An American Promise
Two sets of parents embark on a 12-year quest to find what is the price we pay to provide the "best" education for our children in our cities.
The power of An American Promise is in the monumental changes witnessed in Idris and Oluwaseun through this 12-year exploration. The film reflects our everyday realities through a verite-like examination, presenting a dynamic exploration of character and identity formation as these boys come of age.
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Michele Stephenson - Director, Producer
Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster are a husband-and-wife filmmaker team based in Brooklyn, NY. Stephenson is a human rights attorney who has produced documentaries on human rights and race relations, including Faces of Change, which screened at the Locarno International Film Festival and SilverDocs: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival, and recently broadcasted on PBS. Her works have earned Stephenson a number of awards and recognitions, including the Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film and Digital Media. Brewster is a physician and psychiatrist who has written and directed two narrative films, including The Keeper, which premiered at the 1995 Toronto Film Festival and the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, and The Killing Zone.
In 2000, the couple decided to put their interests in social activism and race relations together and began developing film and media projects, while juggling family life. Their most recently completed documentary, Slaying Goliath, and the ongoing, 12-year-long project, An American Promise are first of a number of projects Stephenson and Brewster developed since starting their collaboration. Other projects currently in development include Toussaint, a documentary following actor Danny Glover’s production of the Toussaint L’Ouverture biopic, as well as Pawn Chronicles: Stories from the Fringe Economy, an interactive new media initiative looking at the role of pawnshops and the underground economy in communities of color.
Joe Brewster - Director, Producer
Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster are a husband-and-wife filmmaker team based in Brooklyn, NY. Stephenson is a human rights attorney who has produced documentaries on human rights and race relations, including Faces of Change, which screened at the Locarno International Film Festival and SilverDocs: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival, and recently broadcasted on PBS. Her works have earned Stephenson a number of awards and recognitions, including the Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film and Digital Media. Brewster is a physician and psychiatrist who has written and directed two narrative films, including The Keeper, which premiered at the 1995 Toronto Film Festival and the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, and The Killing Zone.
In 2000, the couple decided to put their interests in social activism and race relations together and began developing film and media projects, while juggling family life. Their most recently completed documentary, Slaying Goliath, and the ongoing, 12-year-long project, An American Promise are first of a number of projects Stephenson and Brewster developed since starting their collaboration. Other projects currently in development include Toussaint, a documentary following actor Danny Glover’s production of the Toussaint L’Ouverture biopic, as well as Pawn Chronicles: Stories from the Fringe Economy, an interactive new media initiative looking at the role of pawnshops and the underground economy in communities of color.
Additional Credits
Geeta Gandbhir - Editor
Jon Stuyvesant - Director of Photography
Margaret Byrne - Director of Photography
