1131 Daisy Lane [email protected] ... Evolution of Bert begins with Bert Hightower as a child sleeping gently. ... The Evolution of Bert is a dramatic, ... DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY

Jazzy Tam Films, 1131 Daisy Lane, East Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 333-3474 / [email protected]

The Evolution of Bert A Film by Jeffrey C. Wray

USA 2014 75 minutes 16mm b&w

Bert (Randall Stokes) romances Nita (Nakeshia Knight). Stu (Volney McFarlin) makes a pass at Bert.

Nita threatens Bert in his fantasy. Bert in the future.

PRESS CONTACT Jazzy Tam Films

Tama Hamilton-Wray (517) 505-3497

[email protected]

1131 Daisy Lane East Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 333-3474/(517) 515-4455 [email protected]


SYNOPSIS The Evolution of Bert begins with Bert Hightower as a child sleeping gently. He has a surreal,

troubling vision of his future possibilities: the black Republican, the company man doing a soft-

shoe, the working-class man or the thoughtful, conscious dreamer man. The blend of fantasy and

reality has begun.

Bert is a young man beginning his final semester of college. His mother wants to know why he is

taking more than four years to finish school, and more to the point, what his job prospects are

post graduation. Bert is the first of his black working-class family to go to college and though he

wants his remaining days on campus to be casual and carefree, they are anything but. He is

anxious to be rid of Nita, his poetic girlfriend of two years, even as his best friend and campus

DJ Maul cautions him against being too quick to let a good thing go. A passionate student of

history, Bert fights his professor for that elusive 'A' he has never received, but feels he deserves.

Duke, an old school, shades-wearing perennial student, advises Bert against ending up in a soul-

killing career rather than pursuing his passion. With decisions to be made and a future pressing

down on him, Bert escapes into moments of fantasy. In one sequence his girlfriend Nita wields a

knife under his chin helping him to understand the meaning of her latest poem. In another, Stu, a

gay psychologist, interrogates Bert on his regrettable break up with Nita, his secret desire for a

white female classmate and his tepid future aspirations. On graduation day Bert runs in cap and

flowing gown into an uncertain future carrying a sweet memory (or fantasy?) of strolling the

campus green with Nita at his side. She is asking him, “Bert? Do you still love me?”

The Evolution of Bert comes to a close with Bert asleep once again. This time he is in his future

at his office desk. Many years after college he is finally answering his true love’s question,

“Bert? Do you still love me?” with a firm “Yes”. Once fully awaken, his old friend Duke stands

before him, still in shades, challenging Bert on the choices he has made in life and what has

become of a passion that was so promising. Bert defends his choices to Duke, but this final

fantasy is interrupted by his boss’s stern edict to get back to work. The boss leaves, but then

pauses before Bert to perform a short elegant soft-shoe. As he reluctantly turns back to his work,

a silver plated sign on his desk reveals his job title: Bert Hightower Claims Adjuster.

The Evolution of Bert is a dramatic, comedic, musically infused surreal tale of love and fantasy

and of coming to consciousness. It is the story of a young man's evolution into himself.


DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY Jeff is a screenwriter and filmmaker whose projects include China (2003), produced for PBS,

and The Soul Searchers: Three Stories (2008), which screened in New York and Berlin. Jeff,

born in Medina, Ohio, is an associate professor of Film Studies at Michigan State University

where teaches screenwriting, black American & African cinema and film production.

Jeff’s films have screened at the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, George Eastman House

International Museum of Photography and Film, Urban World Film Festival, Los Angeles Pan

African Film Festival, the Boston First Night Celebration, Athens International Film Festival,

Memphis Black Writer’s Conference & Film Festival and the Roxbury Film Festival, as well as

internationally in the COE Cinema Africano Film Festival of Milan and the Film Club Xenix

American Black Cinema Retrospective in Zurich.

Jeff’s honors include the John Anson Kittredge Foundation Fellowship, Art Serve Michigan

Individual Artist Award, Ohio Arts Council Major Fellowship, and three nominations for the

Rockefeller Foundation Film and Video Fellowship. Most recently Jeff held a Filmmaker

Residency at the Wexner Center for the Arts at the Ohio State University.

FILMOGRAPHY + SELECT SCREENINGS Songs for My Right Side (USA, anticipated 2015, 30 minutes, digital, color)

The Soul Searchers: Three Stories (USA, 2008, 50 minutes, 16mm, color) International Black Cinema Berlin / Athens International Film Festival / Urban World Film Festival

China (USA, 2003, 60 minutes, 16mm, color) PBS National Broadcast / Urban World Film Festival / Los Angeles Pan African Film Festival

The Beautyful Ones (1992, 20 minutes, 16mm, color) Africa in the Picture, Amsterdam / Ann Arbor Film Festival / Robert Flaherty Film Seminar / Film Club Xenix American Black Cinema Retrospective, Zurich

In Preparation Eclipse During the racially turbulent summer of 1964 political commitment comes into conflict with family.

Cliff’s Friends in Detroit Three middle-aged men return to Detroit for the funeral of their childhood friend.


ABOUT THE PRODUCTION The production history of The Evolution of Bert reflects the true nature of independent

filmmaking, which requires passion, but even more so, commitment. This simple story of a

young man evolving was shot in the late 1990s, with only the final scene remaining to be

completed. Family, children, other film projects and simply everyday living did not allow us to

get back to The Evolution of Bert for another few years. Of course, by that time the original

ending planned for the film would not have worked at all. But in all honesty, coming up with a

finale for the film after many years was never much of a worry. In the mid 2000s, a grant award

allowed us to bring together the principal actor (Randall Stokes) and several other actors to shoot

the final scene of the film. We were all a little older, thus the passage of time had to play a role

in the new ending scripted for The Evolution of Bert. This presented a great opportunity to re-

imagine Bert Hightower from the time of the original production to that current moment. Stokes

as Bert brought a lived reality to the main character’s “future” and a mature authenticity to the

final scene.

Thematically, the end of The Evolution of Bert is directly tied to the beginning. The film opens

with a surreal and jazzy rendering of future choices and closes on the cool reality of a choice

made. Dreams and reality, future and past are inextricably linked in the story of this young Black

man’s evolution. The vision of the film and the heady, exuberant and often uncertain college

years of the primary characters are enhanced by the authenticity of the talented, non-professional

actors who were cast. Genuine student spaces and the actual university setting lent a reality to the

film that would have been otherwise difficult to recreate. And it was the desire to be true to such

authenticity that led to an ending in which a truly older Bert returned for the film’s final

moments.

As post-production closed in 2014, so many years after the initial shoot, we were faced with

locating the film’s actors now scattered all over the country and world. In reconnecting with

them, we found that they, like Bert, were well into their own life journeys.

Our passion to tell Bert’s story and our commitment to bring this film to fruition is apparent in

every moment of The Evolution of Bert.

Jeff Wray & Tama Hamilton-Wray


CAST Bert Hightower Randall Stokes

Nita Nakeshia Knight

Nate Nate DeWitt

In Order of Appearance Young Bert Faisal Luvaga

Game Show Host Sean Mitchell

Black Republican/Stu Volney McFarlin

Insurance Salesman Kevin Jones Giddins

Working Class Man Jonathan D. Wray

Dreamer/Duke Jeffrey C. Wray

Mrs. Hightower G. Christine Taylor

Dr. Giddins Lita Little Giddins

Career Counselor Robert Fain, III

Mr. “Chief” Hightower Albert G. Mosley

Dr. Martin Doug Partusch

White Girl Nicole VanderDoes

Poetry Slam Host Terry Cross

Nita’s Girlfriend Karla Shores

Simone Semeca Prather

Girl 1 Kellie Armstead

Girl 2 Shelly Greene

Girl 3 Shawanna Coleman

Street Musician Randall Sisco

Woman Speaking Swahili Ebby Luvaga


CREW Writer and Director Jeffrey C. Wray

Producer Tama Hamilton-Wray

Associate Producer Jonathan D. Wray

Director of Photography Joe ‘Jody’ Williams

Editors Devon Collins

Jeffrey C. Wray

Sound Design Marlowe Taylor

Additional Camera James Reeves

Additional Editing Jared Milburn

Additional Sound Simon Tarr

Mark Thomas

Audra Lindsey

Hip Hop Score Kuroi Oto

Jazz Score Kris Johnson

Featured Music BLAT! Pack - Jahshua Smith, James Gardin & Yellokake

Randall Sisco

With Support From National Black Programming Consortium

Ohio Arts Council

Michigan State University

Ohio University

Copyright Jazzy Tam Films 2015

Documents

1131 Daisy Lane [email protected] ... Evolution of Bert begins with Bert Hightower as a child sleeping gently. ... The Evolution of Bert is a dramatic, ... DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY