Chicago-born filmmaker, Robert Townsend, who is known for his work as a versatile writer, director, actor and producer working on such films as Hollywood Shuffle, The Mighty Quinn and Undercover Brother, most recently starred in and produced the film Of Boys and Men recently shot in Chicago.
Robert Townsend gave a terrific talk on being an independent film maker and his own background in Chicago and wowed the crowd with impressions, great tales, and some special words of encouragement for folks just starting out.
Flashpoint Academy was amply represented (Amy Rising was one of the organizers of the Gala)at the event and bid aggressively on several auction items.
As it happened, Robert knew about Flashpoint and, in the course of the evening asked if he could see the place next time he was in town since he was flying out first thing in the morning. Since we never wait for anything at Flashpoint, we wrapped him up and snuck him out minutes after the raffle ended.
We spent the next two hours with him at Flashpoint's new facility touring the place, chatting about ideas that he has for working closely with Flashpoint on projects and telling him how great it would be for him to come back and give our students a talk like the one he gave tonight and also to just sit and answer questions, etc. He agreed on the spot and he'll be back soon to see us. All and all - a great night.