Voodoo Macbeth (2022)
Director: Agazi Desta, Christopher Beaton, Dagmawi Abebe, Ernesto M. Sandoval, Hannah Bang, Roy Arwas, Sabina Vajrača, Tiffany Kontoyiannis-Guillen, Victor Alonso-Berbel, Zoë Alyce Salnave Run Time: 108 min. Rating: NR Release Year: 2021
Starring: Daniel Kuhlman, Inger Tudor, Jeremy Tardy, Jewell Wilson Bridges, June Schreiner
Country: United States
Language: English
About the film:
Inspired by actual events and created by a group of 8 writers and 10 directors who collaborated as students at the University of Southern California. Voodoo MacBeth premiered Opening Night at the 2021 Harlem International Film Festival, taking home three awards including Best Film and Best Actress to Inger Tudor for her role as Rose McClendon.
Before Citizen Kane and The War of the Worlds, leading Broadway actress Rose McClendon and producer John Houseman convince a gifted but untested 20-year-old Orson Welles to direct Shakespeare’s play with an all-Black cast in Harlem. Reimagined in a Haitian setting, this revolutionary 1936 production, which came to be known as “Voodoo Macbeth,” would change the world forever.
But the road to opening night proves to be a difficult one. Orson and Rose – who is to play Lady Macbeth – clash over everything from scene blocking to crew hires, while Houseman contends with a congressman hell-bent on shutting down what he deems “communist propaganda.” Welles and McClendon must overcome political pressure, personal demons, and protests to realize their groundbreaking vision.
“a manifesto… imagines a world in which the artistic community is expanding to a point where all voices can be heard”
—William Bibbiani for The Wrap
About the filmmakers:
USC Originals represents a new approach to creating feature films and other creative commercial content under the auspices of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. Projects under the USC Originals banner engage teams of recent alumni and advanced students in working collaboratively on each part of their development and creation, with multiple writers, directors and producers working on the same film. The group-creators approach maximizes opportunities for diverse crews of both above and below the line talent. USC Originals are Executive Produced by veteran producer and professor John Watson (1991’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, 1995’s The Outer Limits).
A collaboration of 10 directors and 8 writers, Voodoo Macbeth marks the first theatrical release from USC Originals.
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