Based on an award-winning, Academy Award-eligible 2005 short film of the same name, by Russell Costanzo, The Tested is summarized as the long term ramifications of a single tragic event. A New York City cop accidentally kills an unarmed African American teenager (certainly topical); the film’s plot then picks up a year after the incident, as we follow the lives of 3 people linked to the incident (the cop, the victim’s mother, and the victim’s brother), and the different paths each took, ultimately leading all 3 of them back to one another, and eventual redemption.

Given the performance of the short film, the production team rightfully has high aspirations for the feature-length version of the same story. Currently, they are in post-production, working on a rough-cut to screen for what they call their “brain trust;” and, later, it’s off to film festivals – a narrow list of top tier festivals apparently. And after that? Your guess is as good as mine! Anything is possible in this business.

The film stars Aunjanue Ellis as the victim’s mother – another one of those unfortunately invisible talented African American actresses we’re all familiar with, but don’t get to see enough of.

I’ve never heard of, nor seen the award-winning short that the feature is based on, so I have nothing to go on except the above synopsis from a recent interview the filmmaker and his wife (also his producer) did with an outfit called Greener Mags, as well as the below trailer. You can read the interview HERE.

Here’s the trailer:

H/T RODNEY PARNTHER