A feature film that tackles the issue of racism as experienced in contemporary America received four nominations and was the winner of one category during its world premiere at the 7th Annual Queens World Film Festival in Queens, New York.
The Red Effect is an intense, thought-provoking film that doesn’t hold back from asking the difficult questions as it explores the hypocrisy of a supposed “post-racial America” and the strength of the human spirit to survive through adversity and learn to persevere.
The film was nominated for Best Narrative Feature, Best Screenplay Narrative Feature and Best Ensemble Narrative Feature.
A stellar performance by actor Pierre Walters led to a win in the Best Male Actor Narrative Feature category. Walters portrays Glenn Johnson, a no-nonsense leader of a mentoring program designed to help struggling adults better themselves and overcome perceptions and stereotypes.
“This is something that our entire cast and crew are very passionate about,” Walters said. “We filmed this in 2014, and now to think about everything that has happened since that time. We didn’t have a crystal ball. Somehow we knew that the story we were telling would remain relevant, and it is.”
The hard-hitting drama has a noticeably familiar storyline: An unarmed black teenager is shot and killed by a white man. Tensions rise in a southeast Washington, DC community following the deadly shooting that sets film’s narrative in action as early media reports focus on the shooter’s claim of self-defense and the victim’s criminal background.
The diverse crew wanted to make a film that encouraged people to help each other instead of pointing blame. More importantly, the purpose was to touch on how bad things can get when people are too afraid to help, and what happens when listening to media reports becomes more important than listening to our own hearts, Miller said.
“It seems crazy to think about, but when we start writing this in 2013, we thought racial tensions and judicial inequality was at a turbulent point. This was before Ferguson or Baltimore,” said director Jordan Miller. “Now more than ever these things seem crucial, and honestly, we never imagined things would have gotten this much worse in the short time since we started writing this film.”
“To be able to tell a story like this and have people resonate and connect with it and begin to have a discussion is what we were hoping to really have. Because discussion is what leads to understanding and hopefully change,” producer Britney Walters said during the film’s introduction at the QWFF.
To view trailer for The Red Effect and learn more about the film, visit www.facebook.com/TheRedEffectFilm
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Website: www.facebook.com/TheRedEffectFilm