"This is my life!!" Kino Lorber has revealed a new official trailer for the 4K restoration and re-release of a 1998 film titled Slam, from director Marc Levin and starring the talented actor / filmmaker / musician Saul Williams. This originally premiered back in 1998 at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won a few prizes, later playing at Cannes, Deauville, Helsinki, Toronto, and New York Film Fests that same year. "Slam is a landmark film that defies easy categorization. This emotionally powerful and technically innovative film deserves to be seen on the big screen." Williams stars as a guy named Ray Joshua who copes with urban crime and despair by competing in poetry slams. This also stars Sonja Sohn, Marc Levin, Bonz Malone, and Beau Sia. Slam has been digitally restored from the 35mm interpositive, and a new 4K Dcp created in collaboration between Sundance Institute, the Academy Film Archive, the UCLA Film & Television Archive,...
- 4/10/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The 2023 Sundance Film Festival will host special screenings of “Slam” and “The Doom Generation,” the Sundance Institute announced Wednesday.
The films, which premiered in 1998 and 1995 respectively, are the first titles announced for the upcoming festival. Both received their world premieres at Sundance — “Slam” premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section and won the Grand Jury Prize, while “The Doom Generation” premiered in the festival’s Premieres section. Both screenings will take place as part of the festival’s From the Collection section, which is dedicated to rescreening notable titles that previously played at Sundance. Each screening will be followed by a panel and discussions with the filmmakers, the details of which will be announced at a later date.
“Before we announce the full slate for the upcoming festival, we are taking a moment to honor our past in anticipation of what is to come,” Kim Yutani, Sundance’s director of programming,...
The films, which premiered in 1998 and 1995 respectively, are the first titles announced for the upcoming festival. Both received their world premieres at Sundance — “Slam” premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section and won the Grand Jury Prize, while “The Doom Generation” premiered in the festival’s Premieres section. Both screenings will take place as part of the festival’s From the Collection section, which is dedicated to rescreening notable titles that previously played at Sundance. Each screening will be followed by a panel and discussions with the filmmakers, the details of which will be announced at a later date.
“Before we announce the full slate for the upcoming festival, we are taking a moment to honor our past in anticipation of what is to come,” Kim Yutani, Sundance’s director of programming,...
- 10/12/2022
- by Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
Just before passes go on sale, the Sundance Film Festival has dropped the first two titles for the upcoming 2023 edition and we have a proper, refurbished version of Gregg Araki‘s seminal debut film to look forward to. The 25th Anniversary and digital restoration screening of Marc Levin‘s Slam and the uncensored director’s cut and restoration of The Doom Generation. The screenings will each be followed by conversations with the filmmakers and special guests to be announced at a later date.
Slam / U.S.A. (Director: Marc Levin, Screenwriters: Saul Williams, Sonja Sohn, Bonz Malone, Marc Levin, Richard Stratton, Producers: Henri M.…...
Slam / U.S.A. (Director: Marc Levin, Screenwriters: Saul Williams, Sonja Sohn, Bonz Malone, Marc Levin, Richard Stratton, Producers: Henri M.…...
- 10/12/2022
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
In-person festival runs January 19-29 with online component.
Sundance has announced the first two films in the 2023 festival’s From The Collection section – the 25th anniversary digital restoration of Slam and the uncensored director’s cut and restoration of The Doom Generation.
Marc Levin directed Slam, which premiered in U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 1998 festival and won the grand jury prize. The film exposes the structural inequity of the criminal justice system through the story of a young Black performance poet imprisoned for a petty crime who finds salvation in his rhymes. Bonz Malone, Beau Sia, Sonja Sohn, and Saul Williams star.
Sundance has announced the first two films in the 2023 festival’s From The Collection section – the 25th anniversary digital restoration of Slam and the uncensored director’s cut and restoration of The Doom Generation.
Marc Levin directed Slam, which premiered in U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 1998 festival and won the grand jury prize. The film exposes the structural inequity of the criminal justice system through the story of a young Black performance poet imprisoned for a petty crime who finds salvation in his rhymes. Bonz Malone, Beau Sia, Sonja Sohn, and Saul Williams star.
- 10/12/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
It's fitting that this latest feature from Marc Levin, the director of the acclaimed "Slam", should be receiving its U.S. theatrical premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Rose Cinemas, since the venue is but a stone's throw away from where the story is set. A tale of interracial romance between a young Hasidic woman and a Rastafarian rapper, "Brooklyn Babylon" is a well-intentioned effort that unfortunately suffers from melodramatic excess and overly familiar themes.
Set in Crown Heights, the Brooklyn neighborhood that in 1991 erupted in violence between African-Americans and Hasidic Jews, the film depicts the uproar that ensues after a relationship develops between Sol (Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter from the band the Roots) and Sara (Karen Goberman) after they are involved in a car accident that nearly leads to a riot. The pair are immediately drawn to each other, infuriating both Sara's hotheaded fiance Judah (David Vadim) and Sol's best friend Scratch (Bonz Malone).
The burgeoning courtship is depicted with a delicate sensitivity, most notably in such scenes as when Sara tentatively and delightedly touches Sol's impressive dreadlocks, and in the inevitable nude love scene, which is marked by a gentle eroticism. But the film degenerates into a "West Side Story"-style depiction of racial tensions and violence, and the largely improvised dialogue is ultimately unable to hold our interest. The fact that the story is meant to be an updating of the Solomon and Sheba fable doesn't help matters.
Trotter, in his screen debut, displays an undeniable charisma, and Goberman, though not quite capable of fully conveying the extent of her character's emotional turmoil, has a lovely screen presence. Music fans will find satisfaction in the filmed performances by The Roots and by the presence of various hip-hop figures, including Rahzel, Slick Rick, Bounty Killer, Common and others. Also exhibiting his musical skills, not to mention a surprising visual image, is Hasidic guitarist Yossi Piementa.
BROOKLYN BABYLON
Offline Entertainment Group
in association with Canal Plus and Artisan Films
Director: Marc Levin
Screenwriters: Marc Levin, Bonz Malone, Pam Widener
Producers: Henri M. Kessler, Ezra Swerdlow
Executive producers: David Peipers, John Sloss, Alex Gibney
Director of photography: Mark Benjamin
Film editor: Emir Lewis
Color/stereo
Cast:
Sol: Tariq Trotter
Sara: Karen Goberman
Scratch: Bonz Malone
Judah: David Vadim
Narrator: Rahzel
Ras Don: Earl Contasti
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating
Set in Crown Heights, the Brooklyn neighborhood that in 1991 erupted in violence between African-Americans and Hasidic Jews, the film depicts the uproar that ensues after a relationship develops between Sol (Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter from the band the Roots) and Sara (Karen Goberman) after they are involved in a car accident that nearly leads to a riot. The pair are immediately drawn to each other, infuriating both Sara's hotheaded fiance Judah (David Vadim) and Sol's best friend Scratch (Bonz Malone).
The burgeoning courtship is depicted with a delicate sensitivity, most notably in such scenes as when Sara tentatively and delightedly touches Sol's impressive dreadlocks, and in the inevitable nude love scene, which is marked by a gentle eroticism. But the film degenerates into a "West Side Story"-style depiction of racial tensions and violence, and the largely improvised dialogue is ultimately unable to hold our interest. The fact that the story is meant to be an updating of the Solomon and Sheba fable doesn't help matters.
Trotter, in his screen debut, displays an undeniable charisma, and Goberman, though not quite capable of fully conveying the extent of her character's emotional turmoil, has a lovely screen presence. Music fans will find satisfaction in the filmed performances by The Roots and by the presence of various hip-hop figures, including Rahzel, Slick Rick, Bounty Killer, Common and others. Also exhibiting his musical skills, not to mention a surprising visual image, is Hasidic guitarist Yossi Piementa.
BROOKLYN BABYLON
Offline Entertainment Group
in association with Canal Plus and Artisan Films
Director: Marc Levin
Screenwriters: Marc Levin, Bonz Malone, Pam Widener
Producers: Henri M. Kessler, Ezra Swerdlow
Executive producers: David Peipers, John Sloss, Alex Gibney
Director of photography: Mark Benjamin
Film editor: Emir Lewis
Color/stereo
Cast:
Sol: Tariq Trotter
Sara: Karen Goberman
Scratch: Bonz Malone
Judah: David Vadim
Narrator: Rahzel
Ras Don: Earl Contasti
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Set in Crown Heights, the Brooklyn neighborhood that in 1991 erupted in violence between African-Americans and Hasidic Jews, the film depicts the uproar that ensues after a relationship develops between Sol (Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter from the band the Roots) and Sara (Karen Goberman) after they are involved in a car accident that nearly leads to a riot. The pair are immediately drawn to each other, infuriating both Sara's hotheaded fiance Judah (David Vadim) and Sol's best friend Scratch (Bonz Malone).
The burgeoning courtship is depicted with a delicate sensitivity, most notably in such scenes as when Sara tentatively and delightedly touches Sol's impressive dreadlocks, and in the inevitable nude love scene, which is marked by a gentle eroticism. But the film degenerates into a "West Side Story"-style depiction of racial tensions and violence, and the largely improvised dialogue is ultimately unable to hold our interest. The fact that the story is meant to be an updating of the Solomon and Sheba fable doesn't help matters.
Trotter, in his screen debut, displays an undeniable charisma, and Goberman, though not quite capable of fully conveying the extent of her character's emotional turmoil, has a lovely screen presence. Music fans will find satisfaction in the filmed performances by The Roots and by the presence of various hip-hop figures, including Rahzel, Slick Rick, Bounty Killer, Common and others. Also exhibiting his musical skills, not to mention a surprising visual image, is Hasidic guitarist Yossi Piementa.
BROOKLYN BABYLON
Offline Entertainment Group
in association with Canal Plus and Artisan Films
Director: Marc Levin
Screenwriters: Marc Levin, Bonz Malone, Pam Widener
Producers: Henri M. Kessler, Ezra Swerdlow
Executive producers: David Peipers, John Sloss, Alex Gibney
Director of photography: Mark Benjamin
Film editor: Emir Lewis
Color/stereo
Cast:
Sol: Tariq Trotter
Sara: Karen Goberman
Scratch: Bonz Malone
Judah: David Vadim
Narrator: Rahzel
Ras Don: Earl Contasti
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating
Set in Crown Heights, the Brooklyn neighborhood that in 1991 erupted in violence between African-Americans and Hasidic Jews, the film depicts the uproar that ensues after a relationship develops between Sol (Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter from the band the Roots) and Sara (Karen Goberman) after they are involved in a car accident that nearly leads to a riot. The pair are immediately drawn to each other, infuriating both Sara's hotheaded fiance Judah (David Vadim) and Sol's best friend Scratch (Bonz Malone).
The burgeoning courtship is depicted with a delicate sensitivity, most notably in such scenes as when Sara tentatively and delightedly touches Sol's impressive dreadlocks, and in the inevitable nude love scene, which is marked by a gentle eroticism. But the film degenerates into a "West Side Story"-style depiction of racial tensions and violence, and the largely improvised dialogue is ultimately unable to hold our interest. The fact that the story is meant to be an updating of the Solomon and Sheba fable doesn't help matters.
Trotter, in his screen debut, displays an undeniable charisma, and Goberman, though not quite capable of fully conveying the extent of her character's emotional turmoil, has a lovely screen presence. Music fans will find satisfaction in the filmed performances by The Roots and by the presence of various hip-hop figures, including Rahzel, Slick Rick, Bounty Killer, Common and others. Also exhibiting his musical skills, not to mention a surprising visual image, is Hasidic guitarist Yossi Piementa.
BROOKLYN BABYLON
Offline Entertainment Group
in association with Canal Plus and Artisan Films
Director: Marc Levin
Screenwriters: Marc Levin, Bonz Malone, Pam Widener
Producers: Henri M. Kessler, Ezra Swerdlow
Executive producers: David Peipers, John Sloss, Alex Gibney
Director of photography: Mark Benjamin
Film editor: Emir Lewis
Color/stereo
Cast:
Sol: Tariq Trotter
Sara: Karen Goberman
Scratch: Bonz Malone
Judah: David Vadim
Narrator: Rahzel
Ras Don: Earl Contasti
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
It's fitting that this latest feature from Marc Levin, the director of the acclaimed "Slam", should be receiving its U.S. theatrical premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Rose Cinemas, since the venue is but a stone's throw away from where the story is set. A tale of interracial romance between a young Hasidic woman and a Rastafarian rapper, "Brooklyn Babylon" is a well-intentioned effort that unfortunately suffers from melodramatic excess and overly familiar themes.
Set in Crown Heights, the Brooklyn neighborhood that in 1991 erupted in violence between African-Americans and Hasidic Jews, the film depicts the uproar that ensues after a relationship develops between Sol (Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter from the band the Roots) and Sara (Karen Goberman) after they are involved in a car accident that nearly leads to a riot. The pair are immediately drawn to each other, infuriating both Sara's hotheaded fiance Judah (David Vadim) and Sol's best friend Scratch (Bonz Malone).
The burgeoning courtship is depicted with a delicate sensitivity, most notably in such scenes as when Sara tentatively and delightedly touches Sol's impressive dreadlocks, and in the inevitable nude love scene, which is marked by a gentle eroticism. But the film degenerates into a "West Side Story"-style depiction of racial tensions and violence, and the largely improvised dialogue is ultimately unable to hold our interest. The fact that the story is meant to be an updating of the Solomon and Sheba fable doesn't help matters.
Trotter, in his screen debut, displays an undeniable charisma, and Goberman, though not quite capable of fully conveying the extent of her character's emotional turmoil, has a lovely screen presence. Music fans will find satisfaction in the filmed performances by The Roots and by the presence of various hip-hop figures, including Rahzel, Slick Rick, Bounty Killer, Common and others. Also exhibiting his musical skills, not to mention a surprising visual image, is Hasidic guitarist Yossi Piementa.
BROOKLYN BABYLON
Offline Entertainment Group
in association with Canal Plus and Artisan Films
Director: Marc Levin
Screenwriters: Marc Levin, Bonz Malone, Pam Widener
Producers: Henri M. Kessler, Ezra Swerdlow
Executive producers: David Peipers, John Sloss, Alex Gibney
Director of photography: Mark Benjamin
Film editor: Emir Lewis
Color/stereo
Cast:
Sol: Tariq Trotter
Sara: Karen Goberman
Scratch: Bonz Malone
Judah: David Vadim
Narrator: Rahzel
Ras Don: Earl Contasti
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating
Set in Crown Heights, the Brooklyn neighborhood that in 1991 erupted in violence between African-Americans and Hasidic Jews, the film depicts the uproar that ensues after a relationship develops between Sol (Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter from the band the Roots) and Sara (Karen Goberman) after they are involved in a car accident that nearly leads to a riot. The pair are immediately drawn to each other, infuriating both Sara's hotheaded fiance Judah (David Vadim) and Sol's best friend Scratch (Bonz Malone).
The burgeoning courtship is depicted with a delicate sensitivity, most notably in such scenes as when Sara tentatively and delightedly touches Sol's impressive dreadlocks, and in the inevitable nude love scene, which is marked by a gentle eroticism. But the film degenerates into a "West Side Story"-style depiction of racial tensions and violence, and the largely improvised dialogue is ultimately unable to hold our interest. The fact that the story is meant to be an updating of the Solomon and Sheba fable doesn't help matters.
Trotter, in his screen debut, displays an undeniable charisma, and Goberman, though not quite capable of fully conveying the extent of her character's emotional turmoil, has a lovely screen presence. Music fans will find satisfaction in the filmed performances by The Roots and by the presence of various hip-hop figures, including Rahzel, Slick Rick, Bounty Killer, Common and others. Also exhibiting his musical skills, not to mention a surprising visual image, is Hasidic guitarist Yossi Piementa.
BROOKLYN BABYLON
Offline Entertainment Group
in association with Canal Plus and Artisan Films
Director: Marc Levin
Screenwriters: Marc Levin, Bonz Malone, Pam Widener
Producers: Henri M. Kessler, Ezra Swerdlow
Executive producers: David Peipers, John Sloss, Alex Gibney
Director of photography: Mark Benjamin
Film editor: Emir Lewis
Color/stereo
Cast:
Sol: Tariq Trotter
Sara: Karen Goberman
Scratch: Bonz Malone
Judah: David Vadim
Narrator: Rahzel
Ras Don: Earl Contasti
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Set in Crown Heights, the Brooklyn neighborhood that in 1991 erupted in violence between African-Americans and Hasidic Jews, the film depicts the uproar that ensues after a relationship develops between Sol (Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter from the band the Roots) and Sara (Karen Goberman) after they are involved in a car accident that nearly leads to a riot. The pair are immediately drawn to each other, infuriating both Sara's hotheaded fiance Judah (David Vadim) and Sol's best friend Scratch (Bonz Malone).
The burgeoning courtship is depicted with a delicate sensitivity, most notably in such scenes as when Sara tentatively and delightedly touches Sol's impressive dreadlocks, and in the inevitable nude love scene, which is marked by a gentle eroticism. But the film degenerates into a "West Side Story"-style depiction of racial tensions and violence, and the largely improvised dialogue is ultimately unable to hold our interest. The fact that the story is meant to be an updating of the Solomon and Sheba fable doesn't help matters.
Trotter, in his screen debut, displays an undeniable charisma, and Goberman, though not quite capable of fully conveying the extent of her character's emotional turmoil, has a lovely screen presence. Music fans will find satisfaction in the filmed performances by The Roots and by the presence of various hip-hop figures, including Rahzel, Slick Rick, Bounty Killer, Common and others. Also exhibiting his musical skills, not to mention a surprising visual image, is Hasidic guitarist Yossi Piementa.
BROOKLYN BABYLON
Offline Entertainment Group
in association with Canal Plus and Artisan Films
Director: Marc Levin
Screenwriters: Marc Levin, Bonz Malone, Pam Widener
Producers: Henri M. Kessler, Ezra Swerdlow
Executive producers: David Peipers, John Sloss, Alex Gibney
Director of photography: Mark Benjamin
Film editor: Emir Lewis
Color/stereo
Cast:
Sol: Tariq Trotter
Sara: Karen Goberman
Scratch: Bonz Malone
Judah: David Vadim
Narrator: Rahzel
Ras Don: Earl Contasti
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating
Set in Crown Heights, the Brooklyn neighborhood that in 1991 erupted in violence between African-Americans and Hasidic Jews, the film depicts the uproar that ensues after a relationship develops between Sol (Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter from the band the Roots) and Sara (Karen Goberman) after they are involved in a car accident that nearly leads to a riot. The pair are immediately drawn to each other, infuriating both Sara's hotheaded fiance Judah (David Vadim) and Sol's best friend Scratch (Bonz Malone).
The burgeoning courtship is depicted with a delicate sensitivity, most notably in such scenes as when Sara tentatively and delightedly touches Sol's impressive dreadlocks, and in the inevitable nude love scene, which is marked by a gentle eroticism. But the film degenerates into a "West Side Story"-style depiction of racial tensions and violence, and the largely improvised dialogue is ultimately unable to hold our interest. The fact that the story is meant to be an updating of the Solomon and Sheba fable doesn't help matters.
Trotter, in his screen debut, displays an undeniable charisma, and Goberman, though not quite capable of fully conveying the extent of her character's emotional turmoil, has a lovely screen presence. Music fans will find satisfaction in the filmed performances by The Roots and by the presence of various hip-hop figures, including Rahzel, Slick Rick, Bounty Killer, Common and others. Also exhibiting his musical skills, not to mention a surprising visual image, is Hasidic guitarist Yossi Piementa.
BROOKLYN BABYLON
Offline Entertainment Group
in association with Canal Plus and Artisan Films
Director: Marc Levin
Screenwriters: Marc Levin, Bonz Malone, Pam Widener
Producers: Henri M. Kessler, Ezra Swerdlow
Executive producers: David Peipers, John Sloss, Alex Gibney
Director of photography: Mark Benjamin
Film editor: Emir Lewis
Color/stereo
Cast:
Sol: Tariq Trotter
Sara: Karen Goberman
Scratch: Bonz Malone
Judah: David Vadim
Narrator: Rahzel
Ras Don: Earl Contasti
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 8/28/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARK CITY, Utah -- Art imitates life and life imitates art. In Marc Levin's "Slam", art attempts to rehabilitate life. The thin line between art and life, between documentary and fictional filmmaking, is examined in the winner of the grand jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
Renowned for his award-winning documentaries, Levin explores familiar territory in "Slam" with new navigational equipment: a script which is something like a map. This film wasn't scripted in the traditional sense. Levin, it appears, merely chose the territory to be covered and the explorers, and then turned the camera on.
Real actors play prisoners and real prisoners play actors in this movie about a talented black poet who gets arrested in Washington for possession of marijuana. Brace yourself for a slam-dunk of a movie, in an in-your-face cinema verite-style that makes Godard's "Breathless" seem like a cartoon.
The story behind the story is as interesting as the cinematic story itself and further evidence of the incestuous relationship between art and life. Bonz Malone, who plays a prison gang leader in "Slam", has served time in prison but is now a regular columnist for several national magazines.
The stars, Saul Williams and Sonja Soh, were discovered at a "Slam" -- where urban poets perform -- and created much of the poetry in the movie. Many of the extras are actual prisoners in District of Columbia jails. Even D.C. Mayor Marion Barry -- in a moment that is only comic because of his own real-life conviction on drug charges -- plays a judge who, at the arraignment for Ray Joshua, lectures about the evils of drugs. With its documentary style and topicality, "Slam" hits uncomfortably close to home.
During its expedition across the urban jungle, "Slam" wrestles with D.C.'s demons, from overcrowded jails to the demise of the black male. From these struggles, art emerges via poetic performance as an amoral compass by which one can escape the social ills that stalk society.
Performing at a Slam saves the "reel" fictional Ray Joshua from despair in the face of his upcoming trial and rewards the "real" actor Saul Williams as one of the country's premiere performance artists.
One of the film's producers, Richard Stratton, as well as Bonz Malone, found art to be salvation from a life of crime. "Slam" could very well become the poster child for Sundance inasmuch as independent filmmaking could find no higher ground than a film with an innovative style and social conscience that delivers the message: art redeems life.
SLAM
Trimark
Producers: Henri M. Kessler, Richard Stratton, Marc Levin
Director: Marc Levin
Screenwriters: Marc Levin, Richard Stratton,
Saul Williams, Sonja Sohn
Director of photography: Marc Benjamin
Editor:: Emir Lewis
Music: Paul Miller
Black-and-white/stereo
Ray Joshua: Saul Williams
Lauren Bell: Sonja Sohn
Hopha: Bonz Malone
Jimmy Huang: Beau Sia
Running time -- 100 minutes...
Renowned for his award-winning documentaries, Levin explores familiar territory in "Slam" with new navigational equipment: a script which is something like a map. This film wasn't scripted in the traditional sense. Levin, it appears, merely chose the territory to be covered and the explorers, and then turned the camera on.
Real actors play prisoners and real prisoners play actors in this movie about a talented black poet who gets arrested in Washington for possession of marijuana. Brace yourself for a slam-dunk of a movie, in an in-your-face cinema verite-style that makes Godard's "Breathless" seem like a cartoon.
The story behind the story is as interesting as the cinematic story itself and further evidence of the incestuous relationship between art and life. Bonz Malone, who plays a prison gang leader in "Slam", has served time in prison but is now a regular columnist for several national magazines.
The stars, Saul Williams and Sonja Soh, were discovered at a "Slam" -- where urban poets perform -- and created much of the poetry in the movie. Many of the extras are actual prisoners in District of Columbia jails. Even D.C. Mayor Marion Barry -- in a moment that is only comic because of his own real-life conviction on drug charges -- plays a judge who, at the arraignment for Ray Joshua, lectures about the evils of drugs. With its documentary style and topicality, "Slam" hits uncomfortably close to home.
During its expedition across the urban jungle, "Slam" wrestles with D.C.'s demons, from overcrowded jails to the demise of the black male. From these struggles, art emerges via poetic performance as an amoral compass by which one can escape the social ills that stalk society.
Performing at a Slam saves the "reel" fictional Ray Joshua from despair in the face of his upcoming trial and rewards the "real" actor Saul Williams as one of the country's premiere performance artists.
One of the film's producers, Richard Stratton, as well as Bonz Malone, found art to be salvation from a life of crime. "Slam" could very well become the poster child for Sundance inasmuch as independent filmmaking could find no higher ground than a film with an innovative style and social conscience that delivers the message: art redeems life.
SLAM
Trimark
Producers: Henri M. Kessler, Richard Stratton, Marc Levin
Director: Marc Levin
Screenwriters: Marc Levin, Richard Stratton,
Saul Williams, Sonja Sohn
Director of photography: Marc Benjamin
Editor:: Emir Lewis
Music: Paul Miller
Black-and-white/stereo
Ray Joshua: Saul Williams
Lauren Bell: Sonja Sohn
Hopha: Bonz Malone
Jimmy Huang: Beau Sia
Running time -- 100 minutes...
- 1/26/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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