Skip the Oscars and Support Black Films at Redbox

BALTIMORE - Jan. 31, 2016 - PRLog -- While legions of Hollywood A-listers are turning their backs on this year’s Academy Awards ceremony due to a lack of diversity, black filmmakers are finding success on a national stage via Redbox, the automated DVD rental kiosk company with more than 36,000 locations.

Straight From Tha Bottom, a film shot entirely in and around the Cedonia region of Baltimore, is being exclusively distributed on DVD nationwide by Redbox, before the movie’s release on iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay and other video-on-demand (VOD) platforms. The same goes for Three Knee Deep, a guns-blazing action flick available for rent only though Redbox.

“Redbox is providing a broad, national audience for my work, and having my film distributed via their network of rental outlets is quite an achievement for a young, black filmmaker,” says Dwayne Hurt, producer/director of Straight From Tha Bottom.

“The company understands the diversity of the DVD rental market and is very supportive of offering films made by and appealing to that audience,” says William X. Lee, creator and star of Three Knee Deep.

Hurt and Lee note that their films are not alone in that distinction, as Redbox offers many other films made by black filmmakers, and they are encouraged by the mega-rental company’s efforts to understand the urban culture.

“Black films coming from Hollywood do not often depict reality in the black neighborhood,” says Hurt. “And while it’s a given that big-studio movies present a fabrication of any topic, those dealing with the day-to-day life of young black men fall the flattest. Ask any successful filmmaker what their secret is and they’ll tell you they write what they know. It’s my belief that only someone intimately associated with this culture can accurately portray it on the screen. The fact that Redbox recognizes there is an audience for films like mine says a lot about the company’s commitment to diversity."

For more details on Straight From Tha Bottom and Three Knee Deep, and to watch the trailers, visit:

http://www.redbox.com/movies/straight-from-tha-bottom

http://www.redbox.com/movies/3-knee-deep