Film storyteller

Area movie-maker plans third production

Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Photo courtesy of Imhotep Coleman Hyattaville filmmaker Imhotep Coleman, a graduate of Howard University, in is in the process of producing his third short movie. Coleman, who started out as a waiter, has received a media grant from the Maryland State Arts Council to assist with his production.

Coleman has received a $6,000 media grant from the Maryland State Arts Council to produce a short film entitled, ‘‘Gratuity’s Included.”

The 25-minute film is a semi-biographical tale based on Coleman’s experience as a waiter at B Smith’s restaurant at Union Station in the District.

‘‘I started busing tables and then became a waiter,” he said. ‘‘I thought it was funny how the customer was always right, even when they weren’t. So that led me to my catch line, ‘If the customer is always right, then what am I?’”

Coleman shot the digital video film in April and premiered it in September at the Avalon Theater.

Coleman graduated from Howard University in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in film and television.

Before doing more professional pieces, he filmed family milestones, church functions and other events.

To further his career, Coleman co-founded ‘‘Aspire to Inspire Films,” a media production company based in Hyattsville, with his wife Alexis Coleman and James Baucom.

‘‘He’s very creative and talented,” said Alexis Coleman, who handles the company’s financial and marketing aspects.

‘‘The one thing that will [push] him far is his passion and drive,” she said.

‘‘He’s always going to the library to read new information about the film industry and how to create that niche which is going to get him far in life,” his wife said.

‘‘It’ll give him a leg up when he gets to Hollywood.”

ImhotepColeman’s debut film, a $1,000 seven-minute short, entitled ‘‘Holla,” featured a cameo appearance by acclaimed director Spike Lee. ‘‘Holla” was about the cellular phone craze just as the now-essential communicating device was becoming popular.

‘‘It’s based on a true story where a cell phone goes off in a classroom and it’s the teacher’s phone that’s ringing,” Coleman said.

Meeting Lee was purely coincidental, Coleman said. Lee was at Howard’s campus to receive the School of Communications’ first Black Face Award given to an inspirational filmmaker.

‘‘There was a reception after that ... I just happened to have my camera so I asked him to play a pivotal role for it,” Coleman said, referring to Lee.

‘‘It was cool. He’s inspiring. He’s definitely a trailblazer and maverick in his own right. He reinvented filmmaking.”

Coleman said he hopes to be as consistent with his work as Lee who has produced a film a year for the last 20 years.

‘‘A lot of time filmmakers make one film and then wait another two to three years before their next,’ he said.

‘‘But [Lee’s] consistency with his product has allowed him to become the icon and that’s what I’m trying to emulate — one film a year,” Coleman said.

As for his next effort, Coleman will be using the $6,000 Arts Council grant to produce ‘‘The Graduating Class,” which he will film in Prince George’s County and the District later this year.

‘‘It was inspired by my time as a student at Howard, focusing on a student facing a lot of obstacles [while trying to graduate,”] he said.

‘‘It’s a microcosm for the identity of the black youth today.”

Coleman said, ‘‘A lot of times, the young black males are idolizing the hip-hop culture. It’s amazing how black college students want to be hip-hop artists instead of professionals.”

He expects the budget on his new film to be about $500,000.

To garner interest and financial support, Coleman plans to shoot trailers⁄promotional pieces and distribute them to potential investors.

Asked how he would like people to view his career 20 years from now, Coleman that he was someone they could always count on tell a good story.

He said he would also want to have a strong body of work, full of quality that provides them some insight on something they didn’t know before viewing his work.

‘‘Film is the most powerful medium and there’s no place I would rather be than behind the camera,” Coleman said.

E-mail Jeffrey K. Lyles at jlyles@gazette.net.