Sydney Levine

I am finally catching up with some of what I missed at Sundance -- just in time for Cannes!. This one I had heard about from a acting school colleague of Rashaad before Sundance was announced. Now I have finally seen the film! Wow! It is so strong and uncompromising, I actually had a tough time staying with these characters, so strongly into their own world were they. The realism of their characters, flaws and strengths, the realism of those rough South Bronx streets, the grittiness and proximity were palpable. This film will remain with me for a long time to come. Esai Morales and Judy Reyes were great. And the young man...who is he? Even IMDb didn’t help me find him as I forgot his name in the film. What a sweet and beautiful young man. All the actors were good, even the supporting roles, especially of the nemisis, Sugar, played by Robert Salzman, who must have done something as horrendous as what our hero, Enrique, fears in his own son. Enrique's steadfast and unquestionable machismo made Esai Morales' figure positively tragic. The video here speaks with Robert Salzman's own voice and makes you understand how he was able to play the role of the convict/ ex-con Sugar:Director Rashaad Ernesto Green started his own his career as an actor and has a natural feel for the actors. A New York native, he received his BA from Dartmouth College, MFA from the NYU Graduate Acting Program, and will graduate this May from NYU's Graduate Film Program. After spending three years acting in theaters nationwide and working with directors such as Spike Lee, Rashaad worked as a teacher in the South Bronx before moving behind the camera to tell stories. Rashaad was included on the latest edition of Filmmaker Magazine’s elite 25 New Faces of Independent Film list as well as indieWIRE's 2009 Top Ten New Voices in Cinema. Gun Hill Road's Rashaad Ernesto Green, courtesy of Sundance InstituteThe world premiere of Rashaad’s film Premature won the Grand Jury Prize in the HBO Short Film Competition at the 2008 American Black Film Festival, is currently airing on HBO and has played over 40 festivals worldwide, including Palm Springs International Shortfest, Munich International Film Festival, Sapporo International Film Festival of Japan, has broadcast in England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Kenya, Japan, and has garnered over 20 awards, including the Directors Guild of America Student Award and the National Board of Review Award. His short Choices premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, and his latest short Cuts has also screened on HBO. Selected for the 2010 Tribeca All Access Program, IFP’s Independent Film Week, and a recipient of the prestigious Princess Grace Foundation–Cary Grant Film Award, Rashaad recently completed his thesis feature film Gun Hill Road which premiered in the 2011 Sundance Film Festival U.S. Dramatic Competition. Gun Hill Road was picked up by U.S. distributor Motion Film Group and will be released early this summer.