IT
TOOK
FILMMAKER
Rodney
Evans
six
years
to
make
“Brother
to
Brother,”
an
award-winning
feature
about
the
evolution
of
a
friendship
between
two
black
gay
men
in
New
York
City
—
one
just
beginning
to
discover
who
he
is,
the
other
reaching
the
end
of
his
journey.
Evans,
a
native
of
New
York
City,
touches
on
everything
in
the
film
from
black
gay
life
during
the
Harlem
Renaissance
to
interracial
dating,
which
today
can
still
be
thorny
terrain
to
traverse.
At
the
film’s
core
is
the
universal
quest
to
be
understood
and,
perhaps,
accepted.
Evans
is
scheduled
to
be
in
Washington,
D.C.,
Jan.
28-29
for
the
opening
of
“Brother
to
Brother”
at
the
E
Street
Cinema,
11th
and
E
streets,
NW.
Though
the
film
was
screened
here
last
October
at
Reel
Affirmations,
D.C.’s
annual
gay
and
lesbian
film
festival,
the
latest
presentation
is
part
of
the
film’s
national
release
in
cities
across
the
country.
During
a
recent
chat
with
the
Blade,
Evans
cited
several
influences
on
his
work.
The
first
is
Jim
McKay,
a
producer
and
director
whose
credits
include
“Room,”
a
film
scheduled
to
be
released
in
2005,
and
“Brother
to
Brother.”
Another
inspiration
is
Mike
Nichols,
who
directed
“Closer,”
“The
Graduate,”
as
well
as
the
television
version
of
“Angels
in
America.”
Evans
also
said
he
is
inspired
by
Marlon
Riggs,the
late
director
of
“Black
Is
…
Black
Ain’t”
and
“Tongues
Untied,”
both
of
which
are
films
that
explore
aspects
of
black
gay
life.
Riggs,
who
was
gay,
died
in
1994.
Documentary
filmmaker
Isaac
Julien,
the
gay
director
of
“Baltimore”
in
2003
and
“Baadasssss
Cinema”
in
2002,
also
influences
Evans’
work,
in
addition
to
gay
director
Todd
Haynes,
whose
hits
include
“Far
From
Heaven”
and
“Poison.”
The
gay
filmmaker
also
cited
Oscar
Micheaux,
the
first
African
American
to
produce
a
feature
film
—
“The
Homesteader,”
in
1919
—
as
a
role
model.
“He
definitely
influenced
the
visual
aesthetic
of
the
period
scenes
in
‘Brother
to
Brother,’”
Evans
said.
The
central
focus
of
the
film
is
really
this
relationship
between
Bruce
Nugent
[a
gay
writer
during
the
Harlem
Renaissance]
in
his
elderly
years
and
this
young
black
painter
thrown
out
of
his
house
for
being
gay,
and
how
they
connect
and
transform
each
other.
The
heart
of
the
film
is
the
evolution
of
their
friendship.
I
hope
the
audience
is
incredibly
moved
by
the
transformative
power
of
that
relationship
and
the
ways
they
affect
each
other.
People
tend
to
believe
the
film
is
a
bit
more
autobiographical
than
it
actually
is.
I
did
have
a
harsh
and
difficult
time
coming
out
in
my
own
family.
Some
of
the
experiences
led
me
to
think
about
what
it
was
like
if
that
experience
had
been
more
extreme
—
if
I
had
really
been
put
out
of
the
house,
how
I
would
survive
and
learn
the
ability
to
connect
with
other
individuals.
Although
that
was
not
my
experience,
it
led
me
to
thinking
about
what
that
experience
would
be
like
and
to
talk
to
people
who
actually
had
that
experience.
Also,
I’m
an
artist.
So
I
can
empathize
with
that
struggle
between
maintaining
your
personal
vision
and
having
to
survive
financially.
Those
are
things
Perry’s
struggling
with.
But
a
lot
of
the
aspects
of
Perry’s
life
are
fiction.
A
lot
had
to
do
with
the
collaboration
between
me
and
[actor]
Anthony
Mackie,
who
had
a
strong
take
on
who
the
character
was
and
how
he
wanted
to
embody
that
character.
I
define
myself
as
African
American.
Both
of
my
parents
are
from
Jamaica.
My
father’s
African
American
and
my
mom
is
half
Chinese
and
half
German
and
grew
up
in
Jamaica.
The
film
was
inspired,
partially,
by
an
earlier
short
film
I
did
called
‘Close
to
Home.’
It
deals
with
me
coming
out
to
my
family
and
the
disintegration
of
a
relationship
that
was
falling
apart.
An
audience
member
in
L.A.
asked
if
I
thought
about
taking
one
of
the
scenes,
the
breakup
scene,
and
putting
it
into
a
larger
narrative
context,
based
on
the
experience
I
had
gone
through.
I
decided
to
start
writing
to
see
what
a
film
like
that
would
look
like.
That
led
to
me
thinking
about
how
my
life
would
be
different
if
I
lived
in
a
different
time
period,
like
the
Harlem
Renaissance.
I
found
videotape
of
[Nugent]
in
the
Shomberg
Library
in
Harlem.
He
blew
my
mind.
He
was
a
unique,
wise,
witty,
sharp
human
being.
All
of
that
was
communicated
in
the
videotape.
I
went
on
a
two-year
search
trying
to
figure
out
who
he
was.
I
thought
of
him
as
my
doppelganger.
First,
because
the
research
process
was
so
in-depth.
The
screenwriting
and
research,
which
took
two
years,
went
hand-in-hand.
Then
the
fund-raising
was
incredibly
difficult.
We
shot
about
25
percent
of
the
film
in
the
fall
of
2001.
Then
we
ran
out
of
funds
and
used
those
initial
scenes
to
raise
the
...
