What It's Really Like to Be a Black Student at an Elite Private School

Interview: Michèle Stephenson talks 'American Promise' and 13-Year Filmmaking Journey on INDIEwire

It will make its broadcast TV debut on TONIGHT, February 3, 10:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m. ET, on PBS, as part of the network's Black History Month programming. Here's our interview with the filmmakers ahead of tonight's premiere:

Sitting across from Haitian filmmaker Michele Stephenson and Joe Brewster is like being in the presence of the real-life Huxtables. They both laugh at this, but the similarities are undeniable. She worked as a lawyer (a human rights attorney), and he as a doctor (a Harvard-trained psychiatrist), before forming Rada Film Group in the 1990s. They both have high expectations for the family they're raising in their Brooklyn brownstone, and to watch Brewster give a thoughtful speech to his oldest son Idris is like watching a scene pulled straight from Cliff and Theo on The Cosby Show.

Brewster and Stephenson spent 13 years documenting the educational journey of Idris and his friend Seun Summers as the boys attended The Dalton School, an elite K-12 private school on New York's Upper East Side. Their resulting feature documentary American Promise gives a candid and personal look at the challenges black boys and their families face in a society striving to define itself as "post-racial." The film has already earned acclaim on the film festival circuit, winning a Special Jury prize at Sundance and considerable Oscar buzz.

An American Promise Shines at the 2013 New York Film Festival

Video: American Promise (2013 Trailer)

A documentary 13 years in the making, 'American Promise' directed by Haitian filmmaker Michèle Stephenson and her husband Joe Brewster, provides a rare look into the lives of two middle class Black families as they navigate the ups and downs of parenting and educating their sons. Our goal is to empower boys, their parents and educators and help close the black male achievement gap. The film will be released on PBS along with our parenting book by Random House in 2013.

http://www.americanpromise.org/

Interview: 'American Promise' cast talk 'American Promise' film on Beyond Cinema

Over ten years ago, Haitian filmmaker Michèle Stephenson and husband Joe Brewster decided to capture their son's entire adolescence on film. Idris Brewster and his friend Seun Summers, who's adolescence was also captured on film in 'American Promise,' are all grown up and joined us in studio at Sundance to discuss the process of making the film. Directors Joe and Michelle expound on the purpose of the documentary and comment on current conditions for young black males in our society.

Interview: Michèle Stephenson talks 'American Promise' at 2013 Sundance Film Festival

Michèle Stephenson, a Haitian director, talks about her film "American Promise", premiering in Documentary Competition at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.