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synopsis Desmond, an intellectual loner in a volatile high school, has devised a plan to reveal his affections to Aasha, the class beauty. He secretly writes her love sonnets, depositing them in her locker between classes. Then, in the midst of the day's chaos, he discovers he has his own secret admirer. All other concerns fade as he makes his way from clue to clue, hoping to find who is leaving him these cryptic notes.As the last school bell rings, Desmond questions will he ever find love, or, as the tension at school escalates, even a safe way home. director "Perfect Day" is Sanders' first foray into filmmaking, though he has had the pleasure of directing on stages across the globe. His most recent credits include "The Raisin Cycle: Clybourne Park/ Beneatha's Place" (World Premiere) at Baltimore Center Stage Theater. His other credits include an award-winning production of "Gee's Bend" at Cincinnati Playhouse; the musical, "Sanctified" at Lincoln Theater in Washington, D.C.; "Jitney," and "Stick Fly" at True Colors Theatre in Atlanta; "Topdog/Underdog" and "Five Fingers of Funk" at Minneapolis Children's Theatre; August Wilson's 20th Century Cycle at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" at Centerstage in Chicago. Sander's Off-Broadway debut of "King Hedley II" at Signature Theatre earned him Lucille Lortel and Audelco award nominations. In Chicago, he received three Jeff Award nominations for the production of "Joe Turner's Come and Gone," and directed the world premiere of the Jeff Award-nominated "Deep Azure." He also received the Jeff and BTAA Awards for Best Director for "Seven Guitars," as well as a Black Excellence Award for Best Producer. Sanders was part of August Wilson's world premiere productions of "Radio Golf" and "Gem of the Ocean" on Broadway and at the Huntington Theatre in Boston, the Mark Taper Forum in L.A. and the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. He was named the 2005 Chicago Tribune's Chicagoan of the Year: Theater, and was the Founding Artistic Director of Congo Square Theatre Company. He received his training from Howard University (B.F.A) and the University of Pittsburgh (M.F.A). Filmography filmmaker's note In September 2009, as my first born, a boy, was turning three months old, I looked with horror at the events surrounding the death of Derrion Albert. Derrion was bludgeoned to death during a mob fight while attempting to go home from his Chicago South Side high school. This was the school system my son could possibly grow up in. I was equally amazed by many Chicagoans’ seeming disconnection to the killing. There was no citywide outrage at the senseless violence. It appeared that, for many of my colleagues and friends, the havoc in the schools on the Southside of Chicago was as far away from their lives as the violence in Beirut. Chicago leads the nation, and most likely the world, in youth violence. From January 2008 to January 2012 there have been 537 youth homicides. This rash of violence partly stems from the destruction of many of the major public housing complexes in the city; many families are displaced into rival gang territory. This creates a hostile neighborhood analogous to the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict. The major social issue in this film is school violence. My approach was to reveal what is lost in these random acts, not to draw attention to the violence itself, but rather the loss of innocence and the loss of the possibilities of love. As in Romeo and Juliet, it takes the death of two teenage lovers to reveal the full tragedy of violence. But in this film, I believe another question appears, “Is it better to have almost loved and lost?” I hope that this film might generate more discussion on the topic of school violence. Nationwide, school violence has sharply risen over the past 10 years. It is my hope that we look at this violence as not simply a problem of isolated communities —the Southside of Chicago or Columbine— but as a national issue. In many cases we are sending students to War Zones; there have been several months in the past years in Chicago where more youth have been murdered than soldiers have died in Iraq. I believe this to be an unacceptable fact of modern public education. related links
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