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The Visit

Logline:

In summer 1859, a world-weary, Frederick Douglass (DL HOPKINS) is hidden in a secret location, navigating a mid-life crisis when he gets a surprise visit from Harriet Tubman (SHALANDIS WHEELER SMITH). Her mysterious presence alters the course of his personal life at pivotal moment in U.S History, just before The Civil War.

Synopsis:

‘The Visit’ is a fictional short film that unites two our most beloved American cultural heroes, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman at a pivotal moment in U.S. history, just before The Civil War.

Frederick Douglass is navigating a mid-life crisis. He has achieved a unique position as a celebrity author, orator, and newspaper publisher. However, his public image has been tarnished by rumors of an affair with a young, female abolitionist to whom he rented a room at his family’s Rochester residence. His weekly newspaper, ‘The North Star’, is failing and his personal finances have suffered as a result. Desperate to reboot his heroic image among his white, progressive supporters and Douglass has taken refuge at a secret location with his youngest son Charles, to write a new book that he can publish and sell to replenish his earnings.

Then, Harriet Tubman arrives at his door. Her mysterious presence unnerves Douglass. He is a polished, well-spoken, white-collar professional who fights slavery with the power of words and she an enigmatic and legendary outlaw that has rescued dozens of lives from the treacherous grip of slavery. Douglass becomes obsessed with decoding the myth of ‘The Great Moses.’

The film was written and directed by independent filmmaker, Paul Grant (winner of 2004 BET Black AIDS Short-Subject film competition for ‘Tangy’s Song’) and it features outstanding performances from veteran stage actors DL Hopkins (Douglass) and Shalandis Wheeler Smith (Tubman).

www.ascenderfilms.com/thevisit

  • Paul V. Grant
    Director
    Tangy's Song, The Gospel of Healing Volume I: Black Churches Respond to HIV/AIDS; REVIVAL: Preachers of Cuisine
  • Paul V Grant
    Writer
    Tangy's Song;Tangy's Song, The Gospel of Healing Volume I: Black Churches Respond to HIV/AIDS; REVIVAL: Preachers of Cuisine
  • Paul Grant
    Producer
    Tangy's Song; The Gospel of Healing Vol. I; Revival: Preachers of Cuisine
  • Tracey Grant
    Producer
    The Gospel of Healing Vol. I; Revival: Preachers of Cuisine
  • Dl Hopkins
    Key Cast
    "FREDERICK DOUGLASS"
  • Shalandis Wheeler Smith
    Key Cast
    "HARRIET TUBMAN"
  • Matthew Morgan
    Key Cast
    "CHARLES DOUGLASS"
  • Derek J. Allen
    Cinematographer
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Period Drama, Suspense, Drama
  • Runtime:
    20 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    March 25, 2022
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2:35:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • NORTH CAROLINA BLACK FILM FESTIVAL 2022
    Wilmington, NC
    United States
    March 26, 2022
    WORLD PREMIERE
    AWARDED "BEST SHORT" (NARRATIVE)
  • SAN DIEGO BLACK FILM FESTIVAL 2022
    San Diego Black Film Festival
    United States
    April 29, 2022
    CALIFORNIA PREMIERE
    FINALIST NOMINATION FOR "BEST SHORT" (Narrative)
  • INTERNATIONAL BLACK FILM FESTIVAL 2022
    Nashville, TN
    United States
    October 2, 2022
    TENNESSEE PREMIERE
  • GARY INTERNATIONAL BLACK FILM FESTIVAL 2022
    Gary, Indiana
    United States
    October 7, 2022
    INDIANA PREMIERE
Director Biography - Paul V. Grant

Paul Grant is a Filmmaker, Motion Designer, Senior Producer and Chief Creative Officer at Ascender Films, Inc., a digital advertising and media production company, based in Washington, DC.

He established Ascender Films in 2005 as a result of being awarded $25,000 film production grant from Kaiser Family Foundation and The Black AIDS Institute to produce the documentary film ‘Tangy’s Song!,’ for Black Entertainment Television’s (B.E.T.) national ‘RAP-IT-UP’ HIV/AIDS awareness campaign (2004). The following year, he returned as a consultant to the network as a producer of the one-hour, special primetime drama, ‘Multitude of Mercies’ (2005) and again in 2006, as a judge for the national ‘Black AIDS Short-Subject(BASS/RIU) Film Competition.’

Since then, Mr. Grant has worked internationally and nationally, producing award-winning motion-based content-including PSAs, commercials, and short films for advocacy groups, foundations, museum exhibitions, and federal social awareness campaigns.

Mr. Grant began his career in 1995 as a photojournalist for the Richmond Free Press newspaper. In 1997, he followed his heart into television production working with New
Millennium Studios, the first full-service film and video production studio in Virginia, owned by veteran actors Tim Reid (WRKP Cincinnatti; Sister Sister; Link's) and Daphne Reid (Fresh Prince of Bel Air). His career as an independent filmmaker and television producer began as a result of his work as a production assistant on several feature films, national television commercials and the first season of the critically acclaimed Showtime network series ‘Linc’s’ (1998).

His first feature-length documentary, ‘The Gospel of Healing: Volume I: Black Churches Respond to HIV/AIDS’ premiered at the 2012 International AIDS Conference, held in Washington, DC. It has since screened in more than 40 cities and earned a distinguished award from the American
Public Health Association (2012). He has since produced numerous unscripted short films and digital series.

Paul Grant studied filmmaking and graphic design at Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Visual Arts in Richmond, VA.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

THE INSPIRATION

The Visit is a gripping character study that re-imagines two of the most significant African American heroes as young, passionate and terrifyingly ambitious advocates. Drawing inspiration for films like LINCOLN, FROST/NIXON, and ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI, this film examines how the haze of seeking mainstream noteriety and success in the United States can sometimes create competition between men and women who are from same marginalized communities of color.

I was drawn to write this story the moment I read that Frederick Douglass and Harreit Tubman were actual contemporaries. I want the story to get away from representing them as stiff, white-haired, speechifying seniors. Our heroes were young once. That means —just like us—they made mistakes and suffered terrific personal misfortunes that they had to overcome.

Historically, Frederick Douglass is the prototype of white-collar, professional African American, alpha male. He taught himself to read during a time when it was a crime for enslaved Africans in the U.S. to do so and fought and won his freedom. He then went on to write a bestselling autobiography launching is career as an abolitionist and sought-after orator. Crowds marveled that a formerly enslaved man could have such a command over his words, captulting him into international fame while still in his late 20s.

Harriet Tubman was his every bit equal. She also willed herself from the grasps of chattel slavery (less than 20 miles from where Douglass did) and became a legendary renegade, who travelled South to help over 70 people escape from brutal plantation life. She had also become a legendary orator and anti-slavery advocate while in her in Together they represent different approaches to same struggle. Douglass speaks for a beleagured community, in a mainstream fight against the institution of slavery; Tubman works deep within that community to subvert that same institution.

In the film, Douglass struggles with recognizing this wily, Harriet Tubman --who is functionally illiterate--as his equal. She is distrustful of his thirst for more mainstream recognition. Their intense conversation reveals how her myth and legend are incidental byproducts of her unrelenting, commitment to a a very personal goal.

'The Visit' was filmed over a day and a half at a former plantation in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Our talented cast and crew did an amazing job. I will be forever grateful for their hard work and dedication to casting our heroes in this fresh light.

I hope you enjoy it, too.

-Paul