EXCLUSIVE: Writer-director Elegance Bratton and producer Chester Algernal Gordon have signed with WME.
The filmmaking duo, who co-run production company Freedom Principle, are the filmmakers behind A24’s The Inspection which made its world premiere at TIFF and stars Jeremy Pope and Gabrielle Union.
The drama, which serves as Bratton’s feature directorial debut and stars Jeremy Pope and Gabrielle Union, premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, and is based on the director-writer’s own life.
The Inspection centers around a young homeless gay man who joins the Marine Corps to win back his mother’s love, but learns how to respect himself at bootcamp.
The pic is the closing film at the New York Film Festival and will follow up with a European premiere at the London Film Festival.
Deadline Film Critic Valerie Complex beamed about the movie “The Inspection is a strong first outing for the writer-director. It shows his ability to shape character and garner emotion from actors like Pope and Union, who give contemplative and emotional performances. Bratton has a bright future in Hollywood. I am looking forward to seeing more from him.”
Bratton began making films as a U.S. Marine after a decade spent homeless. Today, he holds a BS from Columbia University and an MFA from NYU Tisch. His documentary, Pier Kids, won a Film Independent Spirit Award in 2021 in the Truer Than Fiction category and was made under the duo’s Freedom Principle banner. Bratton’s short film, Buck, which he co-wrote and co-directed with Jovan James, had its world premiere at Sundance 2020.
Bratton is in post-production on his upcoming feature documentary, Hellfighters, executive produced by Charles D. King, and co-produced by Freedom Principle, Freedom, Five Fifty Five Films, Rainshine Entertainment and MACRO. The documentary highlights the story of African American Jazz pioneer and music mogul James Reese Europe, who was a lieutenant in the 369th Infantry Regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters. He started the first musical unions for African Americans in the United States, The Clef Club and The New Amsterdam Music Association Harlem. The docu contemplates the way double consciousness informed his process of becoming a civil rights icon in his time.
Gordon was a winner of the Tribeca Film Institute’s 2019, TFI All Access Grant and TFI Pond5 Program, and was a 2019 Film Independent Producing Lab & Fast Track Lab fellow. Gordon’s films have been official selections and won awards at US-based and international festivals including Berlin, SXSW, BFI, Outfest, New Orleans, Cleveland, Athens, Palm Springs, Blackstar and the American Black Film Festival. They were also a producer for the MIPCOM 2018 winner, GLAAD-nominated documentary TV series My House for Viceland. Gordon’s short, Ship: A Visual Poem, won best U.S. narrative short at Sundance Film Festival 2020.
Bratton and Gordon continue to be represented by 2AM and Granderson Des Rochers.