PRODUCTION UPDATE



  Chriss Williams takes on Hollywood's stereotyped notions of black kids and gun culture in Asbury Park, a tense drama which pits a sensitive black teen against the thug who killed his parents. The film starts out in Asbury Park, a seedy former beach resort on the Jersey shore, when Miles Jenkins realizes that Domino, the man he testified against and put in jail, is paroled and after him. Events take a chilling turn when Miles steals his cop uncle's gun for self-protection and ends up using it on Domino. Haunted by remorse, the boy makes a run for his eccentric Uncle Tucker's remote cabin in New Jersey's isolated Pine Barrens, where he finds a drastically different black culture driven by connections to nature and ancient folklore. "I've seen too many movies where black kids kill someone and go have lunch," says Williams. "This kid has killed accidentally, but he still feels guilty. His trip from Asbury Park to rural New Jersey is a physical journey to a moral authority - and a psychic escape from the pathology that insists young men internalize the "hood."

Williams, 29, grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey and got the filmmaking bug early when a songwriter uncle, Jackson Five scribe Freddie Perren, became a producer on Saturday Night Fever. He has an MFA from NYU's graduate film program, where his '93 thesis film, Bloods on the Moon, won top honors. Williams was Spike Lee's teaching assistant at NYU in 1993 and also worked for him on Crooklyn. "Spike told me 'Don't expect any handouts from anybody,'" he says. "So I took out a student loan and played the stock market." In the end, Williams says, he got Asbury Park in the can for a spare six figures; all cast and crew salaries were deferred. Albert S., star of Geoff Fletcher's hit Sundance short Magic Markers, stars as Miles, and seasoned Broadway actor Arthur French is Uncle Tucker.

At press time Williams was raising the final $25,000 he needs for final sound work, an optical shoot, and a 35mm blowup. The film's soundtrack includes contemporary hip hop, James Brown, and Mississippi delta blues - "I want it to feel almost as if Miles is moving back in time as the film progresses," says Williams. All rights are available.

Cast: Albert S., Arthur French, MoniquÈ Porter, Charles Dumas, Dion Graham, Jerome Edwards, Freddie Williams, Jen Ritchkoff, Tim Macht. Crew: Producer/Screen-writer/Director, Chriss Williams; Executive Producer, Laurie Durber; Line Producer, Arabella Hutter; Director of Photography, Ly Bolia; Production Designer, Anne Cole; Editor, Leon Martin. Contact: Chriss Williams, Hackensack Films, 16 Forest Street #305, Montclair, NJ 07042. Tel/Fax: (201) 783-1724.



 
back to top
home page | subscribe | merchandise | history | order form | advertise | contact
archives | links | search

© 2005 Filmmaker Magazine