Late last year, the small city of Plainfield witnessed two shocking murders, young people gunned down separately in broad daylight within 24 hours—more sad statistics in this troubled city. One week later, local film director Alrick Brown learned that his first feature film, Kinyarwanda, had been selected for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
These seemingly unrelated developments coalesced when Brown recruited four Plainfield teens to go with him in January to Sundance in Park City, Utah. Though they have no film experience, with Brown’s help the teens are producing a documentary about their journey, From Plainfield to Sundance.
The program—which was funded by the Plainfield Board of Education and producers Blok Box Interactive Media Group—was created as a way to give the teens alternatives to violence and street culture, and to encourage them to pursue higher education. It was also Brown’s way of giving back to the city where he grew up.
“My philosophy has always been to give along the way—especially while you’re trying to achieve your success—and that’s what I’m trying to do here,” says Brown, who returned to Plainfield after earning BA and MA degrees from Rutgers and serving in the Peace Corps in the Ivory Coast. “For them to come here and have this experience, and go back and talk about it, it’s wonderful. Just the idea that they can do other things… If you show them other realities, they’ll believe it, too.”
Brown wrote and directed Kinyarwanda, which was inspired by true stories that took place during the brutal genocide in Rwanda in 1994. It is the first dramatic feature to come out of that country and stars mostly Rwandan actors.
The 34-year-old filmmaker (who also has a master’s degree in fine art from New York University) did not go home from the festival empty-handed. His film, produced for about $400,000, won the prestigious audience award at Sundance for best dramatic film in the world cinema category. Visit kinyarwanda.com for more information on the film.