Filmmaker Shandrea Evans’ favorite part about writing is the research.
“I liken myself to Zora Neale Hurston, in that I love anthropology,” she said. “Getting into the nuts and bolts of the essence of the story I’m trying to tell.”
Her website calls “character-driven dramedy” her artistic “sweet spot” as a writer-director. It also says that her point of view is “cynically optimistic.” Evans elaborates, noting that this refers to a kind of flexibility in tone, and how and when to use humor to bring a more dramatic story to light.
“Life has in-between and the gray areas, and that’s what I like to explore,” said Evans, an Augusta native who visited from Los Angeles last week to host the hometown premiere of her award-winning short films “Saturday” and “Bloom.”
Earlier this year, “Saturday” won the 2023 Deutsche Bank Frieze Los Angeles Film Audience Award. The movie is about a homesick young girl who’s just moved to L.A., and learns about community and family history after getting close with her great aunt.
Evans calls the movie “Bloom,” a short about two friends in the summer of 2004, a “love letter to Augusta” and “Black girlhood” and “growing up in the early 2000’s.”
Both films had their Augusta debut at the Augusta Mini Theatre, an institution Evans credits with stirring her toward creativity and storytelling.
Evans recalls going to classes at the Mini Theatre when she was in elementary school. As a third grader, her first time on stage was acting the play “The Magic Bookshelf,” back when the Mini Theatre was located on Greene Street.
“Just seeing from this Black man and this Black woman that, ‘Oh, I can write my own stories,’” said Evans about watching the founders of the Mini Theatre, Tyrone and Judith Butler, produce plays each year. “My stories matter and are just as important as what I see on Broadway, or in the movies. I was enamored and inspired by them, and I just learned the magic of storytelling.”
An alumna of both Augusta Mini Theatre and Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School, Evans moved to L.A. in 2012 and has continued to strive after her passion since. Alongside “Saturday” and “Bloom,” she has also written and directed “Prepared,” a romantic comedy and created and produced the web series “Undecided.”
Evans, who draws a lot of her material for her films from her personal experiences, believes the opportunity to show her latest works in the same establishment that roused her toward a creative career in the first place, bespeaks of the importance of just such community spaces.
“The stories that are told are those of the people that I grew up with,” said Evans. “In every way, from inception to production, the people of Augusta really sowed their seeds into this film. And so, this home is flowering here.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
