The White Room
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Cherrye J. DavisDirector
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Jon ButtsWriter
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Stephanie ButtsProducer
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Jon ButtsProducer
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Stephanie ButtsExecutive Producers
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Remoy PhilipExecutive Producers
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Jon ButtsExecutive Producers
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Jon ButtsKey Cast"Man"
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Ashley AdamsKey Cast"The Room's Hands #1"
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Carmen BorlaKey Cast"The Room's Hands #2"
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Steven RiceKey Cast"The Room's Hands #3"
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Luke SteingrubyKey Cast"The Room's Hands #4"
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Evan CarterDirector of Photography
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Cherrye J. DavisProduction Design & Costume Supervison
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Maria BartolottaProp Master
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Jenny WardEditor
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Charlotte GradyAssociate Producer
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Jarel HillMusic Composition
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Maria BartolottaScript Supervisor
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Ibrahim OuchikhFirst Assistant Camera
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Jarel HillKey Grip and Gaffer
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Rebecca MorrisFirst Sound Operator
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Ibrahim OuchikhDramaturgy & Research
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Alannah O'HaganSpecial Thanks
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Alex SwickardSpecial Thanks
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Carissa SutterSpecial Thanks
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Caroline HendrixSpecial Thanks
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The Nine StudiosSpecial Thanks
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Project Type:Short
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Genres:Sci-Fi, Mind Bending, Psychological Horror, Black Sci-Fi
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Runtime:10 minutes 14 seconds
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:United States
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
Cherrye J. Davis is an actor, filmmaker, playwright, MC, and teaching artist from the Bronx, NYC. Cherrye has worked in theater performance and education for over 15 years, merging history, storytelling, and social justice into performance. She has been seen performing on stage with The Public Theater, New Ohio Theater, LaMaMa, Rough Draft Festival, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, National Black Theater, and The National Black Theater Festival.
Cherrye has been seen in tv/films circulating festivals (Scribbles: The Webseries, For Flow (HBO). Most recently, her self-directed short film Covered can be seen at the NewFilmakers NYC Festival this fall. As can be seen in her film Covered, (2020) and solo show How to Mourn an American (2019), Cherrye’s work as writer and director embraces her New York and Hip Hop roots. Cherrye has hosted performance-based workshops at institutions such as Harlem School of the Arts, Urban Word NYC, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Bedstuy Alive!, The Lower East Side Tenement Museum, New Museum, and the Climate Museum.
Cherrye J. Davis
Director’s Statement
So…Is this a Pandemic Film?
When Jon Butts (our lead actor +screenwriter) approached me to direct a screenplay he’d written some year or so ago, it first read as fiction: A Sci fi psychological horror trip, featuring an isolated character, navigating a room that is both familiar and strangely alien as the clock ticks by. He finds himself wondering if time (and in turn, the room) is playing tricks, or if it is merely his mind. However, as we went into production, NYC was already 6 months into a global quarantine that had transformed our lives as partners and hustling creatives. While working on the script, it became impossible to ignore what the story was revealing: a Sci -fi piece about a guy spiraling into despair didn’t seem so…Sci -fi. It was happening in our apartments. In hospitals. In nursing homes. We were questioning our reality with the death count rapidly climbing. We were stashing hand sanitizer in efforts to self-preserve. We were in isolation. We were hiding our faces and fears behind masks. We were adjusting to ground shifting under our feet.
So, is White Room a Covid-19 pandemic film? Sure- shot during the pandemic, engaged cast and crew in safety protocol, and literally stars a protagonist in a mask. However, the questions
of this time have been asked before, and will continue to challenge us well into 2021: What perishes? What survives? What evolves in times of anguish? Where do we turn when we are
afraid? What human interaction can be replaced by technology? What will be revealed about us in times of prolonged and profound loss?