The Ben Bowman directed film Knucklehead is a drama about the serious subject of mental health and abuse. But there’s nothing melodramatic about this surprisingly funny and uplifting offering. Knucklehead stars Emmy Award winning actress Alfre Woodard and talented young actor turned producer Gbenga Akinnagbe.
I briefly spoke with Gbenga and director Ben Bowman regarding the significance of this inspiring work and why they chose to come aboard as well. Heres what they had to say.I briefly spoke with Gbenga and director Ben Bowman regarding the significance of this inspiring work and why they chose to come aboard as well. Heres what they had to say.
The film is about a mentally disabled young man named Langston Bellows (Akinnagbe) who dreams of getting out of the clutches of his abusive mother (Woodard) after his older brother and best friend leaves their Brooklyn projects and never returns. Langston is also obsessed with prescription drugs in an ongoing effort to cure his incurable disorder, and often speaks of his girlfriend- who may or may not actually exist.
The film has been making its away all over the world via the festival circuits since March of this year and has moved audience of many races and ethnicities at the American Black Film Festival, the New Voices in Black Film Festival, the Urbanworld Film Festival and the Baltimore International Film Festival, where it just won an award for Best Narrative Feature and the Oscar Michaeux Award as well.
