In a recent interview, actor Ethan Hawke referred to one of his new projects as "smuggler's cinema," explaining it is "when you disguise an interesting film as a genre film." With much the same angle of attack, I set out last year to make a film that explicitly explores race without feeling like an "issue" film. The result is The Suspect, which just had its world premiere at the American Black Film Festival in Miami Beach.

A New Way to Look at "Black" Film

We've all seen the ghettoized and exploitative looks at the African American community, and the ways the same old tropes are worked time and time again. Why not tell a different story? Why not use those tropes as leverage, in a surprising new way? Why not use the unconscious biases of the viewer as an integral part of the storytelling?

Genre as State-of-Mind

The Suspect uses the psychological thriller model as a kind of Trojan Horse to explore real racial and cultural pulse-points. Combining and undermining the patterns of both the thriller genre and the way mass media presents people of color, the film — starring Mekhi Phifer (Dawn of the Dead), William Sadler (Iron Man 3), and Sterling K. Brown (Army Wives) — is completely finished.

Now we're looking for help in spreading the word and finding the right distribution path for the project, so the widest possible audience can experience the journey. We've reached out to you as a leader in the community to see if you're interested in supporting a new, exciting and yes... somewhat subversive... film project.

The Finish Line

The Suspect needs your power to assist in getting its message out. The producers require a small amount of financing ($25,000) to plan and execute a distribution and public relations campaign.

Please visit our Kickstarter page — you can contribute as little as one dollar, or dig a little deeper and in return receive some very cool rewards like books, music, and more...