(upbeat music) - These are the stories that move us, the stories that guide us, and the stories that reflect our community, filmed in our neighborhoods and local haunts by those who call the city home.

These filmmakers are creating stories that show the life of our city in only a way we could imagine.

These are the stories that we tell.

This is "Atlanta on Film."

Hi, I'm your host, Alechia Reese, and welcome to season two of "Atlanta on Film."

This is a weekly series featuring a collection of films from independent filmmakers across the Atlanta film community.

This series is Atlanta's home for independent creatives to showcase the work they're making, and it gives us a chance to interview them about their creative process.

Now, before we dive into our first collection of work, I'd like to take a second for us to get familiar with one of our partners this season, the Atlanta Film Festival.

- What is so amazing about the Atlanta Film Festival, I think is that personal touch.

I think the filmmaker experience is always really strong.

You know, we try to help people connect.

I think that's one of our main goals as an organization.

- I feel like fostering a independent film community is absolutely crucial, especially making, creating avenues for filmmakers to come together to exchange ideas, to exchange resources, to exchange skillset is crucial.

- It's really cool 'cause it's one of the few festivals I've seen where you get both big names and then also just up and coming filmmakers getting to premiere their film in a great theater.

- The Atlanta Film Society, or as we originally named, IMAGE, which stood for Independent Media Artists of Georgia, Et Cetera, was formed in 1976.

Officially, we were incorporated in '77 when we held the first Atlanta Film Festival.

And it was a group of like, we'd like to say ragtag filmmakers, cinephiles, film educators from around the community.

It wasn't really one person's vision, it was a communal, grassroots effort.

- For four decades, the Atlanta Film Festival has been hosted right here in the iconic Plaza Theater.

This is the festival's home base, but they also host events around Atlanta at places like the historic Oakland Cemetery, the Illuminarium, and the Tara Theater.

- The Atlanta Film Society was ultimately formed, or image was ultimately formed because these different people from across our film community felt that two things were necessary.

For one, we needed an organization that could put together a festival, an annual festival, where local work could be showcased alongside some of the greatest work they could curate from around the country or around the world.

The second thing is, they also wanted to work throughout the year to help local filmmakers have access to either equipment or expertise, you know, whatever kind of support they could offer to help them not only become better artists, but also to become professionals, and to take their artistry, turn it into a livelihood.

- The Atlanta Film Festival's mission is to support the movie and image and the art of filmmaking through education, outreach, and screenings.

So we do about anywhere from 30 to 40 educational programs throughout the year, and it is for anybody from any range and from any kind of demographic.

So it may be somebody who's entry level, they have zero experience in the film and entertainment industry, somebody who has a little experience, but they're trying to hone it a little more and somebody who's been doing it for a while, but they wanna get to that master level.

- Film is an art form that only exists, because of all the art forms essentially put together.

I mean, you've got the disciplines and the expertise from photography and theater and dance and music and painting, and you know, you have all the art forms.

Literally you add 'em all together, if this was an equation, equals film, that's what it is.

- Being one of only two dozen Academy Award qualifying festivals in the US, the Atlanta Film Festival is the area's preeminent celebration of cinema.

- So when we say Academy Award qualifying, that means that the academy, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the people who produce the Oscars have earmarked the Atlanta Film Festival as a kind of feeder for their nomination process.

So if a short film, in a narrative short or live action as the Oscar calls it, or animated short film, or a documentary short film, comes through the festival selected by my team and then wins a Jury award, that film's team is now qualified to apply to become long listed for the Oscars.

So it's a multi-stage process, but we're qualifying in all three, and that's a really pretty elite group of festivals.

- We're also the first festival in the world to offer a pathway for a feature film to qualify for an Oscar through the award and getting a theatrical run as a result of winning that category.

I think hopefully down the road and in the future, the Atlanta Film Festival will first and foremost make a bigger impact on the artist whose work are featured in the festival.

- It's truly a one of a kind film festival and WABE has partnered with them to showcase some of the finest work from Atlanta-based filmmakers who are well on their way to lighting up silver screens worldwide.

- We try to be as generalist as we can as a festival.

You know, we're the Atlanta Film Festival, so our theme is kind of Atlanta and what we think an audience in Atlanta will like and what they'll benefit from seeing.

And that also means representing the sort of diversity, the vibrancy of the city and the people of the city.

- If we're an organization about storytelling and storytellers and stories in general, we should probably be reflecting Atlanta's story.

So what's Atlanta story?

What I realized is that it is a place of innovators, originators, and rebels.

And that's why we've named awards in the spirit of Dr. King, in the spirit of Jimmy Carter, of Ted Turner, of Tyler Perry, of Pemberton, of all these people who are part of Atlanta's story, who really do make it special and have inspired others to take on their own endeavors and do things that should not work, but do for some reason.

What is still true is that we're still one of the most diverse film festivals in the country.

We now, over 75 to sometimes upwards of 90% of what we play is directed by women, people of color, people from the LGBTQ community, or people from the American South.

I think these days, I think the most important part about what we do is bringing people together around ideas that might challenge their preconceived notions.

Bringing people together to see the experience of people who may be, are different than they are, and be able to see life a little bit through their eyes.

I mean, the festival doesn't matter if it's not for the community that makes it and the community, it helps con continue and build.

Hopefully it feels like a family reunion of a bunch of people you're not related to, right?

(film whirring) - The Atlanta Film Festival is such a great home for our creative community.

For our first film this evening, a bleeding heart vegan and her pragmatic roommate find themselves at odds concerning pest elimination methods, however, cruel yet effective.

While humans enjoy our place at the top of the food chain, one must ask, do we actually deserve that position?

This is A.K.

Espada's "This is our Home."

(soothing music) (music gaining in intensity) (music abruptly ending) (groaning in disgust) - Maria?

Hey, did you use my pan?

- For popcorn only.

No bacon, I swear.

- Did you put butter in it?

- Gosh, it's not vegan, is it?

I'm sorry, I was gonna clean it.

- Awesome.

- Gummy?

- No, thanks, they have gelatin in them.

It's my (indistinct).

- Oh.

- Gummies were actually my comfort food when I was a kid, just not anymore.

- Come on, just have one.

I won't tell.

- No, it's, I was just thinking that maybe we should sweep in here.

- Yeah, totally.

Yeah, it's my bad.

- Also, if you find any more of those glue traps would mind tossing them?

I mean, I told the super live capture only, but he keeps leaving them around, so.

- The glue traps work better.

We finally caught one last night.

- What?

Why didn't you tell me?

- Because you're more scared of the mice.

- I'm not scared of the mice.

I just don't want them to suffer!

Was it still alive when you found it?

- Yeah.

- What did he do with it?

- Threw it out.

I don't know, what else would he do?

- I don't know!

Kill it mercifully?

- Wait.

(laughing) - It's not funny.

- He's a super, not a samurai.

- God, I gotta go to work.

- Go to work, and we can talk about this later, okay?

I promise.

- Fine.

(slow ominous music) - [Person Behind Camera] Check this out.

Caught a field mouse on the glue trap.

And right now, oh, you thought he was dead, didn't you?

He is not dead.

Look at these legs just, were just stuck right into that glue right there.

I dunno how to kill him.

(intense slow music) (music ending) (slow intense music) (music growing in intensity) (Maria screaming) - Maria?

What happened?

- It attacked me.

It crawled up my shirt and tried to bite me.

- Oh my God, I'm so sorry.

- Calling Terry right now.

- No, no, no, no, no, wait, hold on.

Just wait.

- What the hell?

Gimme my phone back.

- Maria, calm down.

Let's talk about this for a second.

Okay, you're freaking out.

- I should be freaking out.

Why you freaking out?

- I am.

We just, everyone in New York has mice.

I dunno, we're gonna have to find a way to make this work.

- These are not cute Cinderella mice.

- Okay, they're living creatures and they live- - They hate us.

- Here.

- No!

- It's their home too.

- No!

Are they on the lease?

Show me their credit scores.

Show me the paychecks.

- When's the last time you had a paycheck?

- They don't belong here!

This is our home, not their home.

You freak!

(slow music) (mice squeaking) - I'm so sorry.

(mice continuing to squeak) I'm so sorry.

(music stopping abruptly) (slow violin music) (music playing from TV show) ♪ Hickory dickory dock ♪ ♪ It's midnight, 12 o'clock ♪ ♪ Your fun is done, you better run ♪ ♪ Hickory dickory dock ♪ (plastic crinkling) (purse falling) (mice squeaking) (door slamming) (music throbbing with intensity) - It is our home.

It's our home.

It's our home.

It's our home.

♪ Hickory dickory dock ♪ ♪ It's midnight, 12 o'clock ♪ ♪ Your fun is done, you've got to run ♪ ♪ Hickory dickory dock ♪ (water pouring) (music growing with intensity) (music slowing down abruptly) - That's it, Maria!

This is why we have an infestation, okay?

It's because you never clean!

It reeks in here!

You have no respect for anything, for this apartment, for living things, even for me.

And you know what?

Buy your own damn pan if you absolutely have to eat that disgusting God damned tortured animal carcass!

Maria!

Maria?

Maria?

(gasping in horror) (breathing deeply) (sobbing) (yelling in fear and crying) (intense music continuing) (music ending) - Hi, I am Alechia Reese with "Atlanta on Film," and I'm here with filmmaker, A.K.

of "This is our Home."

How are you?

- I'm great, how are you?

- Listen, so good.

I adored watching your film, because it brought up so many points of note for me, just as humans that we experience.

(slow music) And so before we hop into all the good stuff, what was your role in the film and how did that play out?

- Every once in a while you just get a concept in mind that feels like it really hits home.

- Yeah.

- And I decided to write and direct it.

It was based on an actual experience that I had living in New York, having a really bad mouse infestation in our apartment that we were not able to get rid of.

And I kind of realized as it was happening that there were a lot of parallels to just generally like who's allowed to live in a place, who gets to call a place home.

There's a lot of kind of human conflict in that.

But in the short, I really just wanted to kind of stick to this idea of, especially when you live in a place that's really expensive and you have to have roommates, you can never really have a place of your own.

And you also have to think about your roommates all of the time.

It's like maybe you wouldn't do something to prevent pests from coming in, but you have to think of the health and the safety of your roommates.

- [Alechia] Yeah.

- I'm sorry, I was gonna clean it.

- Awesome.

- Gummy?

- And so, I think in the short, I was just really feeling a lot of, I was trying to kind of explore the guilt and the conundrum of being a person that cares about all creatures, including the ones that most people are disgusted by.

- [Alechia] Yeah.

- Or think that they're worthless and just need to get away from them.

- So now you incorporated some archival footage in the film, so that you could ensure that there were no animals harmed.

So when you were doing that research, how did you decide on which pieces were going to best fit the narrative that you were trying to create for us?

- Well, I think kind of when I was making this, my idea was like, if I can just prevent somebody from using glue traps, because I think they're insanely cruel, then I'll feel good about what I made.

And then I came across this piece of footage and it was just so, like gleefully mean, and I was just like, people should see that and just understand how wrong it is.

And it's just, I just, I can't really imagine being somebody that looks at a suffering creature and is laughing.

I guess the disconnect that some people feel when they're watching suffering.

And I wanted to make people uncomfortable.

- [Alechia] Yeah.

- [A.K.]

And I think it is very uncomfortable to watch.

- So then would you say, or if you had to identify what one of your goals for the film would be or is, what would you say that that is for you?

- I think one of my goals for the film was just to highlight that idea that when we have successfully dehumanized or made a case for ourselves that something doesn't deserve to not suffer, it's just so easy to do some of the cruel things that we do.

And it's kind of that where's your line in the sand that you say that you'll never cross, but when you're faced with having to cross it in order to protect yourself, I think a lot of us would cross it.

(music slowly throbbing) - When you were piecing all the things together, I know you said there were a number of things you had to leave out because it's a short, so you had to focus somewhere, what would you or how would you describe your cinematic style?

- Well, so for me, the cinematic style starts when I'm writing because I don't, I'm not really able to separate, you know, being writer/director.

I haven't done a lot of directing that isn't my own material.

So when I'm writing stuff, I am already imagining exactly what it's going to look like and I'm imagining how it's going to be cut.

And I also am a production designer, and I'm a proud member of a Local 479 as a scenic painter.

So all of my stuff tends to have a lot of production design going on, whether it's I find a location that looks really good already and just supplement it.

Or in the case of this, yes, we found this location that looked really cool, but I already knew I wanted it to have a lot of texture and a lot of color and just feel sort of frenetic and as though you just kind of can't escape all of the detail and everything going on, which is how it often feels when you live in a big, dense city.

- [Alechia] Yes.

- And your home is not a place of safety and- - Peace.

- Calm and peace.

- Yeah.

- As much as I wanted it to feel more like a realistic, like it's very small and cramped, you kind of just can't do that when you're shooting a film.

You need space, you need to be able to move around.

- Yes.

- So yeah, we found this apartment that it was already so weathered and beautiful and brought a lot of set dressing into it.

We couldn't fit much up the stairs, it was so narrow.

But just basically, yeah, my cinematic style is always leading into what can I do in the world building and the set dressing that reveals a lot about the characters, so that the script doesn't have to do all of the work or the dialogue doesn't have to do all of the work.

- Thank you so much for coming here today and sharing time and also sharing more about your film.

I truly enjoyed it.

- Thank you so much.

And thank you for your insight.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

For more on "This is our Home," make sure you visit WABE.org.

(film rolling) When you think of the cosmos, it's too big, but not big enough with its vast and innumerable possibilities all while sitting in obscurity.

The Voyager 2 spacecraft captured the outer bounds of our solar system over a period of 45 years.

Prepared to be mesmerized by Kate Balsley's "Cosmos Obscura."

(soft electronic sci-fi music) (music growing in intensity) (music slowly fading) (soft electronic sci-fi music) (music growing in intensity) (music slowly fading) I am here with the director for "Cosmos Obscura."

Kate, how are you?

- I'm doing really well, thank you.

- I am so excited to have you here with "Atlanta on Film," (slow music) primarily because your film is so different from any of the others that we've viewed so far in that yours is an abstract film.

And so the first thing that I wanted to know is, what exactly does "Cosmos Obscura" mean?

- Oh, that's a good question.

I think the title "Cosmos Obscura" basically references the fact that the universe is unknowable.

You know, the universe is at once known and unknowable.

There's still so many things about the universe that we don't understand about how our universe works, even how our solar system works that we just don't quite know- - Or can comprehend- - Or comprehend.

- Because it is vast, it is obscure, it's kind of unfathomable.

And so when you were deciding on how this film would play out or what you wanted to convey or what it would look like, what was your artistic inspiration?

Like, where did that come from?

- Well, the story is that my colleague and my co-director, Irina Escalante Chernova, she's a music professor at the institution where I teach film, Georgia Gwinnett College up in Lawrenceville.

And she approached me one day and she said, "Hey, you know, I've got these electronic pieces that I've composed, and I was hoping that you and I could collaborate."

And I said, "Okay, sure, sounds fun."

And I, you know, got my big old headphones on and I was listening to all the tracks that she had composed, and I was just dumbfounded.

And so I'm kind of, you know, looking, waiting for the images to come to me.

I'm, you know, sketching, playing around with, you know, Final Cut Pro Photoshop.

- You were arting, you were doing- - I was arting.

- Yes, I was arting and I was kind of looking around the internet for, you know, pictures, videos that might be inspiring.

And I came across, somebody had assembled all of the pictures from the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

- [Alechia] Mm.

- And they had assembled them all in sequence into this really beautiful abstract animation.

So I took that inspiration, you know, and as I said previously, I'm a science geek and I was listening to Irina's music, and I was seeing, well, how can I abstract this?

You know, how can I take these abstract photographs of our known universe and make them into something more complex and more strange and more fitting to this soundtrack?

You know, I already had an interest in space exploration.

And so that's basically where the piece grew out of.

- So then when you were piecing all of the pieces and parts together, I know you said you were also listening to the music, but what was the energy that you wanted to convey?

Or what was the actual, and I know it's not a narrative because it is abstract, but what was the feeling that you would hope that folks would get from it when they're viewing it?

- Even though it's a very, like I said, frenetic and it can be a loud piece at times, I wanted to convey a sense of wonder, you know, wonder and curiosity and awe.

And that was what I was, and of course exploration into the unknown, the kind of fear that you can have.

But I didn't want the piece to be scary, you know, I didn't want it to frighten people.

We did show an early version to a group of students and one young woman said that it did scare her.

So we kind of, I kind of felt like I had to tone it down a bit, because that wasn't what I wanted to evoke.

- I love that.

Thank you so much for taking the time to not only come in here and define the unfathomable with me.

- Try to.

- But I think we did a good job.

I think we did a good job.

- Okay.

- Even without knowing the maths.

- Okay.

- I think we did great.

But no, thank you so much for sharing your vision, how you create, and also giving us the opportunity to come and play with you a little bit.

- Oh, thank you, thank you.

- You're most welcome.

- It was fun being here.

- I had a blast.

- Great.

- I wanna make sure that you all join us for more at "Atlanta on Film" at WABE.org.

(popcorn popping) From outer space to the Bronx, New York, this is sure to be one interesting ride.

City life can be daunting and for this Bronx New York kid, things are about to get very tumultuous, pressed with the decision only he can make, this is the turning point of growing up for him.

This is Kevon Pryce's film, "Around the Block."

(loud banging) (sirens whirring in the distance) - [Child] What time is it?

- 7:13.

- The train is late.

- Go ahead and start getting ready for school.

(tripping) - My bad.

- [Ma] What did I tell you about using that word?

- Sorry, Ma.

You gotta watch where going.

- No hot water!

- You gonna stop talking to my boy like that.

- What are you talking about?

Mo's looking out for him.

- You looking out for him?

Since when does telling him what to do every day and call him every two seconds looking out for him.

You looking out for him?

Look, check yourself.

I ain't raising no overseers.

- You need to stop babying him.

- Excuse me?

I don't see your name on a bill in here.

You don't pay for.

Keep that to yourself.

- Look, I'm just trying to make sure he doesn't end too soft.

You see these streets.

He would get eaten alive.

- Exactly!

I don't (indistinct) him!

What you want him to be like one of these little dusty ass niggas out here?

- Oh, you talking like me?

A nigga like me, right?

That's what you mean?

- I just want to make sure that he has the confidence he needs before he goes on to the private school thing.

- [Brother] How we paid for that, Ma?

- [Ma] I got it.

- How we paying for it?

- [Ma] I'm handling it!

- You barely make ends me as it is, three jobs and we still struggling!

- I said I got it.

I got it.

There's a stain on that.

Here, you can wear one of Nick's.

- Won't he be mad?

- He needs to start making some money, then he could be mad.

- See you later, Ma.

And Ma, don't worry about Brooks.

I'll make sure we can afford it.

- I don't even want you thinking about it.

Just make sure you come straight home after school.

I need you to be here to make sure they turn the hot water on, all right?

You always wait till the last minute.

- [Child] I will, love you.

- I love you too, baby.

You're Black and a boy.

You've got two strikes against you.

The way that I see you and the way they see you is different.

You only get one chance to make it out of here.

And look, this private school is your ticket out.

God will make a way.

When I see you, I see that you are my Black little boy.

They don't know you like I do.

I can't afford to make the same mistake twice.

When you leave this house, I need you to keep your head down.

Don't make eye contact for too long.

You're special.

And I don't need those little boys on the block knowing that so they can try to take from you.

So promise this, promise me you'll be good.

And listen to what I tell you.

- Josh, what the hell?

- Bro, what do you have to be afraid about?

And how'd I know I was gonna find your fat ass in here.

You were supposed to be at my crib 15 minutes ago.

- I was just running late, my bad.

- So what you trying to do?

You come in or not?

- Yeah, let me just pay for this first.

- Bro, just put that in my bag.

- Nah, man, I got the money for it.

- [Josh] Be real for once.

- It don't make sense to steal something I could pay for.

- How's your mom been?

- She's okay.

I mean, she doesn't watch me as much as you doing your little camera, but she's okay.

I don't need a bag.

- You happy?

- [Child] Yo, you seen that girl at the court yesterday?

- Oh, yeah, yeah, I know who you're talking about.

Tiffany, right?

- Mm-hmm.

- Bro.

I hit that last week, son.

- Damn.

- You know what?

I'm gonna give you her number.

You should holler at her.

- No, you good, you good.

- Why not?

- Bro, I wanna be in there first, bro.

First one, best time.

- All right, yo, how about Ms. Martinez from the corner store?

What about her?

You wanna smash?

- Bro, where'd you get the Skittles from?

- From the store.

- All right, bro.

- Bro, you confuse me.

All right, all right, all bullshit aside, you ready?

- Yeah.

- I don't that, no, no, no, no, not with that funny.

- I'm good, let's go.

- Nah, that, say it with your chest.

- Let's go!

- All right, calm your ass down, being all loud.

You're on that block.

(gate opening) Come on, let's go.

Okay, wait over there, I'll be back, okay?

(alarm beeping) - Yo!

- [Josh] Come on, hurry up.

All right, so I'm gonna take upstairs.

You can clear it down here, okay?

Move quick.

- Cool.

(glass clinking) (falling) Damn.

What'd you find?

- All I really found was this gold necklace.

It's worth no more than $150.

There has to be something good around here.

- What made you choose this house?

- Well, I've been watching them for a little minute, and I just knew they wouldn't be home.

Besides you did not see all the nice shit in here.

I mean, like come on.

- Yeah, but there's nothing worth taking.

Everything is either too big or is a little come up.

What time do they come home?

- Why are you asking mad questions?

Just know we gotta hurry up.

Where's your bag at?

- I left it downstairs.

Let me just use your bag for now.

- Out of all the times you choose to be unprepared, you choose right here, right now.

Here, go check one of the other rooms.

♪ Yo, you gotta do what you gotta do, my nigga ♪ ♪ For real ♪ ♪ Anything to make it ♪ ♪ I'm not trying to be the Bronx forever, man ♪ ♪ I gotta move up ♪ ♪ I see us in Harlem ♪ ♪ And those brownstones, you know what I'm talking about ♪ ♪ Bitches coming through ♪ ♪ You got your little girl or whatever ♪ ♪ You know ♪ ♪ We living our best kind of life, man.

♪ ♪ But I see something in you ♪ ♪ I ain't never seen before ♪ ♪ Seriously ♪ ♪ Protect that shit ♪ ♪ You'll keep all these niggas guessing ♪ ♪ Don't let them box you in ♪ ♪ You'll break through ♪ ♪ Show them (indistinct) ♪ ♪ Surprise them every single time, man ♪ (music ending) (crashing) - Yo, Josh.

Come in here.

Did you know this was in here?

- I mean, I knew that dad pushed weight, but sheesh!

- Let me just go get my bag from downstairs.

Bro, where are you going?

- Bro, you don't need this!

You're out here winning science fairs.

You don't need this.

- Bro, science fair's is not making my family money!

I'm trying to make sure I can get out this.

I'm trying to eat now.

- Well, I hope you starve.

Get!

(punching and groaning) (alarm beeping) - [Micah] Still developing at the moment, two unidentified teenage boys were found in this Bronx home after what investigators are calling a frightening home invasion.

Neighbors came flooding out of their homes once they heard shots were fired.

One suspect has been admitted to Montefiore Medical Center and is in critical condition and the other was pronounced dead at the scene of the crime.

- Oh, nigga probably deserved it.

- [Micah] Local police and investigators are working to clarify specifics in this usually quiet neighborhood.

Officers arrived at the scene, minutes after receiving a call from the homeowner stating that upon arriving to his home, he noticed that his front door was unlocked, saw one of the suspects, and open fire once a threat was posed.

He states that he was protecting his property and doesn't see the reason why his home was targeted.

He's thankful- - Shit!

- [Micah] That all of his children were at school and his wife was at work as this- - You good?

- Yeah, I'm good.

- [Micah] As we get updates (door knocking) from the scene of the crime, we'll be sure to inform the public as soon as possible.

This is Micah Rivers reporting live, channel two, live action news.

- I am here with Kevon Pryce, the director of the film "Around the Block."

Now this particular film and we've had quite a few that were heartbreaking, but this one hurt me the most.

- Oh, really?

- Yes, this one hurt me the most.

It's okay, no need to apologize, although I do accept that apology.

Thank you so much for that.

- For sure.

- The reason it hurt me the most is because anytime young life is cut down in its prime, it's all of these, well, what if we had done this?

Well, what if this was the case?

Well, what happened with this?

So if you could just kind of give us just a little bit about your role in the film and then too, what was your inspiration for creating this piece of art?

- I'll definitely say that, for me, it all started, of course, being from New York.

I came to Atlanta when I was six, (upbeat music) and I always wanted to know what my life possibly could have been like if I stayed in New York.

- [Alechia] Yeah.

- [Kevon] So I just wanted to, I guess make a what if story and also a story that, you know, just like is a reflection of a specific family member of mine.

- [Alechia] Hmm.

- [Kevon] My godbrothers specifically being in a similar situation.

And to answer your first question, my role of course was directing, writing, and editing the film.

- Oh, okay, and you were editing?

- Yeah, yeah.

- Okay, you were doing all the work.

- You gotta do what you gotta do, right?

- That part.

(music ending) I loved how you showed that there were so many different points in the film that he could have made a different decision.

And so for you, when you were developing your characters, what was your maybe direction to ensure that they were telling the story that you wanted them to tell?

(soft music) Because I got every point where he had a potential to make a different decision.

- Of course, like when conceptualizing the story, a film that I always, I always like gravitated towards.

I really loved that changed my perspective on just what movies could be was "Moonlight."

- I knew you were gonna say that.

- Yeah, of course in the first act like Baby Shyrone, this guy, this like docile kind of like small, kind of like, not overly like, overly expressive kid, but he's a smart kid.

- Yeah.

- Like he's a smart kid and he kind of knows like he is struggling with like, trying to find like, okay, cool, who am I in this world?

- [Alechia] Yeah.

- I kind of wanted to, you know, take my own, I guess spin on that and putting that a little bit more personal to me in a story that I related to.

So that's him specifically.

And I feel like everybody always asks, his friend's name is Josh in the film.

Like what is their relationship?

Because it gets kind of, seems like Josh is a bully a little bit.

- Just a smidgen.

- Just a little bit, yeah.

But I feel like, you know, when you have a friend that's probably like a little, like a year or two older than you- - [Alechia] Yeah.

- Especially like young boys.

Like that's how you guys talk to each other.

- [Alechia] Yeah.

- Like it's always gonna be just jokes or just like, oh, I'm gonna always just pick on you, just because like, we're just cool.

So that's just their dynamic.

- Josh, what the hell!

- Bro, what do you have to be afraid about?

And how did I know I was gonna find your fat ass in here?

You were supposed to be in my crib 15 minutes ago.

- I was just running late, my bad.

- You can tell too that Josh isn't necessarily as brilliant as your main character is.

And even in the film we see that on this day that everything changes for him, he gets into this prestigious private school and he's so concerned about how he'll pay for it.

And then he makes a decision that changes everything.

And then there are actually two deaths that occur.

We don't know exactly which actual person who actually passes, but what was your reasoning behind not actually letting us know what happens in the film?

- I'll say that that actually came together in the edit.

Because I kind of wanted to have a choice, because in the original scripts, I'm not gonna say who, but we do find out who passes away, but I felt like it'd be much more impactful, of course, not to see that in, the mother's like last like line would hit harder.

Like, because it's like the audience and she doesn't know who is the person who passed away or who's like, of course, you know, she says the comment and then she gets a knock on the door because the knock on the door can be either/or.

- [Alechia] Yeah.

- [Kevon] So I just, I just felt like that came together in the edit, like.

- So you decided to leave the cliffhanger to make folks like me suffer- - Basically.

- Who really need to know.

- Yeah, yeah, I mean, but that goes into, like I said, it's your, it is all perspective.

It's all, it's the what if, the perspective.

- I love that.

Especially with the now how do we move forward piece.

Thank you so, so much for having this conversation with me.

For more of films like this, make sure you visit "Atlanta on Film" at WABE.org.

(film whirring) (upbeat music) Tonight we've watched some really good films.

Make sure you join us next week as we discuss the reproductive process, view a visual portrait of a family that explores separation from our loved ones, and dissect the Black experience in America.

I'm your host, Alechia Reese, and I want you to stay tuned for more "Atlanta on Film."

Have a nice night and I will see you soon.

(upbeat music continuing) - [Announcer] W-A-B-E. (music ending)