March 28, 2008

 

 

Sultan Sharrief makes his writing and directing debut with a new feature film, Bilal’s Stand, at 7:00 pm on Thursday, April 3 at the Michigan Theater.

Sharrief previously produced The Spiral Project, which was a finalist in the 2006 MTV Movie Awards. He will introduce the film along with the producer, UM Professor Terri Sarris.

Bilal's Stand tells the story of an inner-city high school student who works at his family's long-owned taxi stand. “The Stand” has been the family’s sole source of money and activity for 60 years, and it appears that Bilal is about to carry the torch.

After being secretly accepted at the University of Michigan, and taking up ice sculpting in order to win a scholarship, Bilal is forced to choose between working at the family business or taking a chance at social mobility. The film addresses issues that many inner city youth face: peer pressure, unequal education, race, class, religion, and the notion of “selling out.”

The film was produced as the pilot film for the Student EFEX (Encouraging the Filmmaking Experience) Program, a new community film project and course created by University of Michigan students, faculty, and staff in collaboration with Beyond Blue Productions. EFEX combines filmmaking with service learning and community engagement, and serves as a new model for interaction between academic units and their surrounding artistic communities.

For more information, visit www.bilalsstand.com. To watch behind-the-scenes footage, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1H9z96BegQ.

Tickets are $6.00 for students, $8.00 for others. Tickets go on sale at the Michigan Theater box office a half-hour before show time.

Presented by the UM National Center for Institutional Diversity, UM Department of Screen Arts and Cultures, UM Office of Academic and Multicultural Initiatives, UM Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs Council, Michigan Student Assembly Minority Affairs Commission and FOKUS.