By Chelsea Reil
Correction: This form of the story corrects a misquote by Meagan Redman.
For Meagan Redman, a 2008 Northeastern graduate, this week’s Roxbury Film Festival (RFF) isn’t just an event that brings attention to community issues; it may also be her big break.
Redman will show an hour-long news documentary she produced, narrated and edited during her last semester at the university. Her film, ‘Sharpening Our Oyster Knives: Living with HIV/AIDS Today’ will premiere at the ‘Health Disparities in Black Communities’ panel at 3:15 p.m. Saturday at the John D. O’Bryant African-American Institute (AAI).
Her film examines the issues around the tight grasp HIV/AIDS has on communities of color in Boston, including socioeconomic factors, programmatic approaches, funding and government policy, while highlighting some personal journeys of people infected and affected by the disease locally, she said.
‘I think it sheds light on the fact that we tend to think of HIV and AIDS as somewhere else,’ Redman said. ‘Most people don’t realize that it is right in our backyards, in our communities.’
Redman completed a directed study during her final semester at Northeastern, which allowed her to focus on her film while still earning credits.
‘I think it’s awesome that RFF is giving me this opportunity and this platform and I hope that it has a domino effect for other screenings in the community,’ she said.
The 10th annual RFF began Monday and runs through Sunday. The festival, which aims to provide a thought-provoking environment for independent filmmakers of color by involving the local community, is co-produced by Arts, Culture and Trade Roxbury and the Color of Film Collaborative.
There is a range of programming this year, with 86 feature films, documentaries and shorts being shown. There are also a number of celebrity appearances, including actors Robert Townsend, Michael Ealy and Ruby Dee and Essence magazine editor Cynthia Gordy. In addition to the AAI, venues include the Coolidge Corner Theater, Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Haley House, Wentworth Institute of Technology and the Roxbury Center for Arts at Hibernian Hall.
Among the other films scheduled to be shown during the week-long festival is Spike Lee’s 22-minute narrative short titled ‘Jesus Children of America,’ which tells the story of a Brooklyn teenager who discovers she is HIV-positive.
Keeping with the theme of social consciousness, Townsend’s latest film, ‘Of Boys and Men,’ will be shown tomorrow at the MFA and Saturday at the African-American Institute. The film follows a young boy in Chicago dealing with the death of his mother.
Most of the special guests have a dialogue component after the film, so people can give the filmmaker their feedback and ask questions they wouldn’t ordinarily have answered.
Dee will be at the MFA Sunday, at 5:30 p.m. to close the festival with a screening of her new film ‘Steam,’ starring herself, Ally Sheedy and Kate Siegel. The film is about three women who share their lives in the steam room of a local gym. Both Dee and director Kyle Schickner will be attending for a post-film discussion. Also in attendance that night will be actors Ealy and Sheryl Lee Ralph and director Charles Burnett.
‘Young Movement,’ a short documentary by a group of 12 eighth-graders from middle schools across Boston, is also part of the lineup. Citizen Schools, an after-school program for junior high school kids, encouraged these students to travel around the city and capture life as they see it. Citizen Schools had trainers help the kids with the technical aspect of film production and the students got guidance from adults with Reunion Church in Boston. This film is slated for Saturday at 2:15 p.m. at Hibernian Hall as oneof several youth-produced works shown.
In addition to films and speakers, festival organizers have scheduled several workshops for Saturday: ‘Distribution in the Digital Age,’ held at 11 a.m. at the AAI; ‘Health Disparities in Black Communities,’ held at 2 p.m. at the AAI; and ‘The African Pie,’ about the past present and future of the continent, held at 5 p.m. at the MFA.
To view a complete list of screening times and locations and to buy tickets, go to roxburyfilmfestival.org. Prices range from $5 to $7 for most screenings. ‘
