Bryan Anton Rose (born January 25, 1983 in Danville, Illinois)better known by close friends as B.Rose or Breenan nicknamed by his mother is an American film director, writer, author, and inspirational speaker noted for his films dealing in youth social issues.

Biography

Bryan was born in Danville to George Rose an actor and Nancy a Dancer, Bryan's parents divorced when he was a small child which caused a child hood of going from Danville to Chicago quite frequently, Rose attended Danville High School where he was the first African American to be voted "Best Writer" he also excelled in athletics earning scholarships from many of America's top collegiate programs, choosing to be a filmmaker was not a popular decision but Bryan soon learned that when he went from superstar to outcast. At 23 Bryan made his first film "Colored Black" A documentary about how young African Americans view themselves in comparison to other races, which turned out to be a film that will be played as a learning tool throughout many high schools across the country, earning Bryan much success, that was soon followed by another Documentary "The Bottoms" on Urban Renewal & Remembering A Neighborhood working with accomplished film maker Mike Boedicker, Bryan received a Genius Grant to make 4 more segments of Colored Black in New York and complete a highly anticipated film "The Good Child" about a young man's view of the church.

Feature Films

The Bottoms
Colored Black

Young filmmaker follows dreams
BY MARY WICOFF

DANVILLE — Just listening to Bryan Anton Rose’s list of projects and accomplishments makes a person’s head swim.

He’s a scriptwriter, filmmaker, musician, photographer, author, athlete and motivational speaker. Next year, he plans to work in New York, speak in South Africa and travel to Brazil for a film festival.

His documentary, “Colored Black,” has received kudos from Ebony Magazine and others.

And he’s only 23.

“Everything’s going great for me,” the Danville man said. “It’s almost like a whirlwind.”

Rose won a grant from the Mervis Foundation to live in New York City for a year and work on his filmmaking. He expects to leave at the end of the month.

His plans are to shoot two short films there and the next four parts of a documentary about how young people of different cultures view themselves. His first documentary interviewed African-American youth; the rest will interview Jewish, Italian, Hispanic and Asian youth.

“Colored Black,” which was shot in two days in Danville, is getting good reviews. It will be shown at the Cinesul 2006 film festival in Brazil in June and will be listed as an unfinished work (but not shown) at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah in January. Rose plans to attend both festivals.

In July, he plans to travel to South Africa to talk about creativity to children and to address the dangers of AIDS. The trip is sponsored by the Artists for a New South Africa. While there, he hopes to research his ancestry, as well.

As an author, Rose has written a book — still unpublished — called “The Good Child,” focusing on a young man’s view of the church. He plans to film that in New York.

And he’s written a movie script called “Us Three,” which he has pitched to Gene Hackman’s agent. He hopes Hackman, a Danville native, will play the part of the grandfather and film the movie here.

Mike Boedicker, director of the audiovisual department at the Danville Public Library, has known Rose for several months.

“He’s a whirlwind and he has an incredible amount of energy,” Boedicker said. “He seems passionate about filmmaking.”

Rose did the interviews and Boedicker did the filming last summer for a project for WILL-TV. Their video, shot in Carver Park, is called “The Bottoms.”

“He’s got the enthusiasm, talent and drive,” Boedicker said. “It’s been fun working with him.”

Rose said he learned a lot from Boedicker during that filming and also when he used the library equipment to edit “Colored Black.”

“He taught me everything you need to know about film,” Rose said. “He’s like a big brother, a mentor, a friend. There aren’t many people I can talk film with for three hours.”

Growing up in Danville, Rose recalls his mother telling him he would be a writer someday. His mother, Nancy McGowan, who used to be a dancer, lives in Chicago. His father, George Rose of Danville, used to be an actor in local productions.

While attending Danville High, Rose excelled as a football player before graduating in 2001. He was recruited by the University of Illinois, but decided to choose filmmaking over football. He was accepted by the New York University film school, but couldn’t afford the tuition.

Following his mother’s advice, Rose started writing. But he prefers film.

“Writing books isn’t ‘loud’ enough for me,” he said, adding they don’t make a big enough impact. “Writing is not good enough for me — I need to show people what I can do.

“Film is an outlet for me. It’s something that fits.”

Rose has written six film scripts and hopes to sell them to a studio someday. He’s also in the process of writing a Christmas musical, which means he had to master the art of writing scores.

He also wants to start a series of children’s books following the theme similar to “Colored Black.”

His motto is “A rose in concrete.”

As for the future — even though it’s already packed — Rose has set his sights on this goal: “I’m going to be a guest on ‘Oprah’ in August — I know I am.”

FYI

E-mail him at bryan_anton_rose@sbcglobal.net. He also has a site at http://www.myspace.com