‘Breeze’ Wins Top Black Cinema Prize

David M. Massey’s “Last Breeze of Summer,” an Oscar nominee in the live-action short-film category, took the first prize of $3,000 in the Black American Cinema Society’s 10th annual Black Independent Filmmaker Awards at a judging held Saturday at Eastman Kodak in Hollywood. Massey’s tense, eloquent narrative told of a young black girl chosen to integrate a white high school in a small Texas town in 1957.

Second prize, worth $2,000, went to Kenneth Brian Jones’ “The Clearing,” which was written by Alice E. Stephens. A whimsical, atmospheric vignette set in the Florida countryside, it tells of two little boys and their families experiencing a dramatic encounter with an elderly storyteller. The $1,000 third-place winner was Clyde Tornes’ “Cocaine and a Bitch,” a poetic and provocative cautionary tale in dance and mime.

The three honorable mentions, each worth $250, were awarded to T. Carlos Williams’ witty animated “Da Bridge,” in which the various meanings of the word “bridge” are examined in the context of racism; to Bobby Mardis’ hilarious “Why Colors?,” which uses humor to point up the deadly absurdity of gang warfare; and Rodney Allen Hooks’ sentimental and amusing “A Fond Little Memory,” in which a retired barber reminisces about how his shop had been a warm community gathering place.

Prizes will be awarded March 29 at 5 p.m. at the Wilshire Ebell Theater with special awards presented to Brock Peters, the Nicholas Brothers, George Jackson and Doug McHenry. There will also be special tributes to the late Redd Foxx and the late Alex Haley.

The prize-winning films, plus a selection of the 31 entries, will be screened for the public April 11 at 1 p.m. as part of the annual Black Talkies on Parade Film Festival, which will be held April 10-16 at the Four Star Theater. Information: (213) 737-3292.