Night 2 of IIFF: Indiana Black Expo Night

SinnerMan

Arriving about 10 minutes later than the feature film Prince of Broadway was scheduled to start; we were in for a surprise when we entered the Toby Theater in the IMA. Thankfully, the short film SinnerMan was playing when we arrived. We started watching it about half way in, and I really wish we would have seen it from the beginning. What I caught from the middle was, for me, very exhilarating and captivating. Because I have heard and seen several stories in movies, from friends, and on the news about police discrimination and violence toward black men, my heart raced as Freeman, played by Matthew Cadet, quickly tried to leave the scene where an old pot smoking, drug dealing acquaintance was heckling him. As he is walking away, after telling the ne’er do well that he is trying to get his life straight, a police officer quickly approaches him shining his flashlight and insinuating that the teen is up to no good. Heart pounding, heart pounding… I’m not giving away what happened.

Doing the best I can to summarize the film without seeing the full film, Freeman, the son of a Preacher, is dating a white girl and has a great life with her but is haunted by skeletons in his closet. He has gotten another girl pregnant and doesn’t want his girlfriend to find out. He does everything that he possibly can to keep the baby and the mistress a secret to save his relationship. The end is a shocking tragedy that leaves one to wonder how often this situation happens.

I give SinnerMan a B- with a strong recommendation to check out the film if given the chance, and I would love to see an extended version of the film.

Prince of Broadway

Prince of Broadway, the feature film of the night, was directed and produced by Darrren Dean. The film started slightly rocky for me. Being turned off by the “hustling” shown, I was relieved to get to the plot of the film. Lucky, a Ghanaian man played by Prince Adu, is trying to get by in the “hard-knockoff life” streets of New York City. Trying to make a living by enticing pedestrians into the back room of the illegal store run by Levon, an Armenian-Lebanese illegal immigrant, selling designer label purses and shoes, his life is quickly disrupted. Linda, a young Hispanic woman aggressively passes her young toddler to Lucky. Linda, claiming that Lucky is the baby’s father, speeds off in the back seat of a car leaving Lucky standing on the street with a baby who would later be called the Prince of Broadway.

Eagerly trying to track Linda down, Lucky is forced to care for the baby while Linda disappears with her boyfriend who restricts her from keeping the baby in her care. The film is filled with ups and downs, showing the struggles that immigrants in the U.S. face, and comedic situations as Lucky does what he can to look after the child while simultaneously attempting to return the baby to his mother. 

I give the Director and Producer, Darren Dean, an A+ for making himself available for mingling with viewers after the film. I look forward to future films produced by Darren. 

Check out my Flickr album for more photos from the night.