Chameleon Street, a true-crime comedy about the fraudster who purportedly passed as a lawyer, a surgeon and even a basketball-player, fell foul of a racist Hollywood. Can it now be a hit? We speak to its director
When he won the grand jury prize at the 1990 Sundance film festival for his debut picture Chameleon Street, Wendell B Harris Jr thought his film just might be a hit. “Gee,” he remembers thinking, “Hollywood is reaching out to me.” But despite the acclaim, Chameleon Street struggled to get a release. Harris never made another film.
Now, three decades later, things are a little different. Chameleon Street – recently hailed by the New Yorker as a masterpiece and one of the 20th century’s greatest independent films – was finally given a US streaming release in 2021, and is available for the first time in the UK, via Mubi and BFI Player. For Harris, this means...
When he won the grand jury prize at the 1990 Sundance film festival for his debut picture Chameleon Street, Wendell B Harris Jr thought his film just might be a hit. “Gee,” he remembers thinking, “Hollywood is reaching out to me.” But despite the acclaim, Chameleon Street struggled to get a release. Harris never made another film.
Now, three decades later, things are a little different. Chameleon Street – recently hailed by the New Yorker as a masterpiece and one of the 20th century’s greatest independent films – was finally given a US streaming release in 2021, and is available for the first time in the UK, via Mubi and BFI Player. For Harris, this means...
- 1/29/2024
- by Fergal Kinney
- The Guardian - Film News
It’s often said that one of the greatest injustices of American movies is that Wendell B. Harris Jr. failed to become one of the legendary progenitors of the indie cinema renaissance of the late 1980s and early ’90s. Or, rather, that a craven industry failed him. While it’s certainly true that he and so many other Black filmmakers of his generation deserved more than they were given, Harris’s reputation needs nothing more than Chameleon Street to secure his place among the greats. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival, the film is a fleet, nimble, and knowingly slippery portrait of infamous con artist William Douglas Street Jr. (dazzlingly played by Harris), who at the height of his gamesmanship posed as a surgeon and, so legend has it, performed three dozen successful hysterectomies before being found out, and has spent large swaths of his...
- 10/26/2023
- by Eric Henderson
- Slant Magazine
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival, yet criminally underseen for over three decades, Chameleon Street recounts the improbable but true story of Michigan con man William Douglas Street Jr., the titular “chameleon” who successfully impersonated his way up the socioeconomic ladder by posing as a magazine reporter, an Ivy League student, a respected surgeon, and a corporate lawyer. E
levated by a dexterous performance and daring direction from multi-hyphenate actor-writer-director Wendell B. Harris Jr., the film pins a lens on race, class, and performance in American identity which has lost none of it’s relevance. At once piercingly funny and aesthetically mischievous, Chameleon Street is a lost masterpiece finally securing it’s rightful place in the independent film canon.
Chameleon Street is now available on Blu-ray from Arbelos Films.
Enter for your chance to win a Blu-ray of Chameleon Street, courtesy of Arbelos Films. Two...
levated by a dexterous performance and daring direction from multi-hyphenate actor-writer-director Wendell B. Harris Jr., the film pins a lens on race, class, and performance in American identity which has lost none of it’s relevance. At once piercingly funny and aesthetically mischievous, Chameleon Street is a lost masterpiece finally securing it’s rightful place in the independent film canon.
Chameleon Street is now available on Blu-ray from Arbelos Films.
Enter for your chance to win a Blu-ray of Chameleon Street, courtesy of Arbelos Films. Two...
- 8/13/2023
- by Slant Staff
- Slant Magazine
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Burning (Lee Chang-dong)
After Poetry, it makes sense that Lee Chang-dong would find himself interested in deconstructing another literary genre: the murder mystery. Adapting Haruki Murakami’s short story “Barn Burning” for the screen, the South Korean master has created something that feels akin to a real page turner, with each cut, the tensions, and the mystery rise as we become desperate to know whatever happened to Shin Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo), the young woman who went missing, leaving her childhood friend Lee Jong-su (Yoo Ah-in) searching for her. With pulpy characters, including a delicious Steven Yeun as a mysterious Gatsby-like figure, and a dark sense of humor, the film also serves as a study of class and the way in which the...
Burning (Lee Chang-dong)
After Poetry, it makes sense that Lee Chang-dong would find himself interested in deconstructing another literary genre: the murder mystery. Adapting Haruki Murakami’s short story “Barn Burning” for the screen, the South Korean master has created something that feels akin to a real page turner, with each cut, the tensions, and the mystery rise as we become desperate to know whatever happened to Shin Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo), the young woman who went missing, leaving her childhood friend Lee Jong-su (Yoo Ah-in) searching for her. With pulpy characters, including a delicious Steven Yeun as a mysterious Gatsby-like figure, and a dark sense of humor, the film also serves as a study of class and the way in which the...
- 6/17/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Sometimes it’s like they read your mind—or just notice upcoming releases as you do. Whatever the case, I’m thrilled that the release of Terence Davies’ Benediction played (I assume!) some part in a full retro on the Criterion Channel this June, sad as I know that package will make me and anybody else who comes within ten feet of it. It’s among a handful of career retrospectives: they’ve also set a 12-film Judy Garland series populated by Berkeley and Minnelli, ten from Ulrike Ottinger, and four by Billy Wilder. But maybe their most adventurous idea in some time is a huge microbudget collection ranging from Ulmer’s Detour to Joel Potrykus’ Buzzard, fellow success stories—Nolan, Linklater, Jarmusch, Jia Zhangke—spread about.
Criterion Editions continue with Bertrand Tavernier’s Round Midnight, Double Indemnity, and Seconds, while Chameleon Street, Karen Dalton: In My Own Time,...
Criterion Editions continue with Bertrand Tavernier’s Round Midnight, Double Indemnity, and Seconds, while Chameleon Street, Karen Dalton: In My Own Time,...
- 5/19/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSWe're thrilled to announce Notebook magazine, a new biannual print-only publication dedicated to the art and culture of cinema, with original contributions by film artists, writers, curators, and archivists about a unique and eclectic array of cinematic subjects. Inside our pilot Issue 0 you'll find Apichatpong Weerasethakul reflecting on his personal journey and Wes Anderson on The French Dispatch and The New Yorker; explorations of moviegoing and odes to movie magazines; conversations between the cinema exhibitors of Milan's Cinema Beltrade and Dubai's Cinema Akil, as well as between directors Emma Seligman and Mike Leigh; movie posters from a milestone MoMA exhibition; sheet music handwritten by Nino Rota; new translations of writings by Yasujiro Ozu; and much more. This issue is printed in a limited edition and available for pre-order to Mubi subscribers only—get yours now,...
- 10/27/2021
- MUBI
“If you want to get a great production deal in Hollywood, all you have to do is be Black, male, and Not Wendell Harris.” This sentiment was used as a running joke throughout Hollywood in the early 1990s, a representation of the attitude the industry held for filmmaker Wendell B. Harris Jr. after the release of his debut film, Chameleon Street.
Unlike many who land in “director’s jail”, however, Chameleon Street wasn’t a big-budget flop or critical disaster. Winning the Grand Jury Prize at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival, it seemed like the sky was the limit for the film and Harris Jr.’s career. Instead, he struggled to find distribution, eventually getting a deal from Warner Bros. for a quarter-million dollars so that they could have the remake rights for a remake that never happened.
Chameleon Street is inspired by the real-life story of William Douglas Street Jr.
Unlike many who land in “director’s jail”, however, Chameleon Street wasn’t a big-budget flop or critical disaster. Winning the Grand Jury Prize at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival, it seemed like the sky was the limit for the film and Harris Jr.’s career. Instead, he struggled to find distribution, eventually getting a deal from Warner Bros. for a quarter-million dollars so that they could have the remake rights for a remake that never happened.
Chameleon Street is inspired by the real-life story of William Douglas Street Jr.
- 10/21/2021
- by Mitchell Beaupre
- The Film Stage
When Wendell B. Harris Jr. made his first — and, even three decades on, still only — film, “Chameleon Street,” he offered up a scrappy and brilliant debut venture. Based on the incredible true story of Black con artist William Douglas Street, Jr., a man of high intelligence but little formal education, the film follows its genius con man (played by Harris himself) as he sneaks into Yale, pretends to be a French foreign-exchange student, lands a job with “Time,” works as a lawyer, and even performs a stunning number of operations as a surgeon, before eventually being caught.
A witty and sardonic tale of a master impersonator with invigorating and humorous results, Harris served as the writer, director, sarcastic narrator, and star of “Chameleon Street.” The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 1989, where it took the Grand Jury Prize. And yet Harris’ career never followed the expected path of other lauded breakout filmmakers,...
A witty and sardonic tale of a master impersonator with invigorating and humorous results, Harris served as the writer, director, sarcastic narrator, and star of “Chameleon Street.” The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 1989, where it took the Grand Jury Prize. And yet Harris’ career never followed the expected path of other lauded breakout filmmakers,...
- 10/19/2021
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Fox Maxy's Maat Means Land (2020) MoMA has announced the lineup and schedule for “To The Lighthouse,” a thrilling carte blanche program by curator Mark McElhatten featuring new films by Nathaniel Dorsky, Ernie Gehr, Jodie Mack, Dani and Sheilah ReStack, and more, along with older films by Rivette, Joseph H. Lewis, Claire Denis, and Marguerite Duras.An essential annual list, Filmmaker Magazine's 25 new faces of film for 2021 includes Kate Gondwe (the founder of Dezda Films), filmmaker Fox Maxy, Omnes Films (the collective behind Tyler Taormina's Ham on Rye), and others. A24 and Emma Stone’s production company, Fruit Tree Banner, have come together to back Jane Schoenbrun's I Saw The TV Glow. The film, a follow-up to Schoenbrun's debut from this year, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, follows...
- 10/13/2021
- MUBI
"I think, therefore I scam." Arbelos Films has revealed a new trailer for the 4K restoration of this award-winning indie comedy titled Chameleon Street, which originally premiered in 1989 at the Toronto Film Festival. it then went on to win the top Grand Jury Prize at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival, but has been forgotten ever since then. "Gloriously strange... a lost masterpiece of black American cinema." Wendell B. Harris Jr. stars in, and writes / directs, the film. William Douglas Street is bored with his life. Working for his father is getting to him, his wife wants more money, and he's had enough. His solution is to re-invent himself. He becomes a "chameleon", taking on whatever role suits the situation. From reporter to doctor to lawyer, he impersonates anyone he sees a need for and he can earn money being. Based on real people and real stories. This is a bit like Catch Me If You Can,...
- 10/10/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
One of the great restorations of recent years, premiering in the 59th New York Film Festival’s Revivals section, is Wendell B. Harris Jr.’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Chameleon Street. Originally debuting at the 1990 edition of the Park City festival, the film is both an enormously entertaining con man film and illuminating study of race. Following a con man from Detroit as he alters identities in an attempt to penetrate different pockets of American life that can be out of reach in a classist system.
Largely unavailable aside from an out-of-print VHS edition and a DVD released in 2007 (now also out-of-print), it has now been newly restored in 4K from the original camera negative under the supervision of the director. Following its NYFF screenings, the film will now roll out in theaters––specifically beginning at Bam Cinemas beginning on October 22––and we’re pleased to debut the first trailer.
Largely unavailable aside from an out-of-print VHS edition and a DVD released in 2007 (now also out-of-print), it has now been newly restored in 4K from the original camera negative under the supervision of the director. Following its NYFF screenings, the film will now roll out in theaters––specifically beginning at Bam Cinemas beginning on October 22––and we’re pleased to debut the first trailer.
- 10/7/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
This Friday, the 59th New York Film Festival kicks off, boasting one of the finest festival lineups of 2021. With highlights from Sundance, Cannes, Berlinale, Telluride, and premieres of their own, the annual event is back in person both at Film at Lincoln Center and, for the first time, across the city.
To kick off our coverage, we’ve rounded up some essential, perhaps under-the-radar (at least in relation to a certain sci-fi blockbuster) selections from the festival, ranging from new releases to restorations. If you’re in the area, one can also see all available tickets here.
A Chiara (Jonas Carpignano)
Writer-director Jonas Carpignano completes his Calabrian trilogy with A Chiara, an enthralling drama about a teenage girl coming to terms with her family’s role in the mafia, which won the Europa Cinema Label at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. With a documentary-like authenticity, this is a touching, powerful...
To kick off our coverage, we’ve rounded up some essential, perhaps under-the-radar (at least in relation to a certain sci-fi blockbuster) selections from the festival, ranging from new releases to restorations. If you’re in the area, one can also see all available tickets here.
A Chiara (Jonas Carpignano)
Writer-director Jonas Carpignano completes his Calabrian trilogy with A Chiara, an enthralling drama about a teenage girl coming to terms with her family’s role in the mafia, which won the Europa Cinema Label at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. With a documentary-like authenticity, this is a touching, powerful...
- 9/23/2021
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSChameleon StreetThe New York Film Festival has announced an excellent selection for its Revivals section. The roster includes restorations of Mira Nair's Mississippi Masala, John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, Sarah Maldoror's Sambizanga, Wendell B. Harris Jr.'s Chameleon Street, and Michael Powell's Bluebeard's Castle. The 2021 Locarno Film Festival has come to an end, with Indonesian filmmaker Edwin's Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash winning the Golden Leopard. For a full list of this year's award winners, read here. Recommended VIEWINGAhead of premiere, a trailer for the latest Spike Lee joint: the four-part documentary series NYC Epicenters: 9/11 → 2021 ½. The series, which captures twenty years of New York City history from the perspective of its citizens, will premiere on HBO Max August 22. Cinema Guild has released a trailer for Matías Piñeiro's Isabella.
- 8/18/2021
- MUBI
Jack Hazan and David Mingay’s Rude Boy, starring Ray Gange with The Clash is a 59th New York Film Festival Revival highlight Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Film at Lincoln Center has announced the Revivals of the 59th New York Film Festival will include highlights Michael Powell’s Bluebeard’s Castle; Ed Lachman’s Songs For Drella; Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher; Christopher Petit’s Radio On; Sedat Pakay’s James Baldwin: From Another Place; Mira Nair’s Mississippi Masala; Joan Micklin Silver’s Hester Street; Márta Mészáros’ Adoption, and Jack Hazan and David Mingay’s Rude Boy.
59th New York Film Festival Revivals
The other films in the program are John Carpenter’s Assault On Precinct 13; Sarah Maldoror’s Sambizanga; Melvin Van Peebles’ Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song; Christine Choy’s Who Killed Vincent Chin?; Nina Menkes’ The Bloody Child; Govindan Aravindan’s Kummatty; Miklós Jancsó’s The Round-Up, and...
Film at Lincoln Center has announced the Revivals of the 59th New York Film Festival will include highlights Michael Powell’s Bluebeard’s Castle; Ed Lachman’s Songs For Drella; Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher; Christopher Petit’s Radio On; Sedat Pakay’s James Baldwin: From Another Place; Mira Nair’s Mississippi Masala; Joan Micklin Silver’s Hester Street; Márta Mészáros’ Adoption, and Jack Hazan and David Mingay’s Rude Boy.
59th New York Film Festival Revivals
The other films in the program are John Carpenter’s Assault On Precinct 13; Sarah Maldoror’s Sambizanga; Melvin Van Peebles’ Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song; Christine Choy’s Who Killed Vincent Chin?; Nina Menkes’ The Bloody Child; Govindan Aravindan’s Kummatty; Miklós Jancsó’s The Round-Up, and...
- 8/18/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Following their Main Slate announcement, Film at Lincoln Center has now unveiled the slate of new restorations set to premiere at the 59th New York Film Festival. Featuring work by Mira Nair, John Carpenter, Michael Powell, Lynne Ramsay, Joan Micklin Silver, Melvin Van Peebles, and more, it’s an eclectic lineup of classics and rarities.
“We are delighted to share this year’s particularly strong Revivals lineup,” said Florence Almozini, Flc Senior Programmer at Large. “The section showcases groundbreaking works by John Carpenter, Mira Nair, Melvin Van Peebles, Nina Menkes, Wendell B. Harris Jr., Michael Powell, and more, in masterful restorations. One of the biggest satisfactions of programming Revivals within this festival is looking back at cinematic treasures of the past and seeing their continuity and relevance with today’s cinema. We think this selection is both a celebration and a thought-provoking adventure, and we hope audiences will enjoy exploring it,...
“We are delighted to share this year’s particularly strong Revivals lineup,” said Florence Almozini, Flc Senior Programmer at Large. “The section showcases groundbreaking works by John Carpenter, Mira Nair, Melvin Van Peebles, Nina Menkes, Wendell B. Harris Jr., Michael Powell, and more, in masterful restorations. One of the biggest satisfactions of programming Revivals within this festival is looking back at cinematic treasures of the past and seeing their continuity and relevance with today’s cinema. We think this selection is both a celebration and a thought-provoking adventure, and we hope audiences will enjoy exploring it,...
- 8/18/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
One week a month, Watch This offers movie recommendations inspired by the week’s new releases or premieres. This week: With Sundance in full swing, we’re looking back at some of the best directorial debuts that premiered at the festival.
House Party (1990)
House Party premiered at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival, part of a pack of extremely promising debut features that also included Whit Stillman’s Metropolitan, Hal Hartley’s The Unbelievable Truth, and Wendell B. Harris Jr.’s Chameleon Street, which took home the top prize. (Apart from those debuts, the main competition also featured Charles Burnett’s To Sleep With Anger, which belongs in a class of its own.) Perhaps those highlights give an idea of why the 1990s tend to be seen as the festival’s golden decade as a taste-making institution. It commanded media attention, but still seemed to hold on to the idea ...
House Party (1990)
House Party premiered at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival, part of a pack of extremely promising debut features that also included Whit Stillman’s Metropolitan, Hal Hartley’s The Unbelievable Truth, and Wendell B. Harris Jr.’s Chameleon Street, which took home the top prize. (Apart from those debuts, the main competition also featured Charles Burnett’s To Sleep With Anger, which belongs in a class of its own.) Perhaps those highlights give an idea of why the 1990s tend to be seen as the festival’s golden decade as a taste-making institution. It commanded media attention, but still seemed to hold on to the idea ...
- 1/27/2017
- by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
- avclub.com
Kickstart This: Wendell B. Harris Jr ('Chameleon Street') Returns w/ 'Yeshua vs. Frankenstein in 3D'
Wendell B. Harris Jr is a name that I hope most of you are already familiar with, given how much it's been mentioned on this blog over the last 5 years. The brainchild behind one of the most impressive feature film debuts of the last 25 years (aka "Chameleon Street," a film that, sadly, many still have yet to see), who struggled to get other film projects financed after that, despite the acclaim his feature debut attracted, is back, after over 2 decades, with another feature film. I'll save the lengthy formal intro (google-search "Shadow and Act" and "Wendell B. Harris Jr." together for all our previous posts on him to catch up), and just get right to the...
- 9/4/2014
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Must-See Screening Tonight At Bam In Brooklyn, NYC Of “Chameleon Street” + Clips, Interviews , More…
Screening Tonight at 9:30Pm, as part of the ActNow New Voices In Black Cinema Film Festival, at BAMCinematek here in Brooklyn, NY, is the little-seen, must-see riveting drama, Chameleon Street, written, directed by and starring Wendell B. Harris Jr.
It’s our closing night film, as well as what you could call our throwback, retro selection. Though, as I implied, it still feels fresh, since it just hasn’t been seen as widely as I (and other fans of the film) think it should have.
Tickets are $12 and can be purchased in advance Here.
So, if you’re in the NYC area, and are free to attend tonight’s 9:30Pm screening, you’re all Strongly encouraged to do so. You won’t be disappointed!
We’ve talked about the film many times on this blog. I’m certainly a big fan, and I’ve included some of the...
It’s our closing night film, as well as what you could call our throwback, retro selection. Though, as I implied, it still feels fresh, since it just hasn’t been seen as widely as I (and other fans of the film) think it should have.
Tickets are $12 and can be purchased in advance Here.
So, if you’re in the NYC area, and are free to attend tonight’s 9:30Pm screening, you’re all Strongly encouraged to do so. You won’t be disappointed!
We’ve talked about the film many times on this blog. I’m certainly a big fan, and I’ve included some of the...
- 2/9/2011
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
director Wendell B. Harris Jr.
As most of you know, Tambay and I are curators of an independent Black film series that has recently expanded into a five-day festival as well – ActNow: New Voices in Black Cinema.
The festival itself starts next Friday, February 4th and runs until Wednesday February 9th, and while we’re showing mostly new cinema the closing film is what we’ve dubbed one of the ‘New Black Classics’, a film most of you are intimately familiar with, Wendell B. Harris Jr.’s Chameleon Street (see Quadree’s ’09 fantastic writeup if you’re unfamiliar).
With most of our lineup, ActNow’s blogger Tanya St. Louis has interviewed the directors or producers of the films, and her first is with the esteemed Mr. Harris himself.
Please read it below and help spread the word about this important new film festival.
———————————————————————————————————————-
Wendell B. Harris Jr. is the...
As most of you know, Tambay and I are curators of an independent Black film series that has recently expanded into a five-day festival as well – ActNow: New Voices in Black Cinema.
The festival itself starts next Friday, February 4th and runs until Wednesday February 9th, and while we’re showing mostly new cinema the closing film is what we’ve dubbed one of the ‘New Black Classics’, a film most of you are intimately familiar with, Wendell B. Harris Jr.’s Chameleon Street (see Quadree’s ’09 fantastic writeup if you’re unfamiliar).
With most of our lineup, ActNow’s blogger Tanya St. Louis has interviewed the directors or producers of the films, and her first is with the esteemed Mr. Harris himself.
Please read it below and help spread the word about this important new film festival.
———————————————————————————————————————-
Wendell B. Harris Jr. is the...
- 1/29/2011
- by Curtis the Media Man
- ShadowAndAct
Perhaps it goes without saying that the world of independent film missed the boat on Wendell B. Harris Jr. No one, especially this author with the same surname as the now fifty-six year old Michigan native, wants to play the woulda, shoulda, coulda game. Yet whenever I think about the career I would have liked to have seen Mr. Harris have, it’s hard not to turn a bit melancholy. I guess being in the right place in the right time with the right people and a large enough sum of money counts for something, but if being at the podium in Park City with the Narrative Grand Jury Prize in your hands isn’t that place, than what is? No studio executive in 1990 thought to offer Mr. Harris the chance to direct Hugh Jackman and Robert...
- 7/6/2010
- by Brandon Harris
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Marsha Warfield is 56 today. Remember her from the popular 80s sitcom series Night Court, playing the uncompromising Rosalind ‘Roz’ Russell, the bailiff? (I need to revisit that show). Marsha continued to work through 1999 (at least that’s where her IMDb resume ends), doing mostly TV, appearing in shows like Hanging With Mr Cooper, Empty Nest, Mad About You and Living Single. I have no idea what she’s been up to since then.
Wendell B. Harris Jr. is also 56 today. His name has been mentioned more than a few times on this blog; he’s even passed through once or twice; so I doubt I need to reintroduce him, especially for those of you who’ve been around. Wendell’s seminal 1989 debut Chameleon Street is a favorite of mine, and the story behind its production, release and influence is one worth knowing, especially for all you filmmakers out there. I...
Wendell B. Harris Jr. is also 56 today. His name has been mentioned more than a few times on this blog; he’s even passed through once or twice; so I doubt I need to reintroduce him, especially for those of you who’ve been around. Wendell’s seminal 1989 debut Chameleon Street is a favorite of mine, and the story behind its production, release and influence is one worth knowing, especially for all you filmmakers out there. I...
- 3/5/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
I doubt Wendell B. Harris Jr and his film, Chameleon Street, are in need of an intro on this blog.
Here’s the press release:
Actor/Writer/Director Wendell B. Harris, Jr. continues efforts to keep his award-winning film, Chameleon Street, among the not-forgotten gems of cinematic history by kicking off 2010 with a launch of his critically-acclaimed film among new releases on iTunes. Chameleon Street is debuting in the iTunes catalog and joins an elite group of films negotiated through aggregate firm TuneCore, as it celebrates twenty years since its’ winning entry at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival.
Chameleon Street is a psychological comedy that uses the real-life story of Douglas Street, an infamous Michigan-born imposter, to explore the myth of the American Dream, the paradox of African-American male identity, and the movie medium’s uncanny ability to get under the skin of American Society. It is the quintessential story of...
Here’s the press release:
Actor/Writer/Director Wendell B. Harris, Jr. continues efforts to keep his award-winning film, Chameleon Street, among the not-forgotten gems of cinematic history by kicking off 2010 with a launch of his critically-acclaimed film among new releases on iTunes. Chameleon Street is debuting in the iTunes catalog and joins an elite group of films negotiated through aggregate firm TuneCore, as it celebrates twenty years since its’ winning entry at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival.
Chameleon Street is a psychological comedy that uses the real-life story of Douglas Street, an infamous Michigan-born imposter, to explore the myth of the American Dream, the paradox of African-American male identity, and the movie medium’s uncanny ability to get under the skin of American Society. It is the quintessential story of...
- 2/11/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
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