebration, Athens International Film Festival,
Memphis Black Writer’s Conference & Film Festival and the Roxbury Film Festival, as well as
internationally in the COE Cinema Africano Film Festival of Milan and the Film Club Xenix
American Black Cinema Retrospective in Zurich.
Jeff’s honors include the John Anson Kittredge Foundation Fellowship, Art Serve Michigan
Individual Artist Award, Ohio Arts Council Major Fellowship, and three nominations for the
Rockefeller Foundation Film and Video Fellowship. Most recently Jeff held a Filmmaker
Residency at the Wexner Center for the Arts at the Ohio State University.
FILMOGRAPHY + SELECT SCREENINGS Songs for My Right Side (USA, anticipated 2015, 30 minutes, digital, color)
The Soul Searchers: Three Stories (USA, 2008, 50 minutes, 16mm, color) International Black Cinema Berlin / Athens International Film Festival / Urban World Film Festival
China (USA, 2003, 60 minutes, 16mm, color) PBS National Broadcast / Urban World Film Festival / Los Angeles Pan African Film Festival
The Beautyful Ones (1992, 20 minutes, 16mm, color) Africa in the Picture, Amsterdam / Ann Arbor Film Festival / Robert Flaherty Film Seminar / Film Club Xenix American Black Cinema Retrospective, Zurich
In Preparation Eclipse During the racially turbulent summer of 1964 political commitment comes into conflict with family.
Cliff’s Friends in Detroit Three middle-aged men return to Detroit for the funeral of their childhood friend.
Jazzy Tam Films, 1131 Daisy Lane, East Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 333-3474 / [email protected]
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION The production history of The Evolution of Bert reflects the true nature of independent
filmmaking, which requires passion, but even more so, commitment. This simple story of a
young man evolving was shot in the late 1990s, with only the final scene remaining to be
completed. Family, children, other film projects and simply everyday living did not allow us to
get back to The Evolution of Bert for another few years. Of course, by that time the original
ending planned for the film would not have worked at all. But in all honesty, coming up with a
finale for the film after many years was never much of a worry. In the mid 2000s, a grant award
allowed us to bring together the principal actor (Randall Stokes) and several other actors to shoot
the final scene of the film. We were all a little older, thus the passage of time had to play a role
in the new ending scripted for The Evolution of Bert. This presented a great opportunity to re-
imagine Bert Hightower from the time of the original production to that current moment. Stokes
as Bert brought a lived reality to the main character’s “future” and a mature authenticity to the
final scene.
Thematically, the end of The Evolution of Bert is directly tied to the beginning. The film opens
with a surreal and jazzy rendering of future choices and closes on the cool reality of a choice
made. Dreams and reality, future and past are inextricably linked in the story of this young Black
man’s evolution. The vision of the film and the heady, exuberant and often uncertain college
years of the primary characters are enhanced by the authenticity of the talented, non-professional
actors who were cast. Genuine student spaces and the actual university setting lent a reality to the
film that would have been otherwise difficult to recreate. And it was the desire to be true to such
authenticity that led to an ending in which a truly older Bert returned for the film’s final
moments.
As post-production closed in 2014, so many years after the initial shoot, we were faced with
locating the film’s actors now scattered all over the country and world. In reconnecting with
them, we found that they, like Bert, were well into their own life journeys.
Our passion to tell Bert’s story and our commitment to bring this film to fruition is apparent in
every moment of The Evolution of Bert.
Jeff Wray & Tama Hamilton-Wray
Jazzy Tam Films, 1131 Daisy Lane, East Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 333-3474 / [email protected]
CAST Bert Hightower Randall Stokes
Nita Nakeshia Knight
Nate Nate DeWitt
In Order of Appearance Young Bert Faisal Luvaga
Game Show Host Sean Mitchell
Black Republican/Stu Volney McFarlin
Insurance Salesman Kevin Jones Giddins
Working Class Man Jonathan D. Wray
Dreamer/Duke Jeffrey C. Wray
Mrs. Hightower G. Christine Taylor
Dr. Giddins Lita Little Giddins
Career Counselor Robert Fain, III
Mr. “Chief” Hightower Albert G. Mosley
Dr. Martin Doug Partusch
White Girl Nicole VanderDoes
Poetry Slam Host Terry Cross
Nita’s Girlfriend Karla Shores
Simone Semeca Prather
Girl 1 Kellie Armstead
Girl 2 Shelly Greene
Girl 3 Shawanna Coleman
Street Musician Randall Sisco
Woman Speaking Swahili Ebby Luvaga
Jazzy Tam Films, 1131 Daisy Lane, East Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 333-3474 / [email protected]
CREW Writer and Director Jeffrey C. Wray
Producer Tama Hamilton-Wray
Associate Producer Jonathan D. Wray
Director of Photography Joe ‘Jody’ Williams
Editors Devon Collins
Jeffrey C. Wray
Sound Design Marlowe Taylor
Additional Camera James Reeves
Additional Editing Jared Milburn
Additional Sound Simon Tarr
Mark Thomas
Audra Lindsey
Hip Hop Score Kuroi Oto
Jazz Score Kris Johnson
Featured Music BLAT! Pack - Jahshua Smith, James Gardin & Yellokake
Randall Sisco
With Support From National Black Programming Consortium
Ohio Arts Council
Michigan State University
Ohio University
Copyright Jazzy Tam Films 2015