SPOTLIGHT: “Sweet, Sweet Country”

Dehanza Rogers is a third year MFA student in directing and cinematography at the University of California Los Angeles School of Theater, Film & Television. She’s currently crowdfunding her film, “Sweet, Sweet Country,” which is “a refugee’s tale set in the South – an exploration of the American Dream.”

Dehanza Rogers (writer/director)

Logline

With her parents and younger siblings living in a refugee camp in Kenya, 20 year-old Ndizeye struggles to support not only herself, but provide for a family she’s not seen in five years. Living in a small southern town, her struggle becomes so much more when her family literally shows up at her doorstep.

The trailer

Crowdfunding

Raising funds through: Kickstarter (campaign page)

Campaign goal: $5,000 (At the time of this post, the campaign is 40% funded)

Campaign ends: September 4, 2012

“Ernesto” and “Ndizeye” (Gbenga Akinnagbe and Danielle Deadwyler)

“Ernesto” (Gbenga Akinnagbe)

Director’s Statement

I grew up firmly rooted between the Southern black experience and the Immigrant experience. Growing up black in Georgia meant I was tied—bound really—to a troubled past that still plays out in the present. The same can be said of the Immigrant experience. The vitriolic spirit behind the sentiment of the “hyphenated American” is alive and well, just repackaged. Sweet, Sweet Country is set in a small Southern town and while there is goodwill by some, the idea of these Others holding fast to their culture while in America seems to offend. (Read more.)

“Ndizeye” (Danielle Deadwyler)

“The Simbagoye Family” (left to right: Tammy McGarity, Josphine Lawrence, Dave Sangster, Ce Ce Sandy)

Credits

Cast:

Danielle Deadwyler (“Ndizeye”)
Gbenga Akinnagbe (“Ernesto”)

Dehanza Rogers (Writer/Director)
Dana Gills, Doug Turner (Producers)
Autumn Baily-Ford, Shadae Lamar Smith (Co-Producers)
Ragland Williamson (Director of Photography)
Sarah Jean Kruchowski (Production Design)
Brianna Quick (Costume Design)
Vivia Armstrong (Casting Director)