CREDITS
DIRECTED BY: Marc Levin
PRODUCED BY: Henri M. Kessler, Marc Levin, Richard Stratton
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Henri M. Kessler, David Peipers
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Daphne Pinkerson
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Mark Benjamin
STORY BY: Marc Levin, Richard Stratton
WRITTEN BY: Sonja Sohn, Marc Levin, Bonz Malone, Saul Williams & Richard Stratton
EDITED BY: Emir Lewis
MUSIC BY: DJ Spooky
AWARDS: Grand Jury Prize - Sundance Film Festival, Camera D'Or & Prix du Public - Cannes, 1998 Black Film and Video Network's Reel Black Award
STARRING: Saul Williams, Sonja Sohn, Beau Sia, Bonz Malone and Lawrence Williams
SLAM (1998)
SYNOPSIS
SLAM, starring Saul Williams, Sonja Sohn, and Bonz Malone, is a powerful work of cinema verite that portrays the story of a young black performance poet, Raymond Joshua (Saul Williams), who is arrested and imprisoned for a petty marijuana charge in a Washington, D.C. jail. Although the confining prison walls do little to shield him from danger, it is within those walls that Raymond establishes his identity, strength and voice, and meets a prison gang leader (Bonz Malone) and a prison writing teacher, Lauren Bell (Sonja Sohn). Bell inspires Raymond to use the power of creative expression to free himself from the struggles and demise of the black male, as another victim of the judicial system. Sublime poetry and heart wrenching realism, SLAM is itself a testament to the importance and the impact of artistic expression.
“Brace yourself for a slam-dunk of a movie, in an in-your-face cinema verite-style that makes Godard's 'Breathless' seem like a cartoon. Art redeems Life.” - HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
LINKS