A Racine native and college film professor is returning home this summer to shoot a feature film rooted in one of the city’s most vexing struggles, and he wants local residents in front of the camera.
Anwar Jamison, founder of BKE Films and a film professor at Jacksonville State University in Alabama, is partnering with Deontrae Mayfield, founder of The Main Project & Cafe, 1014 State St., to produce Across State Street, a dramatic feature film that will shoot on location throughout Racine beginning July 27.
The production is seeking local actors of all ages and experience levels to fill about 20 roles.
“I really wanted to tell a story about how that affects us,” Jamison said, describing the ripple effect that violence has across Racine’s tightly connected community. “The shock waves just kind of reverberate through the whole city.”
About the film
Across State Street centers on a father and son navigating the gravitational pull of street violence, a story Jamison said is drawn directly from what he witnessed growing up in Racine and has continued watching from a distance.
Jamison said Racine’s size makes it unique. Unlike larger cities, where residents may be insulated from violence by sheer scale, nearly everyone in Racine is connected to both sides of a tragedy when one occurs.
“I’m from this small city, and that is way more,” he said, comparing Racine’s experience to Memphis, where he lived for years. “People wouldn’t even believe it when I started to explain.”
Jamison wants the film to be more than a portrait of a problem; he hopes it sparks something.
“I’m just hoping by maybe putting a story on screen that dramatizes this, addresses it, talks about the solutions, maybe just a hopeful movie that might spark something in someone,” he said.
Mayfield brought the project to Jamison, and said the film reflects a broader mission he has been building at The Main Project: using creative opportunity to reach young people, particularly those at Mitchell Middle School, where both men attended as boys.
“All it takes is coming into Mitchell school, seeing the state of these kids right now, and that drives me to do anything and all of the above,” Mayfield said.
About the production
Shooting is scheduled to begin July 27 and run four 10 days. The film will be a feature-length release, running roughly 90 minutes. After production wraps, Jamison plans a festival run to build visibility before pursuing streaming distribution. A Racine premiere is planned.
Jamison said he is intentionally casting as locally as possible, drawing on a filmmaking tradition he compared to Italian neorealism — a mid-20th century movement in which directors used non-professional actors and real locations to achieve authenticity.
“In Racine, we have our own culture, from the food to how people engage,” he said. “I really want to capture that in the film.”
Who they’re looking for
The production has approximately 20 roles available. Several key roles are already cast, including the father and mother. Open roles include:
- The son: early- to mid-20s
- Younger boys: approximately 12 to early teens
- Community members: 60s to 70s, including a grandmother character
- Supporting roles open to all races and ethnicities
No prior acting experience is required. Auditions will be conducted via self-tape. Interested actors can register at bkefilms.net, where they will receive script sides and submission instructions. In-person callbacks may follow for select candidates.
Jamison said the film will premiere in Racine and that post-production work can take up to a year.
