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Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/385207
The short work Perfect Day marks Derrick L. Sanders's fi rst foray into fi lmmaking. But he's no newbie. In 1999, he cofounded Chicago's Congo Square Theatre Company; six years later, he won the Jeff Award for his direction of Seven Guitars, by the late August Wilson, his mentor. For Perfect Day, which he wrote and directed, Sanders took inspiration from the 2009 murder of Chicago high school student Derrion Albert. The direc- tor's stage experience has clearly translated to the screen: Perfect Day played at this year's Black Harvest Film Festival. Sanders, 40, lives on the South Side with his wife and their two children. The inspiration for my fi rst fi lm: Violence is almost accepted as a daily part of life on the South Side and West Side of Chicago—as long as it doesn't come north or downtown. The fi lm is more about lost opportunity than Derrion Albert. The screen versus the stage: Theater gets to the passion and the bigness of our lives. Film captures the intricate nuances of human interaction. Cause I'm passionate about: I'm the execu- tive director of the August Wilson Monologue Competition. Each year we work with 300 Chicago students, and three of them per- form on Broadway. Most memo- rable reaction to my fi lm: The fi rst time I screened Perfect Day at a fi lm festival, one lady said, "I hated your fi lm. It just was too real. It was too close to home." I said, "That's the most beautiful thing ever said about something I've done." Up next: A feature fi lm about a soldier coming back home from the Iraq War. DERRICK L. SANDERS A CHICAGO THEATER VETERAN BREAKS INTO FILM. Velvet blazer ($2,295), dress shirt ($325), and jeans ($250), Ralph Lauren. Neiman Marcus, 737 N. Michigan Ave., 312-642-5900; neimanmarcus.com. Scarf and shoes, stylist's own