‘Clips & Convo’ to Offer Sneak-Peek of A&T Docuseries During Homecoming Week

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Oct. 22, 2021) – “Clips & Convo: Our Blues Make Us Gold,” a first-look screening of select clips from the pending A&T-focused docuseries, is set for Wednesday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. in Academic Classroom Building, Room 101, on the North Carolina A&T campus.

The event is free of charge and open to the public, in particular, A&T alumni and students interested in some of the most interesting parts of the university’s development through the years. Those who cannot attend in person may take part via Zoom. Husband and wife filmmaking duo Brandon Gerard and Ashley Shantè will join the event virtually from Los Angeles, and engage patrons and faculty respondents in discussion over the clips and the making of the project itself.

Academic Classroom Building’s two-story, auditorium-style classroom boasts two big screens to accommodate screening of the clips and up-close-and-personal interaction with the filmmakers.

Gerard and Shantè’s From A2B Studios of Los Angeles began working on “Our Blues Make Us Gold” in 2019. Though COVID-19 interrupted the project, Gerard and Shantè drew from some of their captured footage combined with other storytelling to produce 2020’s “Stay At Homecoming,” described in press coverage as a “love letter to A&T.” That one-hour film has been viewed more than 40,000 times on digital platforms since debuting last year during N.C. A&T’s Virtual Homecoming.

In advance of the coming premiere of “Our Blues Make Us Gold,” the “Clips & Convo” program will show snippets from the docuseries and offer them up for discussion with the audience, giving both patrons and the filmmakers a chance to share perspectives.

Gerard and Shantè have over two decades of experience in television, film and digital production as writers, editors, photographers and producers. Gerard worked as a video producer and editor for the NBA's Golden State Warriors and has produced digital content and other work for the Emmy Awards, Sony and NBC, among others. Shantè 's producing/writing credits include work for the OWN Network, BET, FX, and Aspire. The launched From A2B Studios in 2019.

Leading a panel of faculty respondents at the screening will be Dr. Robbie Morganfield, who holds the the Janice Bryant Howroyd/News and Record endowed professorship and serves as interim chair of the N.C. A&T Department of Journalism and Mass Communications. His research and scholarship focus on race, religion and media, news framing and journalism history.

For more information on the screening, email uncomm@ncat.edu or call (336) 256-0863.