The Story of Gospel Hill

Transcription

1 The Story of Gospel Hill Gospel Hill is a film by actor, producer and director Giancarlo Esposito. Esposito will made his film directorial debut with Gospel Hill, scheduled for release in 2009, and launching on the red carpet at Barack Obama s 44 th President Inauguration week. The film has been a labor of love for Giancarlo, who was determined to make the film a reality in the summer of Esposito financed the film largely with his own funds, some private financing from key investors and through the support of friends and family. As Danny Glover said at a recent screening of the film, We re here to celebrate that such a beautiful film was made in the first place, knowing what it takes to put a film together! Awards To date the film has won numerous independent film awards including the Santa Fe Film Festival, the Memphis Film Festival, the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival. Taylor Kitsch won a Rising Star award for his performance at the Hampton s Film Festival. Several festivals have invited Gospel Hill to attend, so expect more awards in the near future! (We hope!) 1

2 The Film Stars Angela Bassett Angela Bassett is Sarah Malcolm Samuel L. Jackson Samuel L Jackson is Paul Maclolm Rza The Rza is Lonnie Giancarlo Esposito Director, Producer and Dr. Palmer Taylor Kitsch Taylor Kitsch is Joel Herrod Nia Long Nia Long is Mrs. Palmer Julia Stiles Julia Stiles is Rosie Danny Glover Danny Glover is John Malcolm 2

3 Synopsis of the Film In the town of Julia, the residents of the black neighborhood of Gospel Hill, are being forced out of their homes to make way for a multimillion-dollar golf course development. Race relations are strained just as they were thirty years ago when Peter Malcolm (Samuel Jackson), a black civil rights activist, was assassinated. Dr. Ron Palmer (Giancarlo Esposito), an influential black community leader who runs the emergency clinic in Gospel Hill, is supporting the golf course development and helping to push people off their land. Peter Malcolm's son, John Malcolm (Danny Glover), withdrew from the community and the fight for civil rights after his father's assassination, haunted by feelings of hatred for Jack Herrod (Tom Bower). Herrod, the towns bigoted, ex-sheriff, was responsible for letting the investigation of Peter's murder dissipate with no one charged. Meanwhile, Sarah Malcolm (Angela Bassett), John s wife, takes it upon herself to battle Dr. Palmer and reveal his profiteering to the whole town, exposing him for the greedy man he has become. Jack's sons are Carl Herrod (Adam Baldwin), an iconoclastic lawyer, who is having an affair with the doctors' wife (Nia Long) and Joel Herrod (Taylor Kitsch), who has tried to distance himself from his father's name and reputation. Joel has a struggling landscaping business that flourishes when he begins to work for Dr. Palmer, but when he falls in love with Rosie (Julia Stiles), a school teacher helping Sarah fight Palmer, the conflict of interest becomes too present to ignore. These characters lives intertwine as Dr. Palmer obtains real estate and pushes the development to the cities approval; Sarah struggles to get John involved as she fights to expose the doctor; Joel deals with his fathers increasing animosity; Jack Herrod, discovering he is terminally ill, has secretly reopened the case of Peter Malcolm's murder; and John Malcolm begins to realize that the fight for equality didn't die with his brother, that it continues in every breath the town takes, and he knows that if Sarah continues to stir the hornets nest that the town of Julia has become, he will be thrust into the position he shared with his brother thirty years ago. 3

4 The Website The website has been unique for a film site, with the site itself being picked up by blog profiles such as TypePad, one of the largest blogging software, which points out the leading Web 2.0 features of the site. With live Twitter updates from the various film festivals the film has been in, Live Flickr Photo updates from events such as the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention, in addition to live news feeds via RSS for all relates happenings surround the film. YouTube videos provide direct and raw access with interviews with the actors, the director and people associated with the film. Stay tuned for more updates as the film launches at the Inauguration of Barack Obama, at a red carpet screening hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus. About Giancarlo Esposito: Director, Producer, Actor Throughout most of the 1980s, Esposito appeared in small roles in films such as Maximum Overdrive, King of New York, and Trading Places and TV shows such as Miami Vice and Spenser: For Hire. In 1988, he landed his breakout role as a college student labeled as a "wannabe" by his peers in director Spike Lee's film School Daze. Over the next four years, Esposito and Lee collaborated on three other movies: Do the Right Thing, Mo' Better Blues, and Malcolm X. He also appeared in Reckless with Mia Farrow. Esposito is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Agent Mike Giardello (one of his few roles taking into account both his black and Italian heritage) on the TV crime drama Homicide: Life on the Street, a role he played from 1998 until the series' cancellation in Ironically enough, the character's father Al is portrayed as subject to colorism, something that Esposito's character practiced in School Daze. Other TV credits include NYPD Blue, Law & Order, The Practice, and Fallen Angels: Fearless. Esposito has portrayed drug dealers (Fresh), cops (The Usual Suspects), political radicals (Bob Roberts) and even a demonic version of the Greek God of Sleep from another dimension (Monkeybone.) His last notable roles were as Muhammed Ali's father in Ali and Nuyorican poet Miguel Piñero's friend and collaborator Miguel Algarín in Piñero, both released in

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