Rodney Evans
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Rodney Evans on Documenting His Own, and Others’, Loss of Sight in Vision Portraits
Rodney Evans’ Vision Portraits works his experience of gradually losing his eyesight while continuing to make films into a personal documentary that also considers the larger implications of this experience for artists and minorities. The film is structured around Evans’ own experience: he shows himself on film sets, dealing with the aftermath of falling onto an Amtrak train platform in New Jersey and traveling to Berlin to get surgery. But in between, he also profiles three artists who are largely or entirely blind: photographer John Dugdale, dancer Kayla Hamilton and writer Ryan Knighton. Dugdale makes the biggest impression; despite losing […]
by Steven Erickson on Aug 6, 2019 -
Rodney Evans on The Happy Sad
An exploration of two couples — one black and gay, the other white and hetero — Rodney Evans’ The Happy Sad suggests with a light, deft touch the increasingly commonplace sexual fluidity that millennials are embracing as normative sexual categories fall away. Of course, there are difficulties. Partner swapping, open relationships, explorative homosexuality are nothing new, but even in the swingin’ hipster’d Brooklyn from which Evans tells his tale, complications arise, feelings are hurt, egos are shattered, these feelings only heightened by the ever present realities of race and class. A timely meditation on all of these things, the movie […]
by Brandon Harris on Aug 14, 2013 -
WEEK THREE AT THE EDIT CENTER
On Monday, each of us sits down to address the notes that we received from Rodney Evans, the director of The Happy Sad, on Friday. We are all tapping away with our headphones on, filling a common room, but simultaneously lost in our personal space bubbles. We do this for the better part of the day. Tuesday we have scene analysis. This is, of course, my favorite because… we are watching movies. Watching movies has been my hands-down favorite pastime since, well, forever. We watch Monique’s award-winning performance in Precious. If you have seen Precious (sorry, I’m not going to […]
by Alix Lambert on Oct 3, 2011 -
Week Two at the Edit Center
It is the first day of my second week at The Edit Center and we are no longer paired off with partners. Left alone with my computer, I cannot remember how to do anything. Alan Oxman (whose editing credits include Control Room, Happiness and Welcome to the Dollhouse) has joined us, as our teacher. We are to start working on a feature film currently going into post-production. The film is called Happy Sad, written by Ken Urban and directed by Rodney Evans. I am delighted to learn that my friend Maria Dizzia is acting in it. We have all read […]
by Alix Lambert on Sep 28, 2011 -
KICKSTARTER: “THE HAPPY SAD”
Amidst all the online talk about DIY and arguments over who is “indie” and who isn’t, sometimes real directors quietly and steadfastly pursuing an independent agenda don’t get the attention they deserve. One such director is Rodney Evans, whose 2004 Brother to Brother ambitiously fused an exploration of the Harlem Renaissance with a contemporary tale dealing with gay African-American identity. Now he’s got a new movie, and he’s using Kickstarter to raise funds for actors’ salaries and equipment rental. Here’s how he describes the picture, titled The Happy Sad. Armed with roses and art, Stan brunches with his girlfriend Annie, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 25, 2011 -
TRIBECA ANNOUNCES SHORT FILM SELECTIONS
The Tribeca Film Festival announced today its line-up of short films. The Festival has selected 47, including Joachim Back’s 2010 Academy Award-winning film for Best Live Action Short, The New Tenants. They will be presented in six thematic programs with 21 world premieres, a record number for the festival. Selections include shorts directed by Ken Jacobs, Max Hoffman, James Cromwell, Joshua Bell, and returning TFF directors include Jacobs, Domenica Scorsese, Rodney Evans, Mark Street, Jean-Gabriel Periot, Tal Rosner, Bill Morrison, Thomas Hefferon and Sara Zandieh. Learn more at tribecafilm.com/festival. Full list of titles are below. HARD CORE Bedford Park Boulevard, […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Mar 18, 2010 -
TEN FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR SFFS/KRF FILMMAKING GRANT
The San Francisco Film Society and the Kenneth Rainen Foundation just announced the ten finalists for the third SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grant. The grant (up to $190,000) will be awarded to the feature film that best exemplifies a social justice theme with a potentially significant economic or social effect on the Bay Area filmmaking community. Over the next five years SFFS and KRF plan to give out a number of grants that will total $3 million. The Filmmaking Grants give support to films that, through plots, themes and character work, explore human rights in a thought-provoking and meaningful way, in addition […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Mar 12, 2010
