Velvet Jesus is the gripping semi-autobiographical story of a man’s desperate journey to discover the truth about his past. The movie, from Breaking Glass Pictures, stars Ernest Harden Jr from the acclaimed new film Sweetwater, and is directed by Anthony Bawn and Spencer Bollins.
“Velvet Jesus has elements of my real-life journey,“ said writer and executive producer Charles McWells, who wrote the successful stage play version of Velvet Jesus a few years ago. “But I think this new story is much harder hitting because it takes us to the unseen side of the #MeToo movement for men.”
The gut-wrenching story tells of a 30-year-old African American man, Carl (Jensen Atwood) who is forced to deal with the echoes of his past. In an attempt to silence the emotional demons that have haunted him his entire life, he decides to confront the man who he holds responsible for his torment. Though given his diminished mental state, can it be trusted that Vernon Chambers (Ernest Harden, Jr.) really did what Carl accused him of, or is it all a figment of Carl’s confused imagination? And if he did, what is the price Vernon should pay for robbing Carl of his childhood?
Collins states, “I remember when Charles brought me this project. I was excited because it was based on a subject that we very seldom talk about especially in the Black community and most certainly among Black men. Even though statistics show that every one in six Black men has been sexually assaulted and I am one of those six. It’s always been a dirty secret. The #MeToo movement gave us permission to talk about it amongst women.”
“But it’s never been something that we can talk about amongst men (more specifically not Black men). It’s not something that we openly talk about, but it is something that happens to men, as well as women. A lot of Black men have experienced this, but we don’t talk about it because of the stigma attached and the notion that everyone will assume that if you’re a straight person, you’re gay and if you’re gay, you like it. So, when Charles McWells gave me the opportunity to tell this story in a different way, I jumped at the opportunity to do it.”
Jensen Atwood and Melvin Ward also star in Velvet Jesus, hitting digital platforms in US, Canada, Australian, New Zealand, UK and more from Tuesday.