BLACK AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL: "DOC: RACE, REVOLUTION, RELATIVITY & THE CONFESSIONS OF A TIME TRAVELING TERRORIST"

Description

Meet Doc. He’s Black. He’s a time traveler. And he’s the most wanted man on the planet.

 

The year is 1969, and poet and musician Gil Scott Heron introduces Julio Benson to Doc, an infamous and enigmatic figure in the Black power movement. Julio interviews Doc on his New York City public access television show, Revolt, and as the interview unfolds, Julio quickly finds Doc’s claim that he is ‘a time traveler’ impossible to discredit. This lost episode of Revolt was recently found and made public for the first time. It is Doc's message in a bottle, his last chance to save the world.

 

 

Written by Tarik Rashaan Davis

Starring Tarik Rashaan Davis and Ben Jaeger-Thomas

Directed by Tarik Rashaan Davis and Laura K. Nicoll

Director of Photography & Editor & Sound effects by Mark Stetson 

Original Music by Sacha Hoedemaker

Costumes designed by Celeste Jennings

Hair by Elliot Simpson

Makeup by Waltaya Culmer

2nd Camera by Shawn Gray

Visual Effects by Ryan Mauskopf

Produced by Chenoa Estrada, Micah Sherman, Mark Stetson, Tarik Rashaan Davis, Laura K. Nicoll

 

Watch the TEASER

Director’s statement:

In the summer of 2023, we found ourselves approaching the 60th anniversary of The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, amidst the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and still in the throes of a pandemic. This 30-minute film is our meditation on activism, protest, race and racism, and flawed heroes as complex as the times we live in. Our interest in character studies (we love watching any documentary about lesser known figures in Black history!), quiet yet powerful performances, and our rejection of the trend of corporate, celebrity-ridden, predictable, safe, forgettable “content” meant to be watched while you scroll on your phone, combined with our desire to see stories and characters and film productions that are truly independent in thought and vision, and resulted in, DOC. This short speaks to a bright future where there is more risk taking in filmmaking, more meaty, substantive challenges for the cast whether they be household names or not, more collaborative processes with more diverse teams.

Starring Tarik as Doc and Ben Jaeger-Thomas as Julio Benson, the film is simple in concept––two actors sit across from each other in an interview that is imagined to take place on the set of a New York City public access television show, called Revolt. This “found footage” project, like many independently produced films, took a lot of time, effort, and experimentation behind the scenes to come to life. In this case, the actors memorized the full script to be able to get full run-throughs in one take as a nod to the format of the live television interview format that is the setting as well as our shared interest in live performance. The costumes and hair and makeup speak to the time period, and the music, editing, and production overall carefully considers the haunting story Tarik wrote.

Hopefully, this is just the beginning for the character of Doc! We would love to continue working together on a feature film. The protagonist of the feature would be Doc’s great-grandchild, a Black, non-binary, queer character who is seventeen years old in 2023 and decides to make the ultimate sacrifice and join their great-grandfather in saving the world.

 

Date & Time

Sat, Aug 3, 2024 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Venue Details

ColdTowne Theater

1700 East 2nd Street
Austin, Texas 78702

ColdTowne Theater