P R E S S R E L E A S E
For Immediate Release
NC Black History Film Premieres As Web Series
NEW BERN, N.C. – October 11, 2010 - Awaken Pictures, Inc, an emerging movie, television, and documentary production company is releasing the first chapter: Memorial, a documenary from the compelling Black History Series "Freedom Lost: Restoration". The series consists of a documentary and a feature film focusing on African Americans living in James City and New Bern, NC (the Colonial Capital of NC now celebrating its 300th Anniversary). The first chapter: “Memorial” will be streamed as a weekly web series starting Monday, October 11, 2010. Internet audiences can come each week to the website www.awakenpicturs.com to find the link to watch it online. This first film will be released in webisodes (web episodes) running around 3 minutes long (which is a standard time for successful web content) every Monday for at least 5 weeks.
Tom Swift, co-executive producer and writer/director of “Memorial”, has been working on Freedom Lost: Restoration for 5 years. Swift says he began researching this subject in 2001 while working at the ABC news affiliate there as a videographer. He says this is an area rich with Black History but has been overlooked and deserves more national attention. “I discovered that an incredible piece of history was right in my backyard, and I knew it just had to be told.”
Swift says since New Bern is now celebrating its 300th Anniversary that the release date is “very timely” especially in a day when people are very interested in African American history since the election of the first African American president in 2008. “Successful filmmaking is all about timing,” says Swift. “And I believe without a shadow of a doubt that this is the right time to release it. I've actually been trying to release it for years, but God didn't permit it until now. Everything is really in His time.”
James City traces its roots to a North Carolina settlement in the 1860s, which became a sanctuary for thousands of slaves, established by the Union army when they took the city of New Bern (known historically as a haven for Free Blacks) captive during the Civil War. After the war was over, the city became a self-sustaining community of former slaves. But growing hostility from a wounded and bitter South, and the loss of protection from the Union victors, allowed for the birth of Jim Crow laws, and other prejudices that forced this promising and thriving community to fight desperately to keep their freedom.
“Freedom Lost: Restoration” is a series of documentary shorts and a feature film about the rich Black History here that explores how far this community has come after freed slaves lost their freedom by the dawn of the 20th Century. Swift believes that many of the difficult racial issues of today are rooted in events of long ago, “long before many of us were born,” he says. The Freedom Lost: Restoration Series is based on the book, “James City: A Black Community in North Carolina (1863-1900)” by Joe A. Mobley. Swift says he is also excited to have had the opportunity to work with the North Carolina Office of Archives and History, who gave permission to base the project on the book. “They have been very gracious to us and extremely helpful throughout the entire process.”
The First Chapter: “Memorial” showcases the lives of 3 African-Americans (Sharon Bryant, Bernard George, Ben Watford) who are making a positive impact on their community by bringing remembrance to the past. Sharon Bryant is the African-American Outreach Coordinator from Tryon Palace who conducts Black History tours in New Bern. Bernard George is an Eastern North Carolina Historian who has been working on preserving an Oral Black History in his community and Ben Watford,a historian from the James City Historical Society, oversees the Crocket Miller Slave Quarters and memorial in James City, NC. “Memorial” teaches us an important life lesson that “ in order to know where you're going, you have to know where you've come from”
The Historical Drama: “City of Refuge: The James City Story” is a feature film that is still in development. The historical drama focuses on a slave (played by Scott Nunnally from the “Mothman Prophecies”) who flees to New Bern during the Civil War. The filmmakers hope that releasing “Memorial” will draw more attention to the feature film so it can finally be made.
Scott Nunnally, who runs the film company Executor Arts Media in Pittsburgh, PA is also the Co-Executive Producer of Freedom Lost: Restoration. Bill Hand serves as the historical advisor and producer for the series along with Angela Swift and Dan O'Connell who serve as Co-Producers.
After the First Film: “Memorial” is streamed online, it will become available as a short film to schools, universities, churches, and other organizations to obtain an affordable license for public screenings. For more information, visit the official website at www.awakenpictures.com/restoration.html Visit the Freedom Lost blog at www.freedomlostproject.blogspot.com. For more information about Awaken Pictures, Inc. visit the website at www.awakenpictures.com
WEBISODE 4: "CITY OF REFUGE" premieres Monday November 1st. One of the most inspirational and exciting times of African American History in New Bern is chronicled in Webisode 4: City of Refuge. In 1862, during the Civil War, the City of New Bern is taken by force and occupied by the Union Army. This event draws an influx of slaves who flee from their plantations seeking refuge. A settlement is soon established which will eventually become a community called James City.
