The new web series from writer/director Sylvester K. Folks, The Ghost and the Negro, has been posted online. Folks’ project is a mystery/thriller about a man who must seek the help of a ghost to clear his name when he’s framed for murder.
The series, an official selection of the 2016 LA Film Festival this past June, tells the story of Sydney Smith, a religious skeptic struggling to keep his family’s Afrocentric bookstore afloat. When Hattie, a wandering self-proclaimed ghost hunter, visits the bookstore searching for tales of the supernatural, Sydney soon finds himself the primary suspect in a rash of bizarre murders linked to his store. To prove his innocence he’s forced to join Hattie on an investigation that takes them beyond the realm of the living.
The brainchild of Folks, the idea and it’s genesis is something that has been on mind for a long time. “Growing up I’ve been a huge fan of murder/mystery type films,” said Folks. “Watching Alfred Hitchcock presents as a kid was the start of that for me. One day while watching a particular horror film that was a sequel, I noticed none of the ghosts were black,” he stated.
The Montgomery, Alabama native continued, “It was a funny realization at first, but then I remembered growing up under my grandparents, no one ever told ghost stories or urban legends to me. So I thought how awesome it would be to take a character that doesn’t believe in any form of spirituality or afterlife and place him right in the middle of a chaotic battle between the living and the dead,” said Folks. “I believe we learn so much more about ourselves and what we’re meant for in life if we lower the walls of doubt and fear and just open our minds and hearts to new ideas and theories.”
The cast includes Demise Harp, Daniela Cobb, Michael Snead, Faith Bruner, Josh Carples, and Jamila Turner.
Click here to follow the series or on its YouTube channel or check out the show’s Facebook page.
Watch the first three episodes, below: