Notorious filmmaker Spike Lee is working on a new film.  This news came about when Spike Lee tweeted it a couple of weeks ago...

"Wake Up. I been up since 430am. On the way to the set of THE NEW SPIKE LEE JOINT.Today is 1st Day of Shooting.Awwwwwwwwwwww Sheeeeeeeeeeeeet"

The film will take place in Brooklyn, New York which is no surprise to Spike Lee fans and the tentative title will be Red Hook Summer.  According to Blackfilm.com, in Red Hook Summer Lee will reprise his role as the outspoken, two-fiddy a week clocking, pizza delivery man 'Mookie' from his 1989 film Do the Right Thing.  There aren't too many other details about the movie yet but more news is sure to come.

Just Me

My Last Day Without You

Synopsis:  On a one-day business trip to New York, a young German business executive falls in love with a singer-songwriter who exposes him to her Brooklyn world and emotions he's never experienced before.

Just me:  The movie trailer for this looks really intriguing.  If you are not familiar with the star actress, Nicole Beharie, she can be seen in the electrifying film American Violet which was based on a true story.  In American Violet Beharie starred as a young African American mother who was wrongfully accused of dealing drugs in a small, Bush-esque town in Texas.  It was a wonderful film with a phenomenal cast and a great story.  Despite all this it was not adopted by the mainstream.  But it still managed to put Beharie on the map.

My Last Day Without You is currently in post-production and does not have an exact release date for 2011.
      

Ms. Sharina Martin is a talented actress who began in theater with an impressive resume which includes performing in roles as Lady Macbeth, Princess Aricia in the critically-acclaimed Fedra, and most recently starring as Pam in Michael R. McGuire’s new play Heartbreaker.  Martin also has projects in the film and television arena.  She's worked on the comedy Reality Check, which was a finalist in the Chicago Comedy TV Pilot Competition and the Los Angeles Independent Television Festival, the film short Requited, and the Midwest-produced Happily After.  I was able to catch up with the young leading lady and ask her about the past, present, and future.


JTt:  Of course I’m going to ask the obvious question first, when did the acting bug first bite you?  And what do you love about it?

Sharina:  I first got into formal acting in high school. You could opt out of afternoon sports if you were in the school’s Shakespeare production and I hated soccer.  I grew to absolutely adore the process of telling a story that resonates today in the most beautiful words from long ago.

Our Song is a wonderful independent film directed by Jim McKay.  It takes place in Brooklyn, New York and follows three young girls who are members of the Brooklyn Jackie Robinson Steppers Marching Band.  They find out that their high school is closing down soon due to asbestos and are making plans to figure out what other schools they can go to in New York.  But those aren't the only plans on of the teenage girls is making.  Maria, played by Melissa Martinez, finds out that she is pregnant and wants very much to keep the child but has to figure out how she will take care of it.  Lanisha, played by Kerry Washington, doesn't think Maria is ready to be a mother.  But as any good friend would do, she continues to love and support her friend no matter what decision she decides.

Just me:  I really enjoyed this film.  It reminded me what it was like to be a young teenage girl.  I could easily relate to the story.  I too was in the exact same position as Kerry Washington's character when my best friend told me she was pregnant.  We were freshman in high school.  I too had to make the decision to put my opinions aside and give my friend love and support.  Because that's what true friends do.