Photo Courtesy of Elegance Bratton
Alum Elegance Bratton is set to direct the documentary Hellfighters for Five Fifty Five and Rainshine Entertainment.
According to Variety, “the film chronicles the life of James Reese Europe, an African American jazz pioneer who served as a lieutenant during World War I in the Black military unit known as the Harlem Hellfighters.”
Bratton talked about his connection to the project: “As a veteran and artist like James Reese Europe, I immediately knew I wanted to tell his story. WWI was driven by Europe’s desire for control of Africa — there is a cruel irony in that the Hellfighters believed the only way to gain full meaning of U.S. citizenship was to sacrifice their lives for an America consumed with their own degradation.”
Read more at Variety.