Stony Island to be released on DVD

Before making Hollywood hits such as THE FUGITIVE, UNDER SIEGE, HOLES , and THE GUARDIAN Andrew Davis' first love was music. Shot in 1977, STONY ISLAND is a soulful, feel-good tale about the hopes and aspirations of a group of young musicians who form an R&B band in their multi-racial Chicago neighborhood. Davis wrote and produced the film with fellow Chicagoan Tamar Hoffs. The film features the cinematic acting debuts of Dennis Franz, Susanna Hoffs, Rae Dawn Chong, and Meshach Taylor, with musical performances by saxophone legend Gene ‘Daddy G’ Barge, the Stony Island Band, and multi-Grammy award winning jazz artist David Sanborn. On April 24, 2012, Cinema Libre Studio will proudly release for the first time on DVD and digital platforms Mr. Davis' first feature film STONY ISLAND.



“My kid brother, Richie, was a budding guitar player and I was a young cameraman struggling to get into the union, wanting to cross over to directing. I wanted to make a film about how we grew up on the south side of Chicago. We made STONY ISLAND with Richie’s neighborhood buddies, a handful of Chicago legends and some of my California film crew,” says Davis who began his feature film career as an assistant cameraman during the infamous Democratic Convention in the summer of ’68 on Haskell Wexler’s classic, MEDIUM COOL (in homage to MEDIUM COOL’s reality based drama, STONY ISLAND captures Mayor Richard J. Daley's 1976 funeral). Wexler’s ultra-realistic approach influenced Davis who went on to become an award-winning cinematographer of commercials, documentaries and features before crossing over to big budget movie directing.



Co-written and produced by Andrew Davis and Tamar Hoffs (who has since become a director in her own right), the film was shot by Davis’ former assistant cameraman Tak Fujimoto (who went on to shoot such blockbusters as THE SIXTH SENSE, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, and PHILADELPHIA) and edited by Dov Hoenig (THE FUGITIVE, HEAT). STONY ISLAND was made for only $350,000 on the mean streets of Chicago at a time when movies were rarely allowed to shoot in the city.



The cast included Richie Davis (now a Chicago guitar legend, and founding member of the beloved Chicago Catz) in the lead with Tamar’s daughter, Susanna Hoffs (later of the Bangles) as his love interest. Subsequent to performing in Stony Island, several cast members went on to achieve great success, including Dennis Franz of NBC’s ‘NYPD Blue’ fame, Rae Dawn Chong (daughter of Tommy Chong, QUEST FOR FIRE, THE COLOR PURPLE), Meshach Taylor (‘Designing Women’) and George Englund, (son of Cloris Leachman, now a producer).



STONY ISLAND is driven by the music, with a score crafted by David Matthews (who started his career as the bandleader for James Brown and went on to work with Simon and Garfunkel, Julian Lennon, Robert Plant, Paul McCartney, Frank Sinatra and Billy Joel). The Grammy-award winning Gene Barge (known as ‘Daddy G’ from his days with Gary and the US Bonds) supervised the fictional Stony Island Band in addition to playing saxophone and starring in the film. Barge had served for years as staff producer at Chicago’s legendary Chess Records, working with artists such as Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and later touring with the Rolling Stones. Ronnie Barron, who passed away in 1997, was a legendary New Orleans musician and protégé of Little Richard who recorded with Dr. John, Ry Cooder, The Animals, Louis Prima, Paul Butterfield, and Tom Waits. The multi Grammy Award-winning ® saxophonist David Sanborn plays alto sax on the score and Davis’ college classmate, Tomlinson Holman, who went on to invent and codify the THX standard for audio quality, was instrumental in recording the soundtrack for the film.



Following a robust festival run, the film was picked up by a small independent distributor, World Northal, and played in a few area theatres in 1978. “When the black kids started showing up to the ‘white’ theatres, the distribution company was forced to pull it and later re-positioned it as a blaxploitation picture calling it MY MAIN MAN FROM STONY ISLAND,” recalls Davis. “Unfortunately, that confused our target audience.”



SYNOPSIS:

Filmed on the gritty streets of Chicago’s south side, STONY ISLAND tells the story of Richie Bloom (Richie Davis), the only white kid on the block, as he forms an R&B band with his best friend, Kevin (Edward ‘Stoney’ Robinson). With the help of their mentor, aging sax legend Percy (Gene "Daddy G" Barge), they pull together a funky supergroup, stealing practice time at night in the local funeral home. Despite few resources and heavy losses this resilient group of dedicated musicians--armed only with wit, sleight of hand and outrageous Chicago bravado--must come together to finally make their smash debut.



DVD DETAILS:

SRP: $19.95 TRT: 95 Minutes

Street Date: 4/24/12

UPC: 881394114821 Catalog: CLS 1148

Genre: Drama/ Music


DVD SPECIAL FEATURES:

Featurette – The making of STONY ISLAND including interviews with Quincy Jones, Susanna Hoffs and Chuck D.
Alternate ending



More information can be found at http://www.stonyislandmovie.com /Twitter @IAmStonyIsland Facebook Vimeo Clips YouTube channel.