Life Essentials - 50K Raised to Highlight a Love Supreme

Through a KickStarter program, with almost 400 backers, Life's Essentials raised their goal of $50K to create the cinematic story of the divine love of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.  I am eagerly awaiting the completion of this film which is sure to be a how-to for the relationship inclined and a history lesson for those of us who were too young to remember (or not even born) the tide of change during the civil rights era. 

Life's Essentials Video

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Essential Pictures- Cinematic Cheers

The fabulous folks of New Rochelle looked picture perfect during the Life Essentials Trailer preview at Alvin & Friends on Monday evening.  Muta' Ali Ruby's grandson (above) provided commentary to News 12 Westchester.

                               Alvin Clayton - Owner of Alvin & Friends

              Kara O'Neill                      
      

 

Michael D. Armstrong w/ Host's Terry and Alvin Bowles 

 

  Ruby's grandson Guy Davis 

                              Ruby's granddaughter Ihsanna Muhammad
All photography by Brahm Rhodes

Ruby Dee - Essential Life

                               http://rubydee.lifesessentialsdocs.com

Ruby Dee still knows how to draw a crowd. New Rochelle Residents braved the inclement weather last night to view the trailer Life Essentials at Alvin & Friends restaurant in Downtown New Rochelle. Life Essentials is a documentary style film about love, art and activism. The film is told through the eyes of Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee's grandson, Muta' Ali. The film's revealing conversations and never seen-before material gives the current generation a glimpse into the living history that is Ruby Dee. Donations for the production and filming of this living time capsule are still being accepted on the Life Essentials website.

Born Ruby Ann Wallace in Cleveland, Ohio, she spent most of her youth in Harlem. Academia was a priority to Dee and she received degrees in French and Spanish in 1944 from Hunger College. As a member of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the NAACP and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Dee and her husband Ossie Davis were vocal in their disdain for racial injustice. Dee & Davis were close friends with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X and Davis provided the eulogy of Malcolm X in 1965.

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Ruby stared with Sidney Poitier in the 1961 film A Raisin in the Sun. For her spectacular performance, she won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress.