Twenty-five years helping kids in foster care proved the inspiration required for Maxie Rockymore to put in writing and direct “Fresh Cut,” her recent film exploring grief, loss and mental illness amongst Black youth debuting Saturday on the Twin Cities Black Film Festival.
Rockymore retired in 2023 from the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) where she served because the state child foster care manager, overseeing 16,000 kids across Minnesota’s 87 counties and in partnership with 11 Tribal Nations.
“My second act is writing and pursuing my artistic profession,” the 64-year-old said of her work today. “My dream, my passion, my gift is writing.”
“Fresh Cut” is a coming-of-age drama written for mature audiences. Buzz, played by Nate Kay, goes to work at his stepfather’s barbershop after his mother’s death. Top—the stepfather, played by Kevin West—is a proud Black man attempting to deal with the teenager while also painfully attempting to mask the overwhelming grief and loss he feels over the death of his wife.
“Final Cut” began as a classroom task in 2018 after Rockymore enrolled in a scriptwriting class at FilmNorth, a St. Paul-based education space designed to nurture a various community of film and media artists.
To “research and observe the cadence of Black men and Black culture,” Rockymore spent a yr sitting in at Urban Touch Barbers near her home within the Powderhorn Park neighborhood of Minneapolis.
“I would like to deal with these young people who find themselves scuffling with mental illness and other social issues in America,” Rockymore said. “I’m concerned with the rise in suicide among the many young African American community. My number-one concern is the intersection of mental illness and suicide.”
Long before her retirement last yr, Rockymore was an award-winning author of plays, screenplays and poetry. Having earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Social Work to launch her profession with DHS, Rockymore returned to highschool to take a position in her “second act”—earning a Master of Superb Arts in 2015.
Rockymore met with easy success. She was a quarter-finalist within the Francis Ford Coppola America Zoetrope screenwriting competition and the winner of Outstanding Thriller on the Catalyst Festival for “Neptune Rising,” a story of a Black marine microbiologist in Alaska grieving the lack of her parents while struggling to return to terms along with her secret identity as a Russian sleeper spy.
She also serves as president of the Minnesota Screenwriters Workshop. The nonprofit organization supports local film writers through script feedback groups, table readings, and contests to assist writers improve their craft and gain exposure.
Following its debut on the Twin Cities Black Film Festival, “Fresh Cut” will travel to Greece, where the film audience will view the 20-minute short as a part of the Levadia International Film Festival. Of their invitation, the festival organizers called “Fresh Cut” “a masterpiece.”
Cynthia Moothart welcomes reader comments at cmoothart@spokesman-recorder.com.
Screen time
“Fresh Cut” screens at 1:15 p.m. Oct. 12 on the Capri Theater, 2027 W. Broadway in North Minneapolis.
Tickets could be purchased at the Twin Cities Black Film Festival website or on the door.