2017

This year finds us in the final stages of editing not one, but two, feature films that will be released in 2018.

Black in Blue is the story of the four African American football players at the University of Kentucky who broke the color line in the Southeastern Conference fifty years ago.

The film pivots around the weekend of September 29-30, 1967. That Friday night, defensive end Greg Page died as a result of an accident in football practice a few weeks earlier. The next day, his roommate, teammate, friend, and fellow civil rights pioneer, Nate Northington, broke the color line in the SEC in a game against Ole Miss. In the wake of that tragedy, Nate left Kentucky, and left the task of integrating the conference to teammates Houston Hogg and Wilbur Hackett. Executive Producer Paul Karem and I are making the film in cooperation with Nate, Houston, Wilbur, and Mel Page (Greg’s brother).

Fishing with Dynamite examines how corporations and Wall Street, and their obsession with short-term profit for shareholders, are blowing up American capitalism. And how we can put it back together.

The film contrasts the two great theories of capitalism – the “shareholder value” idea, that companies exist only to create profit, vs. the “stakeholder” idea, that companies should serve the interests of shareholders and customers, employees, suppliers, and the community and environment. In addition to looking at the destructive effects of shareholder value thinking, the film features profiles of three companies that demonstrate the wisdom and productivity of the stakeholder approach. The goal of the film is nothing less than the re-assertion of an authentic, ethical American capitalism.

Look for both films on the festival circuit in 2018!