By OLU ALEMORU, Staff Writer
Story Published: Jul 21, 2010 at 5:13 PM PDT
Story Updated: Jul 21, 2010 at 5:13 PM PDT
A local writer poised to break out into the mainstream has had a weekend to remember with the scheduled debut of a short work that celebrates one of her heroes.
Florida-born Rene Rawls, who lives in the historic West Adams district of Los Angeles, wrote and produced “Sule and the Case of the Tiny Sparks,” an animated short that celebrates the life of Nelson Mandela in “making an imprint to change the world around them.”
The film is one of five entries chosen last year for a competition sponsored by 46664, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and New York’s Tribeca Film Institute’s Tribeca All Access program, which awarded five $10,000 grants for short film concepts to mark the first annual Mandela Day Tribeca All Access Award.
Taken from Mandela’s prison number, 46664 is an initiative to inspire individual and collective action towards an AIDS-free world.
The entries were uploaded to the Tribeca website Monday, a day after Mandela celebrated his 92nd birthday on July 18.
The short introduces Sule as a young Sherlock Holmes, a wise and brash African child who helps other kids solve their problems and learn life’s lessons through the meaning of proverbs.
Rawls, who has optioned a feature script, “Homecoming Queen,” slated to begin production this year, teamed up with twin animation directors, Shawnee and Shawnelle Gibbs, an Oakland-born duo who she met through the Organization of Black Screenwriters.
“We met up with Rene in October and she asked us if we would be interested in working on the project,” said Shawnee. “The story of this tiny little detective was such a cool idea. There are few stories set in Africa. It’s a really inspiring, positive message.”
She added: “After seeing our reels and bios, they approved us and we started gathering a team of artists to work on the character designs, storyboards and animation.
“We only had a few months to get it done, but we were blown away by the team’s work.”
Meanwhile, Rawls, a recipient of the renowned Guy Hanks and Marvin Miller Screenwriting Fellowship, has also traveled to various cities across the country teaching screenwriting and filmmaking to high school students.
“I found out about the competition this time last year and immediately knew I would submit something because I have so much love and respect for Nelson Mandela,” said Rawls, who has an English degree from Hampton University and a graduate degree in communications from Georgia State University.
“I used to teach high school English and one of my favorite books to teach was [Nigerian author Chinua Achebe’s] ‘Things Fall Apart,’ a book full of proverbs. I’d talk to my students about proverbs and they would get the meanings. One student came to class one day and said, ‘Yeah, we’re proverb slayers.’ That stuck in my mind, and two or three years later I birthed this character Sule, a young proverb detective and initially did a picture book. Then, when I heard about the competition I knew he’d be right for the story.”
Taking to her laptop, Rawls wrote the script in an 11-hour writing session and then traveled to Florida to see her mother.
“I got an e-mail notification and instead of the ‘Thanks for entering your work,’ it said, ‘Congratulations, your script has been chosen,’” recalled Rawls.
“I was jumping up and down and screaming. But my mother was like, ‘Just give thanks to the Lord, baby.’”
To get the look and feel of an African village, Rawls drew on a trip she made to Ghana and also ran it by a Nigerian friend.
“For me the main theme of the story is to do what you can and that may influence others,” added Rawls.
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