Rodney Evans (born 1971) is an American filmmaker and lecturer based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Evans was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and grew up in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. He graduated with a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

in modern culture and media from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1993, and a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

in film production from the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

in 1996. In 2004, he produced his first feature-length film, '' Brother to Brother'', telling the story of the challenges faced by a young gay black man who meets a survivor of the

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...

. ''Brother to Brother'' was awarded the Special Jury Prize for Drama in the 2004

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

, as well as obtaining awards in numerous other film festivals such as

Outfest Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival ...

, the

Roxbury Film Festival The Roxbury International Film Festival (RoxFilm; formerly known as “Dudley Film Festival”) is the largest film festival in New England that celebrates people of color. RoxFilm was founded in 1998 and holds both an annual film festival and year ...

and

Seattle Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Seattle Queer Film Festival (formerly known as the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival) is an annual film festival in Seattle. The 25th Annual Seattle Queer Film Festival will take place October 14–24, 2021. It is the largest LGBTQ film festival ...

. In 2008 Evans was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

and a

Creative Capital Creative Capital is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in New York City that supports artists across the United States through funding, counsel, gatherings, and career development services. Since its founding in 1999, Creative Capital has commi ...

Foundation Grant. In 2009, Evans produced a short documentary drama, ''Billy and Aaron'', about the experiences of jazz musician

Billy Strayhorn William Thomas Strayhorn (November 29, 1915 – May 31, 1967) was an American jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger, who collaborated with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington for nearly three decades. His compositions include "Take ...

as a gay man in the 40s; this film was the official selection at the 2010

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

. In 2013 he released his second feature film, ''

The Happy Sad ''The Happy Sad'' is a 2013 film directed by Rodney Evans, based on a play of the same name by Ken Urban. It follows the interacting journeys of two young couples in New York City who decide to push the boundaries of relationships and sexualit ...

'', based on a

Ken Urban Ken Urban is an American playwright, screenwriter, director, and musician based in New York. He is a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and leads the Music and Theatre Arts Program's dramatic writing program. Urban is ...

play and portraying two very different young couples in Brooklyn who decide to explore the boundaries of gender and sexuality. The film premiered at the

IFC Center IFC Center is an art house movie theater in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City. Located at 323 Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) at West 3rd Street, it was formerly the Waverly Theater, an art house movie theater. IFC Center is ...

and the

Sundance Cinemas In 1969, Robert Redford purchased at the base of Mount Timpanogos in Utah's Wasatch Mountains. He named this land Sundance (after his character in the 1969 film ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid''). The Sundance Group is a listing of all the ...

. Evans has been a lecturer in visual arts at Princeton University since 2015.

Filmography

* ''The Unveiling'' (1996) * ''Close to Home'' (1998; short film) * ''Two Encounters'' (1999; short film) * '' Brother to Brother'' (2004) * ''Billy and Aaron'' (2010; short film) * ''

'' (2013) * ''Daydream'' (2014) * ''Persistence of Vision'' (2016) * ''Vision Portraits'' (2019)

References

External links

*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Rodney 1971 births Living people African-American activists 21st-century American educators 21st-century African-American educators African-American film directors African-American film producers Film producers from New York (state) Brown University alumni California Institute of the Arts alumni Film directors from New York City American gay men LGBT African Americans LGBT film directors LGBT people from New York (state) People from Brooklyn Educators from New York City 20th-century African-American people

See also

Filmography

References

External links