Alan Llavore | Office of Marketing and Communications | (909) 537-5007 | allavore@csusb.edu
California State University, San Bernardino alumnus Jay Gerren (’00, communication studies) will show his latest feature-length documentary, “Bar Daddy,” on Feb. 21, as part of the Inland Empire Black Film Festival, CSUSB Pan African Alumni Chapter.
The full event runs from 1-5 p.m. in the Santos Manuel Student Union South Theater on the CSUSB campus.
The festival is an annual event dedicated to empowering Black talent and showcasing film content by and about people of African descent. “Bar Daddy” is also featured on the MealaninFlicks website.
For Gerren, owner of Gerren Productions, “Bar Daddy” was deeply personal as it focused on his uncle, Al Jenkins. Jenkins has spent his life tutoring approximately 3,000 people to take the state bar exam. Sometimes multiple times. The documentary ultimately focuses on two individuals who are taking the bar, one of whom passes and one of whom fails.
“We follow two people through their journey. It was emotional for me to film and for the people who were in it. And that is what the audience takes with them,” said Gerren.
This is Gerren’s second CSUSB screening. A decade ago, he screened his documentary “Search for Mentors” on the campus. That film focused on a young man from South Central Los Angeles, raised by a single mom without any male mentors nearby. He didn’t know what he wanted to be when he grew up. He was able to attend a University of Southern California magnet school, where, for a project, he interviewed a Black engineer, lawyer and navy admiral. He ended up becoming an engineer.
Tickets for the Pan African Alumni Chapter Film Festival can be purchased on the Inland Empire Black Film Festival webpage.
