6-Aug-06 9:00 AM CST

Festival takes its films seriously

Fourteen-year-old Jared Eveillard is an articulate kid with mouth full of braces, a cellphone, and a part-time job.
The aspiring actor -- who paid his way into an actor's workshop taught by film and TV star Michael Beach -- woke up at 7 a.m. on this summer day, took in a McDonald's breakfast, and went through his monologue, over and over.

Beach, the former ``ER" and ``Third Watch" star and Roxbury native, was impressed with Eveillard's short performance as Cory in August Wilson's play ``Fences."

Beach wanted Eveillard to recreate the part, but not before giving Eveillard directions on thinking about the character's disposition.

Later, Beach said, Eveillard ``was able to respond to the coaching, and that tells you a lot about where he could possibly go as an actor."

The actors' workshop was part of the eighth annual Roxbury Film Festival, held last week on the campuses of Northeastern University and Wentworth Institute of Technology.

The festival featured the work of local filmmakers like Jibril Haynes, 33, of Dorchester. Haynes, who has been to festivals across the country, said that he always makes it a point to be home to participate. The festival featured his short ``T Wins," a story about the decisions two people must make when a man walks into a house and finds his twin brother shot to death.

``The camaraderie and the organization make this the best I've been to," Haynes said after a panel discussion on film distribution. ``When people introduce me, they introduce me as though I'm on that same level, and if they see you as a serious filmmaker, they treat you that way."

Many films dealt with topics that filmmakers felt had complex, and sometimes personal messages.

Rehema Trimiew's short film ``Sticks & Stones" is about the real life experience of the Rochester Institute of Technology film student, whose kindergarten teacher refused to believe that she could read.

Also shown was Houston native Raymond Gayle's ``Electric Purgatory: The Fate of the Black Rocker," a documentary about the lives and struggles of black rock bands and musicians. Gayle said that these festivals are important because they give filmmakers of color the ability to reach larger audiences and set a creative agenda that isn't compromised by Hollywood.

``Nobody is here signing million-dollar distribution deals," Gayle said. ``That's not what we're doing. We're here to put the work out there and change perceptions. Our job is to say the things that Hollywood won't say. That's what Oscar Michaud and Paul Robeson did and they opened the door. My job is to walk through -- or bust through if need be."

``We can't wait for the majors to support us," said Gayle, who financed Electric Purgatory himself. ``I didn't become a filmmaker to make money. We're here for the love of film. If anyone tells you otherwise, then they don't belong here."

Darren Sands can be reached at ciweek@globe.com.