Wavelength: Elegance Bratton + Chester Algernal Gordon

Elegance Bratton is an award-winning and boundary-breaking director, writer and producer. He began making films as a US Marine after spending a decade homeless on the streets of New York and has grown into one of the most trailblazing artists of his time. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, his work captures stories untold with honesty and verité. In 2021, Bratton won the Film Independent Truer Than Fiction Spirit Award which is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. His nonfiction feature debut Pier Kids has played more than 50 film festivals worldwide and received praise for its raw and truthful portrayal of survival and self-preservation on the streets of New York City as seen through the eyes of three LGBTQ+ young people of color. Bratton holds a BS from Columbia University (2014) and MFA from NYU Tisch Graduate Film (2019).

Photo by Gioncarlo Valentine.

Chester Algernal Gordon is an award winning and groundbreaking producer on the rise. With an eye for boundary-pushing content, their work is consistently cutting edge and has been featured at more than 200 film festivals. The documentary feature Pier Kids, directed by Elegance Bratton and produced by Gordon, premiered on PBS in August 2021. Currently, production is underway on The Inspection, a film about a young gay man who enlists in the Marines, which is co-produced by A24, Gamechanger Films, and Bratton and Gordon’s production company Freedom Principle. Gordon was a winner of the Tribeca Film Institute’s 2019 TFI All Access Grant and TFI Pond5 Program, and was a 2019 Film Independent Producing Lab & Fast Track Lab fellow. Gordon’s films have been official selections and won awards at US-based and international festivals including Berlin, SXSW, BFI, Outfest, New Orleans, Cleveland, Athens, Palm Springs, Blackstar and the American Black Film Festival. They are a producer for the MIPCOM 2018 winner – GLAAD nominated documentary TV series My House on Viceland. Gordon’s latest short -Ship: a visual poem won Best U.S. Narrative Short at Sundance Film Festival 2020. Additionally, they are also an accomplished costume designer, and were the first gender non-binary, African American costume designer in competition at the Cannes Film Festival with the film Port Authority.

Photo by Mary Evangelista.