New
Docu-Drama Honoring Arthur Ashe, Jr. Wins 2006 Film Festival
Screenings In NY and LA
Docu-drama poster for Arthur! A Celebration of Life: The Life Story of Tennis Great Arthur Ashe, Jr. - [Click To Enlarge]
Joe James, Jr., actor, screenwriter, director and producer.
Joe James, Jr. wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the award-winning docu-drama Arthur! A Celebration of Life: The Life Story of Tennis Great Arthur Ashe.
Actor Joe James was inspired by Arthur Ashe's life to create this docu-drama in homage to his childhood hero.
New
York, NY
(BlackNews.com) - New York-based actor, director, producer,
and screenwriter Joe James Jr.'s inspiring new docu-drama
Arthur! A Celebration of Life: The Life Story of Tennis
Great Arthur Ashe has been awarded public screenings at
film festivals on the east and west coasts during February,
Black History month.
The 2006 screenings of Arthur! A Celebration of Life
will start in LA at the Pan African Film Festival at the Magic
Johnson Theatre, 4020 Marlton Avenue (Baldwin Hills), Los
Angeles, CA, on February 9 through February 20. In New York
City, it will appear at The Best of the African Diaspora Film
Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), 30 Lafayette
Ave., Brooklyn, NY, on February 19 and 21. (The complete schedule
of screening dates and times appears in the paragraphs that
follow.) For more information about The Best of the African
Diaspora Film Festival, see http://bam.org
At The Best of the African Diaspora Film Festival in New York
City, the screenings will take place at BAM (Brooklyn Academy
of Music) on Sunday, February 19, 2006 at 2:00 p.m. and Tuesday,
February 21 at 4:30 p.m.
At
the LA Pan African Film Festival the docu-drama will
be screened for an adult audience as part of the Main
Festival, and James will be available for Q&A after
the screening. The docu-drama will also be screened
for the Student Festival. The Student Festival is a
free public educational program that hosts 20,000 Los
Angeles public school children and their teachers. There
will be a 30-60 minute discussion/workshop before the
screening begins.
Joe James Jr.'s docu-drama film celebrates Ashe's life
and achievements both on and off the tennis court. James,
of Hampton Roads, Virginia, was inspired as a young
man when he saw Arthur Ashe playing tennis on television.
More than twenty years later, the multi-talented James
paid tribute to his hero and fellow Virginian by writing,
directing, and producing a docu-drama about the legendary
tennis great, Hall of Famer, sport commentator, author,
philanthropist, and activist.
The docu-drama won Joe James, Jr. the Younity Guild
Award for "Best Producer, Director and Actor in a Docu-Drama."
James, who is also a screenwriter and lyricist, says,
"I was looking for the perfect song for the Wimbledon
scene. I needed something that sounded Urban and retro
yet had a sophisticated undertone. I asked my friend
nine-time Grammy award winner Alicia Keys if I could
use her song 'The Life' from her multi-Platinum first
album. The song works perfectly, as if she wrote it
for that particular scene."
Dubbed "A Tribute and Labor of Love Project" by its
producers Dink Entertainment and JHJ Productions, the
film features Joe James, Jr. as Arthur Ashe; Cal Ramsey,
formerly of the New York Knicks, plays Arthur Ashe Sr.;
and Alicia Key's mother Terria Joseph plays Billie Jean
King. The eighty-minute docu-drama was shot on location
in Richmond, Norfolk, and Suffolk, Virginia, as well
as in New York City.
Commenting on Arthur Ashe, Jr. as a role model and his
spiritual mentor, James said, "As a child, I looked
up to Arthur Ashe as a stellar beam of hope. He gave
me the incentive and motivation to 'follow through'
on my dreams with determination and specific goals."
Says James, "I salute Arthur Ashe because he saved my
life. He gave me hope and inspiration as a little boy.
He literally saved my life. I am a better man because
he lived. I didn't know any other way to thank him except
by making a docu-drama about him. Arthur Ashe was and
is my hero."
Film Festivals Screening Dates and Times
Pan African Film Festival in LA at the Magic Johnson
Theatres (Baldwin Hills), Los Angeles, California.
Main
Festival Dates
Friday, February 17 at 1:15 p.m.
Monday, February 20 at 4:05 p.m.
Student
Festival
February 10 10:00 a.m.
February 14 thru February 17 10:00 a.m. daily
Magic Johnson Theatres
or Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza
3650 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Los Angeles, California
1 block west of Crenshaw Blvd. and King
(all screenings except Opening Night) www.paff.org
The Best of the African Diaspora Film Festival in Brooklyn
at
BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), Brooklyn, New York.
Sunday, February 19 at 2:00 p.m.
Tuesday, February 21 at 4:30 p.m.
Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)
30 Lafayette Avenue
Brooklyn, New York
718-636-4111
Fax: 718-857-2021
For more information, see www.bam.org
Earlier Screenings Arthur! A Celebration of Life opened to critical
acclaim and full houses when it was previously screened
at The Urban Literature Film Festival in Greensboro,
North Carolina; The Cape May New Jersey State Film Festival,
The African Diaspora Film Festival in New York City
at the Schomburg, and The Am'fra Festival in Virginia
for its world premier.
To find out more about Arthur! A Celebration of Life,
please visit www.dinkentertainment.com
(The acronym DINK stands for Drive Increases New Knowledge).
For more information about the new docu-drama or Joe
James, Jr. contact Pamela Riley, Media Specialist, at
(614) 937-1886.
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