Private Project

SWITCHIN'

SWITCHIN’, an experimental lyrical dance film using vocal percussion to explore the mixed reality of black voices in a white world.

  • George Edward Ellzey Jr.
    Director
    Role Model, DIVISION
  • Tyler Adams Leiby
    Cinematographer
  • Jeff Ryan
    Sound Mixer
  • Ajoa Darko
    1st AD
  • Deja Hood
    Dancer
  • Project Type:
    Experimental
  • Runtime:
    6 minutes 15 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 23, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    100 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Black Magic Pocket Cinema 4K
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - DePaul University
  • DePaul University Premiere 2021
    Chicago
    United States
    June 4, 2021
    Best Experimental Short, Best Editing
  • Athens International Film and Video Festival
    Athens, Ohio
    United States
    October 23, 2021
    Official Selection
  • London International Web & Shorts Film Festival (UK)
    London
    United Kingdom
    January 6, 2021
    Official Selection, Semifinalist
  • Black Harvest Festival
    Chicago
    United States
    November 8, 2021
    Official Selection
  • International Symposium on Screendance
    Madison, WI
    United States
    April 11, 2022
    Emerging Perspectives Roundtable
  • Festival Au Cinema
    Chicago
    September 23, 2023
    Official Selection
Distribution Information
  • OpenTV
    Distributor
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: Internet
Director Biography - George Edward Ellzey Jr.

George Ellzey Jr. is a Chicago director and producer. He is driven to explore the oft-ignored narratives of minorities, specifically unpacking black masculinity, intercommunity prejudice, black trauma in society, and above all, romanticizing the black and brown experience.

Currently pursuing his MFA in Directing for Film & Television at DePaul University, George received his BA from Bowdoin College majoring in English & Theater with a Dance minor. His passion for the arts led him into performing in the Chicago theater scene. George is a company member of the Agency Theater Collective and a founding member of ROME Production Group. Combined with all these experiences, George crafts simple stories with complex layers.

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Director Statement

Language is the building block of every civilization which shapes culture, identity, and community. Accompanied by contemporary dancer, Deja Hood, SWITCHIN' explores African American communication habits and the policing of said language for white spaces.

Developed over time, the African American or black community produced its own distinct inter-community non-verbal and verbal language to counter American culture. Through certain phrases, words, and gestures we have crafted a vocabulary that varies in emotional meanings and is uniquely universal to black spaces; however, to thrive in patriarchal white America, African Americans learned the skill to survive and compete in mainstream culture. Code-switching.

Gleaning from the message of Solange’s song F.U.B.U., the goal of the SWITCHIN’ is to illustrate and celebrate the language of African Americans in comparison to the appropriation and manufacturing of said communication by white people who “get so much from us (black people) then forget us”.