N'EW YORK - Fresh from a highly acclaimed run on the international festival circuit, One Week asks audiences one simple, life-altering question: "What if one week before your wedding you discovered you might be HIV positive? "
Audiences and critics alike have received the film with an overwhelming response, giving it the Best U.S. Film Award and the Lincoln Filmmaker's Trophy at the 2000 Acapulco Black Film Festival, the Grand Jury Prize at the Urbanworld Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Chicago International Film Festival. BET.com recently ranked One Week as the third-best film festival movie of 2000, and John Singleton, Isaac Hayes and Bill Duke have hailed it as a blockbuster in the making. Director Robert Townsend who serves as a mentor to One Week's director/co-writer has called the film "a classic for our time."
Film Life, a newly formed film distribution and marketing company specializing 'm independent urban cinema, will distribute One Week in top markets beginning October 5, 2001. "We are planning a platform release beginning in New York City, Chicago, New Jersey and Atlanta and will progress to a wider release later in the fall" says Jeff Friday, founder and president of Film Life. The theatrical release is being underwritten in part by Black Starz, BlackPlanet.com and African Heritage Network.
Newcomer Carl. Seaton's directorial debut explores the response of Varon Thomas (Kenny Young) when a health clinic informs him that a former sexual partner has the HIV virus. His best friend Tyco (Eric Lane), who coincidentally received the same call, assures him it's nothing to worry about. As his vision for the perfect future with fiancee, Kiya Parker (Saadiqa Muhammad) slowly unravels, Varon and Tyco must both deal with the reality of their uncertain fate. With problems on the job and stressful wedding preparations, Varon's guilt and fear haunt him with an increasing intensity.
Originally conceived as a comedy, writers Kenny Young and Carl Seaton wanted One Week to convey the pervasive impact of AIDS on "real people" and decided, after researching the virus, to pursue a darker mood with a more dramatic message. "This was an opportunity for us to reach African Americans with a realistic story that doesn't preach, but entertains," says Young.
One Week is the first theatrical release from Film Life, headed by Jeff Friday, co-creator/producer of the Acapulco Black Film Festival (ABFF). Following the successful strategy that built the five-year old ABFF, Film Life's mission is to provide alternative distribution for independent urban cinema. Film Life properties include the Acapulco Black Film Festival, GoSeeBlackMovies.com, BlackFilmFestAMERICA: The Independent Movie Tour and Friday Home Video.
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