The College Graduate

2018 Black Harvest Film Festival Selection

The College Graduate is a short film that I produced as the creative product of my BA thesis project at the University of Chicago. The film follows the main character, Hayden, as he fights his own subconscious demons trying to find his identity as a black American within the racism of society’s elite institutions.

I played many roles in the production process of the film. My degree in Theater Arts and Performance Studies was concentrated in playwriting, and I started the process of producing this film by writing the script. After writing the film, I successfully applied for a grant from a student activity fund called the Dean’s Fund and used my grant to hire a production crew to help with the technical production of the film in shooting and editing. Next, I cast the film and collaborated with the production crew to create a shooting schedule for the film that considered the availability of the crew, the actors, and my own academic schedule. I was the director for every shoot and worked with the rest of the crew to maintain the production schedule. During the post-production process, I edited the raw footage with assistance from the production crew and selected the sound and thematic effects that give the film its surreal aesthetic.