PHI BETA SIGMA TO HOST PRIVATE SCREENING | HE AIN’T HEAVY

Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. will host a private screening for the independent feature film, He Ain’t Heavy. A special film project that documents the pledging process of 5 young College Students in the Spring of 2011 who committed themselves to a process that many before them have been through. Some call it Pledging; others call it Hazing. He Ain’t Heavy will be shown during the Serious Sigma Summit. 

A Graduate Film Student and Fraternity member, Thomas “Doc” Hayes, captured their journey on video as part of an academic documentary that was never meant to be shared outside of the fraternity.

Weeks into the process, an early-morning 911 call led Police to a high school football field, where they discovered the body of one of the Pledges. The Grad Student had gone off the grid with his camera and weeks of condemning footage. Months later, that footage found its way to Director Jeff Obafemi Carr, who is releasing it to the public as the movie titled He Ain’t Heavy.

Told through pro-sumer video and footage from cell phones, flipcams, and campus security footage, He Ain’t Heavy is the first film to capture--in an unscripted, no-holds-barred manner--a pledge process from all perspectives: Members and Pledges. There are no special effects in this film. All the sweat, dirt, contact, tears, and challenges you see are real.

VIEWER WARNING: This Film has not yet been rated, but is for ADULT AUDIENCES. Some Individuals who have viewed this film have experienced emotional breakdowns, physical illness, and post-traumatic stress. Please be forewarned should you have the chance to see it.

STRONG LANGUAGE, INTENSE SEQUENCES OF PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL VIOLENCE. “The industry is definitely growing in the South,” Fanning said via e-mail, “so there’s already support for making films here. What we hope to encourage, though, is the perspective that films can be more than just a product of an ‘industry’; each is a carefully constructed expression, and as such are colored by where they are made. Just as others advocate foreign films, we advocate regional films as a viable alternative to studio or large budget ‘indie’ films.”

www.heaintheavymovie.com

Serious Sigma Leadership Summit

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