Hackensack teen filmmaker confronts dating violenceLast updated: Sunday February 26, 2012, 9:26 AM
BY SACHI FUJIMORI
STAFF WRITER
The Record
While fans and critics alike were aghast last week when Rihanna released two songs with Chris Brown, the former boyfriend who had abused her, Jordan Coleman was not surprised.
ELIZABETH LARA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Jordan Coleman, 16, a Hackensack High School junior, wrote and directed the film 'Payin the Price'. The film deals with teen dating violence. “It makes sense that they’re back together,” said Coleman, a budding filmmaker who sat in his Hackensack living room on Saturday in slippers and a blue fleece. “Because the one that loves the abuser usually goes back. Even though that is not the smartest or the safest thing to do — they usually go back.”
Coleman, a junior at Hackensack High School, is becoming a national voice for teen social issues. His second film, which is about teen dating violence was inspired by the 2009 assault incident between Brown and Rihanna.
“Payin’ the Price” was featured on Saturday at the Hackensack African American Civic Association’s First Annual Black History Arts and Film Festival. Earlier that day, Coleman had just returned from Baltimore, where he screened the film for an audience of 700.
Coleman — a dimpled 16-year-old with a lean, muscular build — is already a veteran at directing people twice his age.
He created his first film in the eighth grade, “Say it Loud,” about the importance of education, aimed at African-American boys, and included interviews with basketball star Kobe Bryant and Newark Mayor Cory Booker. He self-funded the project from earnings made playing the voice of Tyrone the Moose on the Nick Jr. animated show “The Backyardigans.”
For his most recent work, Coleman’s mom, Chrisena, cashed out her 401(k) to help fund it. “I have $500 left in my retirement fund,” she said. His mom, a former crime and entertainment reporter at the Daily News, took a buyout in 2009 to devote herself full time to helping her son make films and raising her family as a single parent. She has another son, Justin, 10.
People told her she was crazy for investing so much in her son. “I believe in him,” she said. “If you see greatness in your child you have to nurture it.”
“Payin’ the Price,” a 77-minute feature, was shot over 11 days in Bergen County on a $125,000 budget. “I needed to get to football practice,” Coleman said of the quick schedule.
He hired a professional cameraperson, actors and editors. He sat in the director’s chair and was not the least bit shy about executing his vision.
“My directing style is freestyling,” Coleman said. “I don’t listen to rules that limit your imagination.”
The film has already received national recognition. It won the HBO Best Feature Film in 2011 at the Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival. Coleman, who’s been featured on CNN, has an agent to handle his public-speaking invitations. And several organizations have expressed interest in sponsoring the film.
“I feel confident I will get my money back,” his mother said.
By most measures, Coleman is a very normal teenager who happens to make nationally recognized films. He plays on the basketball and football teams at Hackensack High School and is an honor student. He has a group of friends who often stay all weekend at his house playing Xbox and hanging out. His homework isn’t always handed in on time, and his room gets messy.
His model for greatness is his grandfather Wilbert Coleman, a former lieutenant of detectives for the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, who died in October.
“I would meet people and they said, ‘You’re Wilbert Coleman’s grandson.’ I want to be just like him — responsible and respected. He’s one of the greatest guys I ever met,” Jordan Coleman said.
His grandparents took care of him after school and gave him a strong sense of structure and discipline. His grandfather was also the one that accompanied him to Manhattan for studio recording for the “The Backyardigans.”
“I think he’s a typical kid from Hackensack that has had some atypical opportunities, and he’s taken full advantage of them,” said Jonathan Gilmore, president of the Hackensack African-American Civic Association. “His mom I know has been very influential in his life, and his family in general made a lot of great decisions for him, and he’s done great with these opportunities.”
Coleman recalled that a classmate once stopped him in the hallway at school and said that her boyfriend was hurting her. Coleman pointed the girl to his film’s website, with links to where to get help.
Such encounters are not uncommon, he said, and the heaviness of the subject doesn’t weigh him down.
“It feels great,” Coleman said. “I love that people can talk to me about different subjects. I like to talk as long as I’m helping out.”
Email: fujimori@northjersey.com
