Based Upon the novel by Jess Mowry
Screenplay by Yule Caise and Jess Mowry
Director: Adam Davidson
Producer: Ira Deutchman
Co-producer: Avram Ludwig
Executive Producers: Milos Forman, Norman Lear & Paul Rassam
Music by Zen Amen
Complete Press Kit (PDF)
SYNOPSIS
(adapted from the Harper Perennial book jacket)
Based on the award-winning best seller by Jess Mowry, WAY PAST COOL is a coming-of-age story told in reverse, for it’s the moving tale of a group of young black kids and their fight to reclaim their childhood.
The Friends, as they simply call themselves, are 12 and 13 year olds living on the bleak and ragged turf of “Oaktown,” better known as Oakland, California. The largest, Gordon, may be their leader, but it is Lyon, thought to be “magic,” who is their spiritual heart. When a powerful 16-year old drug dealer tries to set the Friends against their rivals, it’s his unwilling bodyguard who emerges as a key player in this drama that illuminates America’s urban reality in a totally fresh way. The story is both hard and soft, moving and funny, lyrical and yet shocking, as it paints a portrait of children living on the slimmest of edges. But mostly, WAY PAST COOL is an inspiring, even hopeful, testament to the renewing power of love.
“(A Story) that should be read by ALL of mainstream America.”
-Terry McMillan, author of “Waiting to Exhale”