Gone Too Soon: The Life, Legacy and Loss of Newark’s Cultural Icons is a documentary project that examines the lives and documents the artistic, cultural and educational contributions of several of Newark’s cultural icons, among them: Cephas Bowles WBGO Jazz-88 CEO. Poet/Playwright/Activist Amiri Baraka, Poets Breya “Blkbrry Mollassez” Knight and Halim Suliman; Actor/Director/Arts Administrator Rodney Gilbert, Historians Dr. Clement Alexander Price, Charles Cummings and Dr. Robert Curvin, Artists Russell Murray and Jerry Gant and theater producer Kabu Okai-Davies.
Interviews are taking place in and around the city of Newark as we bring together family members, colleagues, friends and supporters to create well-rounded portraits of these individuals whose lives factored significantly in positioning Newark as the cultural “mecca” of the state of New Jersey, landing the city on the National Center for Arts Research top 10 list of Most Vibrant Arts Communities in America (2017). The process will take us to all corners of the city of Newark (and beyond) as we sit down with the principles of this project. The project took off in March 2020 and was immediately shut down by the COVID19 pandemic. By November 2020, we were up and running The doc will prayerfully be finished by the latter part of 2021. Upon completion, the film will be screened in schools, churches, college campuses, community and arts organizations, public access TV, film festivals and other outlets.
The mission of the GTS documentary is to memorialize the lives and contributions of these individuals who contributed greatly to the artistic and cultural landscape of the city of Newark. Additionally, we want emerging artists to know on whose shoulders they stand as they make their own contributions to the current art scene. Finally, we want those who are new to the city – residents, workers, students, teachers, developers, etc. to know about these individuals so that their history is not lost as the city grows and changes.
Celeste A. Bateman, Director
Gary Campbell, Co-Director of Photography/Camera Operator
Vanessa Blake, Co-Director of Photography/Camera Operator
Carter Mangan, Jr. Sound Recorder/Music Director
Archive Producer ((To be determined)
Jamil A.C. Mangan, Narrator
Patricia Faison, Production Assistant/Archives Coordinator
Editor (To be determined)
Scholarly Advisors
Richard Wesley
Junius Williams, Esq.
Dr. Akil Khalfani
Edna Bailey Woody
Elizabeth Del Tufo
Pamela E. Goldstein
Ralph & Zelda Patterson
Gwen Moten
Al Santana
David Schoner
Onnie Strothers
