Month: August 2022

A showcase of the winning feature film from 2022.

SANKOFA CHICAGO, 68min., USA, Documentary
Directed by Vanessa Page Wright
A documentary that reflects upon the importance of learning black history in order to shape a better future for our young black citizens, starting with Chicago.

Watch the Audience Feedback Video:

Project Links

•  Website

News & Reviews

• “Film Review: “Sankofa Chicago’ Explores Black Past, Present and Future”UrbFashhttps://www.urbfash.com/2021/01/film-review-sankofa-chicago-explores.html
• “Cannes World Film Festival Interview”https://www.cannesworldfilmfestival.com/post/an-interview-with-vanessa-page-wright-director-producer-of-sankofa-chicago
• “Vanessa Wright tells the stories of Black leaders who are often overlooked”Rolling Out Magazinehttps://rollingout.com/2021/12/09/vanessa-wright-is-telling-the-stories-of-black-leaders-who-are-often-overlooked/
• “WGN-TV”People to People segmenthttps://youtu.be/OImjaXYIadw

Director Biography – Vanessa Page Wright

Vanessa Page Wright, M.A. is a former Talent Agent turned Filmmaker with a lifelong vision to create documentaries that preserve Black legacies via multifaceted historical storytelling. Through an empathetic, candid lens, she also aims to critically analyze race, culture, and identity within the Black community. Currently, she serves as the Founding Director of Tellers Untold and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia College Chicago.

Vanessa’s most recent creative venture is the award-winning documentary SANKOFA CHICAGO, which was sponsored by the Illinois Arts Council. Since its debut, this film has already received numerous awards, including “Best Educational Film” from Cannes World Film Festival (June 2021), the “Outstanding Achievement Award” from the Black Swan International Film Festival, and “Best Educational Film” from Druk International Film Festival (October 2021). This quickly earned success inspired her to turn SANKOFA CHICAGO into a full-blown docuseries.

Presently in the pre-production stage, SANKOFA CHICAGO: THE UNTOLD sheds light on curriculum-based education for the Social Sciences and History in the Chicago Public School District as well as their integration of Black history and other ethnic group’s histories.

When it comes to giving back to the Black community and serving as role model for the youth (her two sons especially), Vanessa’s determination is boundless. That being said, she is also the behind-the-scenes Creator, Director, Writer, and Cinematographer of a web-series called Your Kid Professors that provides children with a fun and engaging way to learn more about Black history.

Prior to that, Vanessa Page Wright was the Director of a documentary thesis project called Big Ten Athletes. Another multi-award-winning film that also aired on an ABC affiliate station, it featured prominent former NFL and NBA athletes from The Ohio State University.

To pay for her dream internship, Dusty Douglas returns to the family business she spent the last decade running from… Professional Bass Fishing. Partnered with a cable access fishing show host, Dusty will have to dethrone her own father and perennial champion, Hank “Large Mouth” Douglas, at a sport that is dubbed, NASCAR with gills.

CAST LIST:
Narrator: Elizabeth Rose Morriss
Dack: Sean Ballatyne
Hank: Shawn Devlin
Dusty: Allison Kampf

Writer Biography – Andy Palmer, Ben Begley

Andy Palmer is a multi-award winning film director. His credits include, ‘Witness Infection’, ‘Camp Cold Brook’, ‘The Funhouse Massacre’, Justice For Vincent, ‘Badlands of Kain’ and ‘Find Me’. His current feature, ‘The Re-Education of Molly Singer’ is currently being represented by The Gersh Agency and stars, Britt Robertson, Nico Santos, Ty Simpkins, and Jaime Pressly.

‘Camp Cold Brook’, Executive Produced by legendary film director Joe Dante, won Best Feature at the 2018 Shriekfest and Horrorhound Film Festivals, and was released theatrically in February of 2020.

After winning Best Feature at the 2015 Horrorhound and RIP Film festivals as well as an Official Selection in the highly touted Telluride Horror Show, ‘The Funhouse Massacre’ was released theatrically and became a VOD and DVD hit Type to enter text for distributor, The Shout Factory.

Recently Andy directed ‘Justice for Vincent’ a short film centered around the tragic murder of engineer Vincent Chin in 1982. To date, ‘Justice for Vincent’ has been accepted in 25 international film festivals and has garnered over 17 awards, including, Best Short Film at the 2019 Philadelphia Independent Film Festival, Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival, The Los Angeles Film Awards and won the Audience Choice Award at the 2019 DisOrient Asian American Film Festival.

In Television Andy recently directed, and was Supervising Producer for the television pilot “Stay Alive” for CMT and 51 Minds Entertainment.

He recently directed the horror comedy feature ‘Witness Infection’, which has been selected to the 2020 HA Comedy Arts Festival, Horrorhound, and Die Laughing Film Festivals. And recently won “Best Director” and “Best Practical Effects” at the 2020 Frostbite Film Festival.

Writer Statement
I’ve been in love with movies since my parents first plunked me
down in front of the TV and Betamax player and hit play.
I approach directing films from the same place as I watch them,
as a fan. Films that I make are films that I would like to sit with
my best friends in a dark basement and watch over and over again.
Good stories, good characters, something to laugh at, someone to
cheer for. If there are interesting characters making interesting
choices, I want to shoot it. Being on set is a magical experience,
and if I can bottle up that magic and successfully project it to an
audience via the screen, I can’t think of any better job than that.