MCLM in association with the BADWest St. Clair Bourne 4th Monday Documentary Series begins the 2014-2105 with the 2001documentary film Tupac Shakur: Before I Wake directed by Sean Long.
Before I Wake is unique in that it is the only known documentary that chronicles the last year of Tupac Shakur’s life as seen through the eyes of the one person that was closest to him, his bodyguard, Frank Alexander. For the first time see intimate details, including behind the scenes studio footage of Tupac creating some of his most innovative music. Then you actually go to the place where Tupac was shot in Las Vegas and speak with investigators still trying to solve his murder. It has actual interview footage and never seen before studio footage of Tupac Shakur. Also interview footage of Eric ‘Eazy E’ Wright, Russell Simmon, Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr, Cathy Scott, the Las Vegas Reporter, and the main Las Vegas Detective on the cast, Detective Becker. Co-producer and co-writer Michelle Amor will be present for the Q&A. This event is FREE.
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Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers West
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MICHELLE AMOR shares:
“Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.”
Harper Lee (To Kill A Mockingbird)
Born and raised in Chicago, award-winning Writer/Producer, Michelle Amor, began her film career in 2001 when she co-produced and co-wrote her first feature documentary film Tupac Shakur: Before I Wake. Xenon Pictures distributed the award-winning movie, which explored the death of the late rapper from his bodyguard’s perspective. To date, the documentary has sold over three million DVD’s.
In 2004, Michelle formed SIP Productions, a script and story development company and in 2007, she wrote the feature film Of Boys & Men, starring Academy Award nominated actress Angela Bassett and legendary black filmmaker Robert Townsend. The film, about a Chicago family struggling to survive following the loss of its matriarch, won awards at the Pan-African Film Festival and the ChicagoInternational Film Festival and was released on Warner Home Video in 2011.
Michelle’s love of creating movies could not be contained to the Midwest. After losing her belovedgrandmother in 2010, she quit her 12-year job (and convinced her husband to quit his 17-year job) andthey moved, along with their two kids, to Los Angeles so Michelle could pursue her MFA in Film &Television at UCLA. While in school, Michelle received many awards and accolades including; the 2013 UCLA Graduate Fellowship, the 2012 Humanitas Prize, the 2012 Dini Ostrov Reel Spirit Award in Screenwriting and the 2011-2013 Streisand/Sony Fellowship Award. She also successfully completed production internships at
both Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment and on Quentin Tarantino’s film, Django Unchained, where she worked for producer/director Reginald Hudlin.
In 2012, Michelle formed BFSU (Black Film Students United) in an effort to create networkingopportunities for minority filmmakers. In 2013, she became a member of the Writers Guild of America West and in 2014 was elected as the Co-Chair for the Committee of Black Writers.
Michelle’s current projects include Playin’ for Love, a feature film she co-wrote with Robert Townsend.Filmed in Florida in 2013, the romantic comedy stars Townsend and Salli Richardson-Whitfield and iscurrently being shopped for distribution. Her MFA thesis project, The Execution of MLK, is a feature screenplay about the 1999 trial that found the United States Government guilty of conspiring toassassinate Martin Luther King, Jr., which she hopes to take to Sundance in 2015.
The Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers West (BAD West) is a professional organization providing people of African descent working in documentary film, video or other media the opportunity to network professionally, share resources, exchange ideas and meet socially in order to enhance the development, production, promotion and exhibition of documentaries. The Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers West also advocates the recognition and professional advancement of Black documentary filmmakers.
