@tayari
Really thrilled that Tayari Jones’s debut novel is being adapted for the screen. I’ve gotten to know Tayari a bit since she and my wife have become good friends (the Spelman mafia is real, y’all). She’s a strong, nuanced storyteller and, from the looks of the trailer below, she’s found filmmakers who can be equally evocative visually in order to bring the novel to life as a film.
Of course, indie film being what it is, the production team is in the process of raising money via Kickstarter. Glad to see, too, that the crowd-funding is working and that Tayari and her producers have a reached their goal. However, given what it costs to make a film, anything additional you can contribute will be much appreciated.
What’ s the film about? Here’s a synopsis from the site:
Award winning novelist Tayari Jones delivers a vividly disturbing, but hopeful novel that recounts one of the darkest tragedies in American history – through the eyes of three unforgettable children. Based on the Atlanta 
child murders of 1979-1981, this wrenching story is told from the perspective of three Atlanta fifth-graders living in the midst of the crisis. The film is a coming of age story, wrapped around true events. At the start of a new school year in 1979, we get to know three children and their families as the entire community deals with the initial reports that there is a child murderer in Atlanta. Tasha Baxter, Rodney Green, and Octavia Harrison will discover back-to-school means facing everyday challenges in a new world of safety lessons, terrified parents, and constant fear. When classmates begin disappearing and friends become headlines Tasha, Rodney and Octavia find ways to live with the fear or escape it. This is a moving story of their struggle to grow up – and survive. It captures all the hurts and wins, the all-too-sudden changes, and the merciless outside forces that can sweep the young into adulthood, and forever shape their lives. Leaving Atlanta confronts complicated and sensitive subjects with just the right amount of sorrow and promise.
The film is to be written and produced by Karon Vereen Davis and Althea Spann, and directed by Davis.
Check out the evocative trailer:
More info on the film here, and ways you can provide much needed financial support here.
Additional links:
- Tayari Jones official
- Leaving Atlanta on Amazon [affiliate link]
