Blue Print Film Festival as well as local community leaders and organizations hosted “The Director’s Cut” a night that honored writer/director Patrik-Ian Polk and showcased a pre-screening of his new film, The Skinny, at the National Hellenic Museum April 26.
Following the pre-screening, Craig Johnson of Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus moderated a Q&A with Polk. During the Q&A, Polk, who is also behind films and TV series such as Punks and Noah’s Arc, revealed to guests his motivations behind directing The Skinny, his personal ties to the film and his overall creative direction as a writer and a director. The Skinny focuses on five Brown University graduates who reconnect a year after graduation for a gay-pride weekend in New York City.
“I’m a filmmaker and that’s what I set out to do; it’s what I set out to become,” Polk said. “I remember when I wrote Punks, it was this script that just got everybody’s attention. I’m an artist, and I just try to tell stories. I focus on the character. Who are they? What are they going to do? And how I’m going to tell their story.”
Polk was also presented with the Marlon Riggs Director’s Cut Award by Northwestern University professor E. Patrick Johnson.
Community partners for the eventincluded Brother’s Health Collective, Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus, Black Treatment Advocates Network, Howard Brown Health Clinic, Task Force Prevention Services, South Side Help Center, Rocks Coordinating Committee and Black AIDS Network.
The film runs at Landmark Century Centre Cinema, 2828 N. Clark St., through May 3.