The Milwaukee Film Festival’s Black Lens program was created three years ago to give established and upcoming African-American filmmakers a chance to show off their work and bring diverse stories to the big screen.
The Forever Tree, a short film by Stephen Hintz and Chrishaunda Lee Perez was selected for this year’s “Black Lens: Lost and Found” track. Hintz and Perez were born and raised in Milwaukee and are honored to come back home to show off their work.
The film is about an African-American woman who ventures to Africa in hopes of finding a tree that promises eternal life. It was Hintz idea to create The Forever Tree because he wanted his bi-racial daughters to have someone on screen who resembled them. He wanted them to see “brilliant black folks doing brilliant black things.”
The stories in film or TV that depict African-Americans usually revolve around hardships and struggle. To change this narrative, Hintz contacted long-time friend Perez to help co-write and co-produce the film.
Their conversation began eight years ago, and since then, these two Milwaukee natives have dedicated time, money and sometimes sanity to get The Forever Tree picked up as a movie. They haven’t reached that point yet, but that didn’t stop them from turning their work into a short film to show the potential it has.
“When you’re a film director you get rejected a lot,” said Hintz.
Both Hintz and Perez have daughters, so there was no option to give up on this film. “I’m really grateful that Steve contacted me,” said Perez. “It’s a blessing when you have someone to go through the process with you.”
Through these eight years, there were times when Hintz would want to give up but Perez wouldn’t let him and vice versa. They kept each other grounded and focused, which led them to creating a short version of The Forever Tree.
The 18-minute film stars Wendell Prince, Olivia Washington and Natalie Carter and was directed by Alrick Brown. The film debuted at the third Bentonville Film Festival in Arkansas.
The Milwaukee Film Festival will screen The Forever Tree along with other African-American short subjects at 3:30 p.m., Oct 9, Fox-Bay Cinema Grill; and 6:30 p.m., Oct.11 at the Avalon Theater.
