Two awards – and on to the St. Louis International Film Festival
By Chris King Of the St. Louis American
Ruzzian Roulette – the film about HIV that sprung from the local hip-hop community – won two major awards at the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase last week and is one of the few films from the showcase chosen to show in November at the St. Louis International Film Festival.
From there, it’s off to the film festival circuit. But, for now, according to co-producer and co-writer Steven (Rukahs) Brownridge, maybe not the black film festival circuit. He hopes to sidestep the current controversy over the N-word, though neither Rukahs nor the characters in Ruzzian Roulette use the euphemism.
“It seems like people are turning their backs on the hip-hop generation for the way we talk,” Rukahs said.
“So, we’ll stay away from them. They’ll catch up later.”
Local filmmakers have some catching up of their own to do with Rukahs and Ronnell (Falaq) Bennett, his co-producer and co-writer, not to mention the film’s director and a show-stealing supporting actor.
Cinema St. Louis Artistic Director Chris Clark awarded Ruzzian Roulette as the Film That Blew My Mind, and the independent Gateway Film Critics Association awarded it as Best Experimental/Innovative Film at the showcase.
“In the true spirit of American independent cinema, Ruzzian Roulette is a raw, powerful and extremely moving cautionary tale about the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the African-American community,” Clark said.
“It completely blew me away when I saw if for the first time and again when
the crowd at the Tivoli responded with such wild enthusiasm for what is
a very tough subject and highly emotionally charged story.”
Rukahs and Falaq are really living the toughness and emotional charge of the film’s subject.
“When we were handing out flyers for the movie, it was like handing a vampire a cross,” Rukahs said.
“We’d do it as clubs, and they’d be at the club trying to get some. I don’t know if it spoiled the mood or not.”
If “the mood” is the mood to have sex without thought of consequences – or the instinct to protect yourself and your partner – then Ruzzian Roulette is definitely out to spoil your mood. It worked on at least one young woman who saw the screening at the showcase and then approached the filmmakers before the awards ceremony.
“She asked us it was our intent to scare people,” Rukahs said.
“And Falaq said, ‘Well, were you scared?’ And she said, ‘Yes, I was. I thought about some of the things I have done. It made me nervous.’”
Ruzzian Roulette is based on a worst-case example, someone so monstrous no one could have seen him coming. Darnell “Bossman” McGee exposed some 100 area girls and women to HIV and infected at least 30 of them after he was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1992 and before he was shot to death in 1997.
But, as the Apostlez song that forms the basis of the soundtrack reminds us, “It only takes one bullet.” And anyone who has had unprotected sex even once has held that particular gun to their head.
Rukahs himself, who is a happily married father, relived in his mind some bad decisions in his past while making the film. He was tested for HIV a few days before the film first screened at Washington University in February. Planned Parenthood had staff at their screening who conducted free HIV tests for a number of people after they saw the film.
Now the filmmaking team has become impassioned to continue educating the African-American community about the HIV epidemic. They envision two more projects, a drama about “the religion aspect, church and AIDS, secrets we as black people hide,” and a documentary about the origin of HIV.
Asked if he knows personally anyone who has died or become ill as a result of HIV, Rukahs said, “No, not personally, but Falaq does. But it touches me personally because it has affected our community. It’s like the drug game – eventually, it will be on our doorstep.”
The taboo about discussing AIDS in the black community owes in large part to its association with gays, who were hit first and hardest by the epidemic. Now that the epidemic is moving fastest among blacks – very much including straight blacks – Rukahs thinks African Americans have something to learn from gays.
“We don’t really talk about AIDS as a community,” he said. “The gay community does it best in talking about it among themselves.”
Though Ruzzian Roulette mostly is based in the straight black community, it does feature one vignette about a brother on the down-low (played by Joel P.E. King) who goes cruising for street sex and hooks up with another brother, played by Enoch. Playing those parts took some guts.
“Joel just picked that role up at the audition,” Rukahs said.
“The guy who plays his partner is a friend of Falaq’s, a DJ, who did it as a favor. We were worried about getting it done – we prayed Joel would stick with it.”
Everyone stuck with this film – and they all came out winners.
As Chris Clark of Cinema St. Louis said, “Everyone should see this film.”
Additional local screenings of Ruzzian Roulette will be announced in the American.
