The Happy Sad

Armed with hidden buttonhole cameras two gay men, one black and one white, go to two gay bars in New York, one predominantly black and one predominantly white, to uncover the “racialized geographies of New York’s gay bar scene.”

Filmmaker Rodney Evans embarks on a scientific and artistic journey, questioning how his loss of vision might impact his creative future. Through illuminating portraits of three artists: a photographer (John Dugdale), a dancer (Kayla Hamilton), and a writer (Ryan Knighton), the film looks at the ways each artist was affected by the loss of their vision and the ways in which their creative process has changed or adapted.

Teenagers Solomon and Tummler kill time in Xenia, Ohio, a small town that has never recovered from the tornado that ravaged the community in the 1970s.

A drama that looks back on the Harlem Renaissance from the perspective of an elderly, black writer who meets a gay teenager in a New York homeless shelter.

A reserved young man meets an impulsive stranger on a secluded beach. Their brief friendship leaves each subtly changed.

A short narrative drama that explores the personal and professional dilemmas faced by the openly gay jazz composer, Billy Strayhorn, in the early 1940's.

This poignant documentary portrait by writer, director, and producer Rodney Evans chronicles the experiences and creative process of photographer John Dugdale as he adapts to his loss of vision due to an HIV-related illness.

A weary white French professor and a young black drug dealer share an impalpable connection on a single night in Philadelphia.

Reflections on connection during the pandemic, and finding joy in small and unsuspecting ways.