NOTORIOUSLY - WENDELL B. HARRIS, JR.

Sundance Top 10 Most Overlooked Films - Chameleon Street #2

We tried to tell them....now the world knows. :)

View the entire list here - we're in good company:  http://www.sundancechannel.com/top-ten/most-overlooked-sundance-films/

 

We're still aiming for that on air viewing, stay tuned.

The New Yorker: DVD of the Week: Chameleon Street

Thanks to Richard Brody of The New Yorker for the review!

DVD of the Week: Chameleon Street.

BROOKLYN: Chameleon Street Screening at BAM ROSE CINEMA 2/9

 

Catch the classic...and the soundbites...

Brooklyn, NY

BAMcinematek Presents:

CHAMELEON STREET

February 9, 2011 - 9:30pm

BUY TICKETS!

Theater Information

BAM Rose Cinemas

ADDRESS

30 Lafayette Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
(718) 636-4100

DIRECTIONS

Subway: M, N, R, W to Pacific St; Q, 1, 2, 4, 5 to Atlantic Avenue

 

Works in the Works: Arbiter Roswell Trailer

Arbiter Roswell Trailer

Wendell B. Harris, Jr. | Myspace Video 

Limited Edition Chameleon Street - AUTOGRAPHED COPIES AVAILABLE

BAM CinemaFest Presents: CHAMELEON STREET Screening 7/6 and 7/8

BAM(Brooklyn Academy of Music) presents a special screening of CHAMELEON STREET with Q&A Chat with Wendell B. Harris, Jr. after the film.

Tuesday July 6, 2010 930pm and
Thursday July 8, 2010 430pm

General Admission $12

Seniors 65 & over $9

Children 12 & under $9

BAM Cinema Club members: $8

BARGAIN Matinee before 5pm - $7.50

Grab tickets at www.BAM.org and www.movietickets.com
or 718-777-FILM (order by CHAMELEON STREET)
Or in person at BAM Rose Cinemas box office

Directions:
Subways: 2, 3, 4, 5, B, Q to Atlanta
N, R, D, M to Pacific
C to Lafayette
G to Fulton

Parking at GGMC ($5 after 5pm Mon-Fri)

 

Interesting stuff you find on YouTube - Race and Film

Chameleon Street - NOW ON iTUNES!

Wendell B. Harris, Jr. Critically-Acclaimed Film Chameleon Street
Kicks Off 2010 With iTunes Deal & Commemorative Soundtrack

Chicago, IL, February 11, 2010 -- Actor/Writer/Director Wendell B. Harris, Jr. continues efforts to keep his award-winning film, Chameleon Street, among the not-forgotten gems of cinematic history by kicking off 2010 with a launch of his critically-acclaimed film among new releases on iTunes. Chameleon Street is debuting in the iTunes catalog and joins an elite group of films negotiated through aggregate firm TuneCore, as it celebrates twenty years since its' winning entry at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival.

Chameleon Street is a psychological comedy that uses the real-life story of Douglas Street, an infamous Michigan-born imposter, to explore the myth of the American Dream, the paradox of African-American male identity, and the movie medium's uncanny ability to get under the skin of American Society. It is the quintessential story of an innovative thinker using all the wrong modes to try and overcome all the odds.

The film is set for release on iTunes at the climax of the 26th Sundance Film Festival, which honors excellence in independent film each year. In 1990, Chameleon Street was awarded the festival's most prestigious award, the Grand Jury Prize, and in 2009, Harris Jr. was honored to return to the festival for the film's induction into its' collection of favorite festival classics. 2010 spells progress as Harris and his team take to the internet to promote the digital release via aggressive grassroots marketing tactics.

Wendell B. Harris, Jr. and his team at Prismatic Images have meticulously prepared for the digital launch of the film and plan to engage film lovers on their favorite networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to get the word out. There is a commemorative music soundtrack that will be available as a free download and thank you for fans participating in the Chameleon Street experience. "The unique ways that people communicate and share in this new digital world remained top of mind while planning for the launch into the world of iTunes," said Harris, Jr. "We've ventured onto social networking sites and discovered a world of fans of this film. We want to keep the conversation going."

The soundtrack will be available for free on a Chameleon Street branded community site on the NING Network, and features music from emerging musicians discovered by Harris along the promotional route for the DVD release of the film in late 2007. "Many of the artists participating in the soundtrack were die hard fans of the film," Harris Jr. reflected. "The energy and spirit heard in the work of cutting-edge musicians like Allegra Dolores, Marcus Davis, and a cache of others mirrors my own passions as both writer and filmmaker not to mention Doug Street's ill-driven passions as displayed in the film." Through the inclusion of the soundtrack, and the NING site where members are encouraged to be "who they say they are", Wendell B. Harris Jr. and his team hope to elevate the cult-status Chameleon Street has maintained over the years by hip hop lovers, for a whole new audience.

Largely ignored by Hollywood after the 1990 Sundance win, sampling of the film by hip hop artists, Mos Def and Talib Kweli for their 1999 debut album entitled, Black Star helped to keep underground "cred" for the film authentic. The transparent ties to the "golden era" hip hop community translates into new ground covered for the Chameleon Street brand and team behind it. Newer and established fans of Chameleon Street will be treated to an array of new experiences as the year rolls in. 2010 represents the 20th anniversary of Chameleon Street, and the beginning of a new era for Wendell B. Harris, Jr. with a long-awaited return to his passion for filmmaking.

About Wendell Harris:

Wendell B. Harris, Jr. is an American filmmaker who was trained in drama at the prestigious Interlochen and Juilliard schools. He is the writer, director and lead actor of Chameleon Street, a Gethsemane 84, Inc. / Prismatic Images, Inc. production, and has produced the radio series Black Biography, which showcased Black icons from the spheres of art, history and politics. He has appeared as an actor in the films Out of Sight and Road Trip. Wendell Harris is currently in post-production for the forthcoming docu-series, ARBITER ROSWELL. This scathing, imaginative, impeccably researched, and often hilarious master-work explores the inner connectivity of both our media and the military-industrial complex --- two entities which Harris believes wield an inordinate amount of power in shaping our culture and our minds. According to Harris, ARBITER ROSWELL contains an amazing acting performance by Steven Soderbergh, portraying Theodor W. Adorno as well as startling death-bed revelations from legendary Army counter-intelligence agent Frank J. Kaufmann who actually coordinated the Roswell incident in 1947. He is currently shopping several film treatments from the comedy genre including Negropolis which is being co-produced by Alde Lewis, Jr. and Richard Kiley, Jr. Wendell is also collaborating with the writer-producer Mike Barker (American Dad) on two feature film projects while exploring the possibility of producing the feature film version of Bill Wiese's controversial and compelling narrative, 23 Minutes in Hell. He also manages to tour as a guest speaker at college and university campuses nationwide. For more information visit www.wendellharrisjr.com

To interact with Chameleon Street visit:
www.twitter.com/chameleonstreet
www.myspace.com/chameleonstreet
www.chameleonstreet.ning.com

Wendell B. Harris, Jr. Critically-Acclaimed Film Chameleon Street
Kicks Off 2010 With iTunes Deal & Commemorative Soundtrack

Chicago, IL, February 11, 2010 -- Actor/Writer/Director Wendell B. Harris, Jr. continues efforts to keep his award-winning film, Chameleon Street, among the not-forgotten gems of cinematic history by kicking off 2010 with a launch of his critically-acclaimed film among new releases on iTunes. Chameleon Street is debuting in the iTunes catalog and joins an elite group of films negotiated through aggregate firm TuneCore, as it celebrates twenty years since its' winning entry at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival.

Chameleon Street is a psychological comedy that uses the real-life story of Douglas Street, an infamous Michigan-born imposter, to explore the myth of the American Dream, the paradox of African-American male identity, and the movie medium's uncanny ability to get under the skin of American Society. It is the quintessential story of an innovative thinker using all the wrong modes to try and overcome all the odds.

The film is set for release on iTunes at the climax of the 26th Sundance Film Festival, which honors excellence in independent film each year. In 1990, Chameleon Street was awarded the festival's most prestigious award, the Grand Jury Prize, and in 2009, Harris Jr. was honored to return to the festival for the film's induction into its' collection of favorite festival classics. 2010 spells progress as Harris and his team take to the internet to promote the digital release via aggressive grassroots marketing tactics.

Wendell B. Harris, Jr. and his team at Prismatic Images have meticulously prepared for the digital launch of the film and plan to engage film lovers on their favorite networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to get the word out. There is a commemorative music soundtrack that will be available as a free download and thank you for fans participating in the Chameleon Street experience. "The unique ways that people communicate and share in this new digital world remained top of mind while planning for the launch into the world of iTunes," said Harris, Jr. "We've ventured onto social networking sites and discovered a world of fans of this film. We want to keep the conversation going."

The soundtrack will be available for free on a Chameleon Street branded community site on the NING Network, and features music from emerging musicians discovered by Harris along the promotional route for the DVD release of the film in late 2007. "Many of the artists participating in the soundtrack were die hard fans of the film," Harris Jr. reflected. "The energy and spirit heard in the work of cutting-edge musicians like Allegra Dolores, Marcus Davis, and a cache of others mirrors my own passions as both writer and filmmaker not to mention Doug Street's ill-driven passions as displayed in the film." Through the inclusion of the soundtrack, and the NING site where members are encouraged to be "who they say they are", Wendell B. Harris Jr. and his team hope to elevate the cult-status Chameleon Street has maintained over the years by hip hop lovers, for a whole new audience.

Largely ignored by Hollywood after the 1990 Sundance win, sampling of the film by hip hop artists, Mos Def and Talib Kweli for their 1999 debut album entitled, Black Star helped to keep underground "cred" for the film authentic. The transparent ties to the "golden era" hip hop community translates into new ground covered for the Chameleon Street brand and team behind it. Newer and established fans of Chameleon Street will be treated to an array of new experiences as the year rolls in. 2010 represents the 20th anniversary of Chameleon Street, and the beginning of a new era for Wendell B. Harris, Jr. with a long-awaited return to his passion for filmmaking.

About Wendell Harris:

Wendell B. Harris, Jr. is an American filmmaker who was trained in drama at the prestigious Interlochen and Juilliard schools. He is the writer, director and lead actor of Chameleon Street, a Gethsemane 84, Inc. / Prismatic Images, Inc. production, and has produced the radio series Black Biography, which showcased Black icons from the spheres of art, history and politics. He has appeared as an actor in the films Out of Sight and Road Trip. Wendell Harris is currently in post-production for the forthcoming docu-series, ARBITER ROSWELL. This scathing, imaginative, impeccably researched, and often hilarious master-work explores the inner connectivity of both our media and the military-industrial complex --- two entities which Harris believes wield an inordinate amount of power in shaping our culture and our minds. According to Harris, ARBITER ROSWELL contains an amazing acting performance by Steven Soderbergh, portraying Theodor W. Adorno as well as startling death-bed revelations from legendary Army counter-intelligence agent Frank J. Kaufmann who actually coordinated the Roswell incident in 1947. He is currently shopping several film treatments from the comedy genre including Negropolis which is being co-produced by Alde Lewis, Jr. and Richard Kiley, Jr. Wendell is also collaborating with the writer-producer Mike Barker (American Dad) on two feature film projects while exploring the possibility of producing the feature film version of Bill Wiese's controversial and compelling narrative, 23 Minutes in Hell. He also manages to tour as a guest speaker at college and university campuses nationwide. For more information visit www.wendellharrisjr.com

To interact with Chameleon Street visit:
www.twitter.com/chameleonstreet
www.myspace.com/chameleonstreet
www.chameleonstreet.ning.com

Chicago, IL, February 11, 2010 -- Actor/Writer/Director Wendell B. Harris, Jr. continues efforts to keep his award-winning film, Chameleon Street, among the not-forgotten gems of cinematic history by kicking off 2010 with a launch of his critically-acclaimed film among new releases on iTunes. Chameleon Street is debuting in the iTunes catalog and joins an elite group of films negotiated through aggregate firm TuneCore, as it celebrates twenty years since its' winning entry at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival.

Chameleon Street is a psychological comedy that uses the real-life story of Douglas Street, an infamous Michigan-born imposter, to explore the myth of the American Dream, the paradox of African-American male identity, and the movie medium's uncanny ability to get under the skin of American Society. It is the quintessential story of an innovative thinker using all the wrong modes to try and overcome all the odds.

The film is set for release on iTunes at the climax of the 26th Sundance Film Festival, which honors excellence in independent film each year. In 1990, Chameleon Street was awarded the festival's most prestigious award, the Grand Jury Prize, and in 2009, Harris Jr. was honored to return to the festival for the film's induction into its' collection of favorite festival classics. 2010 spells progress as Harris and his team take to the internet to promote the digital release via aggressive grassroots marketing tactics.

Wendell B. Harris, Jr. and his team at Prismatic Images have meticulously prepared for the digital launch of the film and plan to engage film lovers on their favorite networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to get the word out. There is a commemorative music soundtrack that will be available as a free download and thank you for fans participating in the Chameleon Street experience. "The unique ways that people communicate and share in this new digital world remained top of mind while planning for the launch into the world of iTunes," said Harris, Jr. "We've ventured onto social networking sites and discovered a world of fans of this film. We want to keep the conversation going."

The soundtrack will be available for free on a Chameleon Street branded community site on the NING Network, and features music from emerging musicians discovered by Harris along the promotional route for the DVD release of the film in late 2007. "Many of the artists participating in the soundtrack were die hard fans of the film," Harris Jr. reflected. "The energy and spirit heard in the work of cutting-edge musicians like Allegra Dolores, Marcus Davis, and a cache of others mirrors my own passions as both writer and filmmaker not to mention Doug Street's ill-driven passions as displayed in the film." Through the inclusion of the soundtrack, and the NING site where members are encouraged to be "who they say they are", Wendell B. Harris Jr. and his team hope to elevate the cult-status Chameleon Street has maintained over the years by hip hop lovers, for a whole new audience.

Largely ignored by Hollywood after the 1990 Sundance win, sampling of the film by hip hop artists, Mos Def and Talib Kweli for their 1999 debut album entitled, Black Star helped to keep underground "cred" for the film authentic. The transparent ties to the "golden era" hip hop community translates into new ground covered for the Chameleon Street brand and team behind it. Newer and established fans of Chameleon Street will be treated to an array of new experiences as the year rolls in. 2010 represents the 20th anniversary of Chameleon Street, and the beginning of a new era for Wendell B. Harris, Jr. with a long-awaited return to his passion for filmmaking.

About Wendell Harris:

Wendell B. Harris, Jr. is an American filmmaker who was trained in drama at the prestigious Interlochen and Juilliard schools. He is the writer, director and lead actor of Chameleon Street, a Gethsemane 84, Inc. / Prismatic Images, Inc. production, and has produced the radio series Black Biography, which showcased Black icons from the spheres of art, history and politics. He has appeared as an actor in the films Out of Sight and Road Trip. Wendell Harris is currently in post-production for the forthcoming docu-series, ARBITER ROSWELL. This scathing, imaginative, impeccably researched, and often hilarious master-work explores the inner connectivity of both our media and the military-industrial complex --- two entities which Harris believes wield an inordinate amount of power in shaping our culture and our minds. According to Harris, ARBITER ROSWELL contains an amazing acting performance by Steven Soderbergh, portraying Theodor W. Adorno as well as startling death-bed revelations from legendary Army counter-intelligence agent Frank J. Kaufmann who actually coordinated the Roswell incident in 1947. He is currently shopping several film treatments from the comedy genre including Negropolis which is being co-produced by Alde Lewis, Jr. and Richard Kiley, Jr. Wendell is also collaborating with the writer-producer Mike Barker (American Dad) on two feature film projects while exploring the possibility of producing the feature film version of Bill Wiese's controversial and compelling narrative, 23 Minutes in Hell. He also manages to tour as a guest speaker at college and university campuses nationwide. For more information visit www.wendellharrisjr.com

To interact with Chameleon Street visit:
www.twitter.com/chameleonstreet
www.myspace.com/chameleonstreet
www.chameleonstreet.ning.com

Review: Off-Centerpiece - Maybe He Should Have Impersonated a White Studio Boss

Off-Centerpiece - Maybe He Should Have Impersonated a White Studio Boss

By STEVE WEINSTEIN
Los Angeles Times
Original Link

July 14, 1991

When Steven Soderbergh's "sex, lies, and videotape" won the top prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 1989, the resulting buzz swiftly transformed the low-budget film into a hit and the rookie director into a hot Hollywood commodity. When "Chameleon Street" was honored with the same prize the following year, Wendell Harris, the film's black star-writer-director, thought that he too was headed for the big time.

But 18 months later, Harris' film is only now about to open in Los Angeles, and at that, it's getting just a one-week stint beginning Friday at the Nuart. While many of the films Harris beat at Sundance--"Metropolitan," "To Sleep With Anger," "House Party" and "Longtime Companion"--already have enjoyed wide release, "Chameleon Street" has languished unseen, leaking out the past few months in a one-city-at-a-time tour of metropolitan art houses.

Based on the true story of a Michigan man named Doug Street, the film depicts the amoral, chilling and often hilarious behavior of a black man who poses as various accomplished individuals in order to advance in white society. At one point, despite no medical training, Street impersonates a surgeon and performs dozens of operations, including a hysterectomy filmed and acted out by Harris in hide-your-eyes, medical documentary style. Made for about $2 million, the droll, weird and very black comedy ends ambiguously, leaving it unclear whether the audience should sympathize with or condemn the compulsive imposter.

"Many distributors told us that they could not find an easy hook to sell the film with," Harris said. "One major distributor said, 'This is great, but it's not like an Eddie Murphy film and it's not like Spike Lee.' They didn't know what to do with it."

So despite enthusiastic film festival audiences and reviews around the world, "Chameleon Street" has been the odd man out. While such neophytes as 19-year-old Matty Rich ("Straight Out of Brooklyn") and 23-year-old John Singleton ("Boyz N the Hood") have hatched Hollywood futures with laudable debuts, Harris, now 37, has been left a bit behind the curve.

Harris applauds the "so-called black film renaissance," insisting that the audience is "starved for this product" and that every new film from Rich, Singleton, Lee or any other black writer-director expands the possibilities for everyone.

Still, the bulk of these films have been visceral, unflinching re-creations of life in the ghetto. Harris is a former Juilliard classmate of Robin Williams and a man more versed in existentialism and the films of Jean Cocteau than the inner-city realities of gangs and crack. In trying to sell it, he said, he actually heard comments like, "Where is the drug dealer, where is the black-on-black crime?" He chuckles at the irony in the fact that his film about a black man who goes to amazing extremes to be what white society wants him to be has had difficulty finding a home in an industry that seems willing to embrace only one specific black reality.

"White people have not let us breathe, and still they are the ones doling out the oxygen," Harris said. " 'Chameleon Street' is unique enough to be without precedent and Hollywood has always been suspicious of anything new. Everyone knows the existence of and can rally around the black ghetto. But just as there are a rainbow variety of black complexions in the world, there should be that same diversity in film. The life of Doug Street is every bit a part of the black experience as 'Do the Right Thing' or 'Boyz N the Hood.' "

Harris, who lives in Flint, Mich., where the film was made, nonetheless is optimistic about today's climate in Hollywood. And it is in Hollywood, where Harris came 15 years before with unfulfilled dreams of writing for "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," that he intends to thrive. Two-time Oscar-winner Milos Forman has met with Harris about directing Harris' script about the life of boxer Joe Louis, and Harris said that he is also in various stages of negotiations with several movies, including a black Western, a dark comedy about the ordeals of four Juilliard-trained actors and a drama set in Trinidad.

"It's a hopeful time because there seems to be an awareness in Hollywood now that was not there in 1976 when people couldn't even spell black correctly," Harris said. "Now there is an openness and a willingness to deal with us. And we're in such a primitive state with our black cinematic expression that every film that comes out is making history."

.

Jonathan Rosenberg - Chameleon Street Review

Chameleon Street

It took two years for this provocative independent feature to reach Chicago, yet it’s as intellectually ambitious as any new American picture I’ve seen this year. This highly original existential dark comedy, which won first prize at the 1990 Sundance film festival, charts the real-life exploits of William Douglas Street (played with a great deal of charisma and wit by writer-director Wendell B. Harris Jr.), a con man from Detroit who specialized in impersonations during the period covered in the film (1978-1985). Street impersonated a Time reporter, a surgery intern who performed 23 successful operations, an exchange student from Martinique at Yale, and a volunteer civil rights lawyer; he was also responsible for various other scams along the way (e.g., a failed blackmail attempt) and did a few stints in prison. Not wasting any time with facile psychologizing, Harris explores his subject in a number of ways: as an essay of sorts on the mysteries and paradoxes of acting (compounded by the fact that some of Harris’s real-life victims play themselves, including basketball star Paula McGee and Detroit mayor Coleman Young); as the source of some very funny comedy; as an exploration of the invisibility of blacks in America that often suggests Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man; and as a disturbing yet compelling rogue’s progress that often calls to mind an 18th-century picaresque novel. Part of what keeps it so interesting is the detached, dandylike air Harris gives Street, who’s clearly portrayed as neither pure hero nor pure villain; but there’s also a lot to be said for Harris’s eclectic directorial style, which doesn’t always sustain itself but is brimming with inventive ideas (1989). (Music Box, Friday through Thursday, August 16 through 22)

Published on 16 Aug 1991 in Featured Texts, by jrosenbaum

Adobe Airstream Interviews Wendell B. Harris, Jr.

The folks from Adobe Airstream caught up with Wendell at the 2009 Marfa Film Festival... check it out.

WENDELL-ISMS - Fave Films (Politically Correct List)

The Top 5 

CHAMELEON STREET SCREEN SHOTS

CHAMELEON STREET - AVAILABLE NOW

Amazon Video On Demand

AMAZON DVD