Published: Tuesday - January 22, 2008
Words by Anne van de Sande
'Blackout' DVD coverart (Photo: Paramount)
A favorite at festivals worldwide, "Blackout" premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival, opened the 2007 Urbanworld/VIBE Film Festival and screened at various festivals across the globe. And now, its ready for DVD and to be aired on BET.
"Blackout," an explosive story of a forgotten New York neighborhood during the largest power failure in American history, features Jeffrey Wright ("Casino Royale"), Zoe Saldana ("Vantage Point," "Guess Who"), Mobb Deep's Prodigy, Michael B. Jordan ("The Wire") and filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles.
The film recounts the devastating events of two days and a night in East Flatbush, a simmering African American enclave forgotten in the midst of a massive power outage, which sets off a chain reaction of frustration, violence and despair in the inner city neighborhood.
Inspired by real events, director and screenwriter Jerry LaMothe has created a poignant picture of a struggling neighborhood in Brooklyn as it descends into chaos. Looters emerge, violence breaks out and residents fear for their lives as they wait for help that never comes.
Based on real life stories, LaMothe weaves a compelling narrative from the lives of an interrelated group of residents, including a rising young publishing executive and her traumatized husband, a single mother and her college-bound son, the neighborhood poet and a Middle Eastern convenience store owner, an elderly building superintendent and the wealthy white landlord he shelters from the tenants' anger, the gang bangers who terrorize the neighborhood, and the local barber. Some will find each other in the darkness, others will lose everything they have ever worked for and East Flatbush will never forget the events of these two days.
"Blackout" will make its broadcast debut on BET the week prior to the DVD's debut, which is slated for release on February 5. The film's DVD includes deleted scenes, exclusive conversations with the filmmaker and cast, plus gripping interviews with survivors of the great blackout of 2003.
Features Tweet: It's Me Again... After a few failed attempts as a member of an all-girl group, Tweet received a life-altering phone call, from Missy ... full story
Editorials & Columns Hustle Harder: Have Fun This past weekend I attended the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival and I really had a good time. From bouncing around the stage ... full story
Digg It
Del.icio.us
