Kara Young and Roderick Lawrence in Silent Partner.
April 25, 2022
For Immediate Release:
Silent Partner, starring Harlem artists Roderick Lawrence and Kara Young,
to screen in-person at the 2022 Harlem International Film Festival
Multi-award-winning short film has premiered at 3 Oscar qualifiers
NEW YORK CITY — Multi-award-winning short film, Silent Partner, will be shown at the AMC Harlem 9 on Sat., May 7, at 8pm, as part of the 2022 Harlem International Film Festival. The original story was created by Harlem resident Roderick Lawrence, who stars in the film alongside Harlem’s own Kara Young, written/directed by The Bronx’s own and Harlem International Film Festival alum Aristotle Torres (Story Ave), and lensed by New York City native Eric Branco (Clemency).
Roderick Lawrence (“Simba” in Disney’s The Lion King) stars in the film as Silas Jones, an accomplished Black trial attorney who successfully defends a white woman who murdered a Black teen. Silent Partner, which also features Emmy-award-winner Michael Park (Dear Evan Hansen) and Kara Young (Clyde’s), explores microaggressions in the workplace and the toll it takes on one’s mental health and family. Appearing in film festivals from the East to the West Coast and taking audiences through a range of emotions along the way since its premiere at the Run&Shoot Filmworks Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival, Silent Partner has been highly acclaimed, winning Best Short Film and Best Director Awards at numerous festivals. The film has earned 12 official festival selections to date, including 3 Oscar-qualifying festival selections.
A product of Baldwin Wallace’s Conservatory of Music, Lawrence has performed across the country and on many New York stages. Co-Founder of Black Man Films, he is an unapologetic Blacktivist, who helped start many Black Lives Matter initiatives in the Broadway and acting communities. A 2020 AUDELCO nominee, his credits include Simba in Disney’s The Lion King National Tour, Ramses in the Broadway-bound The Prince of Egypt, Othello in John Leguizamo’s Othello: The Remix, and Floyd Barton in August Wilson’s Seven Guitars.
Young, a true Harlem artist, starred in Hair Wolf, Sundance 2018 Short Film Jury Award Winner, and in the MCC Theater's All the Natalie Portmans, for which she received a Lucille Lortel Award Nomination. Young made her Broadway debut in Lynn Nottage's Clyde’s this past fall and can next be seen recurring on the HBO Max original The Staircase. She is currently a series regular in Boots Riley’s Amazon series, I am a Virgo.
Torres is a writer, director, from The Bronx, NYC. He has built a career directing music videos, experimenting with photography, and telling award-winning stories. He most recently directed, wrote and produced branded content for a global Starbucks campaign and was chosen as a Sundance Film Festival 2019 Feature Film Fellow, developing his debut feature film, Story Ave, which begins production in 2022 and stars Luis Guzmán, with Jamie Foxx and Datari Turner producing. The short Story Ave was an official selection at Hi in 2018.
A native of New York City, Branco attended The Bronx High School of Science and the School of Visual Arts. He has lensed Clemency (dir. Chinonye Chukwu), 2019 Sundance Grand Jury Prize; The Forty-Year-Old Version (dir. Radha Blank), 2020 Sundance Best Narrative Directing Winner; and The Compositor (dir. John Mattiuzzi), Student Academy Award Winner. He was recently named one of Variety’s “10 Cinematographers to Watch” 2019 and one of American Cinematographer’s “Rising Stars of Cinematography” 2020.
Silent Partner is produced by Salma Qarnain (That Damn Michael Che), executive produced by Dr. Celeste Watkins-Hayes (Founding Director of The Center for Racial Justice and Associate Dean at the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy) and Rejji Hayes, and co-produced by Tony and Emmy winners Eric Nelsen (1883, Inheritance), Sainty Nelsen (Inheritance), and Jim Kierstead (Inheritance).
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Press Contact: pr@blackmanfilms.com
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