Santa Cruz Film Festival Opens with “Gospel Hill”
May 7th, 2009
The Santa Cruz Film Festival celebrates opening night at 7:30pm on May 7 at the Del Mar Theatre with Giancarlo Esposito’s (in attendance) directorial debut, “Gospel Hill”, starring Angela Bassett and Danny Glover and featuring Samuel Jackson, Julia Stiles and Adam Baldwin.
About the film
In the town of Julia, the neighborhood citizens of Gospel Hill are being forced out of their homes to make way for a multimillion-dollar development. Dr. Ron Palmer (Giancarlo Esposito, Do the Right Thing, The Usual Suspects), an influential black community leader who runs the local health clinic blindly supports the development. The good doctor’s desire for wealth and status awakens the racially divided community town. John Malcolm (Danny Glover, The Color Purple, Lethal Weapon), withdrew following his brother Peter’s (Samuel Jackson, Pulp Fiction, Eve’s Bayou) assassination thirty years ago, and is still haunted by the pain of the unsolved murder. He is detached from his wife and the society he once fought for.
John’s wife, Sarah (Angela Bassett, What’s Love Got To Do With It, How Stella Got Her Groove Back) takes it upon herself to battle Dr. Palmer and reveal his profiteering to the whole town. Meanwhile, the towns bigoted, ex-sheriff (Tom Bower, Appaloosa, North Country), who was responsible for letting the investigation of Peter’s murder go unresolved, is facing his own mortality and twisted choices.
Each of these characters’ lives intertwine to create a gripping, revealing and dramatic tale touching on issues of race, imminent domain, and the power of the human spirit to overcome the pain and hatred of division. Gospel Hill is overflowing with the deep emotions of greed, transformation, racism, redemption, forgiveness, and hope.
Check out more films playing at the Santa Cruz Film Festival from May 7 to May 15 by visiting their website at: