Uzo (filmmaker)

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Uzo (born August 1957) is a

His production company is called Cold Grey Entertainment.[1] Initially based in Patchogue, New York, he is now based in Jamaica, Queens, New York City, New York.

A professional graphic artist, he is the founder of the Devo clothing brand, which has now been phased into a shoe line. While his films deal significantly with race relations, the issue of race is never dealt with on the surface.

Uzo does not consider himself much of a writer, and each of his films has been co-written with someone else based on his initial concepts. After writing and rewriting the script, for Walls & Bridges, he hired Michael Edelson, then a film professor at

Uzo's Walls & Bridges is the story of a white nun Ellen Landress Bowkett who leaves her Order to marry a black painter Mark D. Kennerly who is blinded in a random act of violence. While developing the script, Uzo spent two years painting the large size Miro-esque murals featured in the film. The film premiered October 14, 1992, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Washington, DC. It was one of two films representing the United States at the Sixth Festival of the Americas, sponsored by the Organization of American States and the American Film Institute. He is considered the first African-born person to direct an American feature film.

Uzo's second film, shot under the title Cul-de-Sac, was released by

He optioned the film rights and struggled for years on an adaptation of Simon Mawer's 1999 novel, Mendel's Dwarf. After years of languishing in what he calls, "Hollywood's development hell", the option elapsed and was subsequently sold to Barbra Streisand's company.

Personal life

Uzo was married to a white Long Island native from Wading River in the 1980s and divorced in 1990s; he has two daughters, Tyne and Anya.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• List of Nigerian film producers

Notes