School of Theater, Film and Television "A Night at the
Marina" is Wayne Calvin Byrd II‘s documentary
about an encounter between five young men and the LAPD. The film
will be shown Monday night in the James Bridges Theater.
By Mary Williams
Daily Bruin Staff
Wayne Calvin Byrd II doesn’t believe in shying away from
controversy.
From his actions as the student body president at UC Santa
Barbara, to the films he makes now as a graduate student in the
film directing program at UCLA, he has consistently used his
position to talk about the issues he feels are important. He
continues to do so with his new documentary “A Night at the
Marina,” showing tonight at the James Bridges Theater as part
of the Documentary Salon Series’ “Visions of Five: A
Selection of Outstanding Student Documentaries.”.
“I have a chance to say something important that other
people might not have a chance to say, so I feel as though I need
to say it,” Wayne said. “I’ve always been
extremely interested in making things right, righting wrongs, and
when something’s wrong, it’s hard for me to turn my
head.”
Wayne’s documentary chronicles the experience that he, his
brother and three of their friends had with the LAPD in 1995.
While waiting in a line for a movie, Wayne said his brother,
John Calvin Byrd III, was dragged off and beaten by police, and not
for any wrongdoing. One by one, Wayne and two of his friends were
also pulled away and attacked. Their other friend was left
alone.
According to Wayne, the young men, who are all African American,
were victims of racial profiling.
The young men sustained multiple injuries and after two trials
for civil rights violations, the first of which ended in a hung
jury, they settled out of court. The approximately 20 policemen
involved were never convicted.
“The trial made me realize that there is no way to have
justice when the person perpetrating the injustice is in
charge,” Wayne said. “The system does not punish
itself.”
He made “A Night at the Marina” after feeling
unsatisfied by the outcome of the court cases.
The documentary consists of interviews with Wayne, his brother
and their friends about what happened to them and what they
saw.
All the interviews are shot close-up, focusing the
viewer’s attention on the expressions of the men being
interviewed.
“All you have is our words and our eyes, and we tell you
what happened, and you almost have to relive it yourself,”
Wayne said.
This film was made for advanced documentary workshop and was
shown during the final.
Film Professor Marina Goldovskaya teaches the workshop, and also
organizes the Documentary Salon Series.
“He has an ability to tell the story, to make the story
interesting, exciting, thrilling and to make the viewer live with
him through the event,” Goldovskaya said.
Wayne’s brother John appeared in, and co-produced the
documentary. Both he and Wayne have taken the film to other
universities and festivals for screenings and discussions, and both
have discovered that many people can either relate the film to
their own experiences, or are awakened to the reality of racial
profiling by the police.
“When things get shared, it’s an epiphany for a lot
of people.” John said. “They get to see stuff
differently.”
This film is not the first time Wayne has poured his energy into
a project to effect social change.
As student body president at UC Santa Barbara, Wayne allocated
tens of thousands of dollars to student-run outreach programs to
encourage underrepresented minorities to apply and attend the
university.
“I dealt with issues that I felt were important, even if
they were unpopular issues,” Wayne said. “I dealt with
issues of race in a way that I thought was important. I spent more
money on certain types of programs than any other president had. I
thought that minority recruitment and retention programs were
important.”
Wayne is currently working on two other documentaries, one about
a man that he believes was wrongfully sent to prison, and another
examining the theory versus application of prisons as places of
rehabilitation.
In addition, he owns his own
production company, 828 Entertainment, which produces films and
assists other companies with their production process. He and
associate Makonnen Kebede originally began the company two years
ago as a casting agency.
Wayne doesn’t see their growth stopping anytime soon.
“Our goal would be to eventually, and this is one of our
longer term goals, become a studio, one of the major
studios,” he said. “We are already happening, but we
are something fantastic … We have so many talented people on
board with us that we are going to push this as far as we
can.”
Goldovskaya also sees potential for Wayne’s future in
film.
“I feel that this young man has a very strong personality,
and I’m pretty sure that he’ll make it in the movies,
in documentary,” she said. “He has a very personal
vision, his is thinking, he can tell a story, and he is
positive.”
FILM: “Visions of Five: A Selection of
Outstanding Student Documentaries” is screening tonight at
7:30 in the James Bridges Theater. The event is free and open to
the public.