By Precious Kenney
The Scene staff
Kevin Coleman-Cohen was employed as a St. Louis youth worker when he saw a homeless teenage boy performing oral sex for money on an adult male under a highway overpass.
Fifteen years later, Coleman-Cohen made “Pretty Boy,” a short film inspired by the disturbing encounter.
“I wouldn’t have been able to make this movie in 2007,” he said. “I wasn’t ready mentally. Now I am ready.”
Coleman-Cohen is a former Forest Park student and faculty member who now lives in California. He returned to St. Louis last month to show his film to friends and family members at 24:1 Cinema.
Coleman-Cohen also gave a presentation in the Mildred E. Bastion Center for the Performing Arts at Forest Park and appeared on local TV and radio shows.
The Forest Park audience included sociology professor Andrea Nichols, who wrote a book in 2015 on sex trafficking in the St. Louis region.
“I would recommend the film to others, with the warning that anyone who experienced child sexual abuse or sex trafficking may be triggered by the film,” she said.
“(Kevin) created a sense of anxiety and dread and ominousness through his creativity as a director. His film also draws attention to the issue of sex trafficking experienced by vulnerable youth in the St. Louis area, based on his experiences as an outreach worker with Youth in Need.”
“Pretty Boy” is 17 minutes long. Coleman-Cohen served as writer, director and producer through his production company, Coleman Entertainment.
The film has been selected for screenings at festivals across the country and won several awards.
“Pretty Boy” was originally titled “Elon,” which is the name of the lead character, played by actor Ramone Boyd.
“Abandoned by his drug-addicted mismothered sexually abused by a male relative during childhood, Elon seeks safe haven on the streets with his friend Twon, a seasoned street hustler,” according to the film’s description on iMDb.com.
“Elon must navigate the traumatic world of homelessness while confronting loneliness, desperation and the harsh reality of survival sex in order to face an uncertain future.”
Coleman-Cohen grew up in St. Louis and graduated from St. Louis Community College at Forest Park in 1998. He still refers to Kathe Dunlop, retired communications chair, as his “mentor.”
“He wasn’t going to let anyone stop him,” she said this week. “He kept going. He always kept in touch, and we all really did support him. He’s a very talented young person.”
Coleman-Cohen went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in film and television at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and a master’s degree in directing from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, where he was the only Black student in his graduating class. He worked with former gang members to produce his first short film, “Snapshot.”
That experience prompted Coleman-Cohen to develop a philosophy that he passes on to other Black students.
“Study all of the arts,” he tells them. “Before you can be true as an artist, you need to know who you are as a person first. Embrace diversity.”
Coleman-Cohen has taught at Santa Monica College, University of Missouri at Kansas City, STLCC at Forest Park and Pepperdine University in Los Angeles.
He was working with the nonprofit organization Youth in Need in St. Louis when he got to know the homeless teenage boy who was making money with sex.
One of Coleman-Cohen’s jobs was patrolling downtown areas and making sure homeless boys had enough food, water, blankets and other necessities. It wasn’t unusual for them to earn money through prostitution. “I tried to offer condoms,” he said, speaking of the teenager. “But the boy would say that (the clients) would pay more if he didn’t use a condom.”
“Pretty Boy” also stars Dwele Reid, Antonio St James and Joseph Jayden Daniels.
Coleman-Cohen has been applying for grants with hopes of turning the short into a full-length feature film. The showing at 24:1 Cinema was also a fundraiser.
Coleman-Cohen credited his family and Dunlop for his success. She attended the showing at 24:1 Cinema and his presentation at Forest Park.
“This is a very important topic to address for African American men,” she said. “They get left out sometimes. (‘Pretty Boy’ is) scary as heck. You could identify with this young man being left at the mercy of these idiots.”
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to clarify that Coleman-Cohen didn’t work at UCLA and no longer teaches at Pepperdine University.