Alien Roadkill & Lamont, the Packrat

LAMONT, THE PACKRAT. (3:10 MIN, NTSC) A short peice about the infamous hoarder and poet Lamont B. Steptoe gives you a tour of his cluttered filled Philadelphie apartment and mind. Produced, edited and directed by Ram Devineni and Rattapallax Films. Distributed by CINELAN.

ALIEN ROADKILL A documentary about African-American poet Lamont B. Steptoe and his search for the aliens who abducted him in Philadelphia. Steptoe is an American Book Award winner and suffering from post-traumatic syndrome resulting from the Vietnam War. In 2008, he taveled to Roswell, New Mexico to the Roswell UFO Festival to find the aliens he encountered and seek spiritual solace at the famed crash site. While at Roswell, he meets other people who were also abducted by aliens and soon discovers that he is not “alone.” Produced, edited and directed by Ram Devineni. Watch the 5 minute version on MINDTV

WITH EVERY BREATH. (5:00 MIN, NTSC) A short documentary about African-American poet Lamont B. Steptoe, who is a long time resident of Philadelphia and Vietnam War Veteran. Steptoe, an American Book Award winner, deals with the many aspects of his life through his poetry from post-traumatic syndrome resulting from the war to his life as a gay man of color. This short poetic film encapsulates a compelling literary figure and his thirty-year life in Philadelphia. Premiered on WYBE’s Philadelphia Stories. Produced, edited and directed by Ram Devineni and Rattapallax Films.

Screened at 14th Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
2008 Zebra Poetry Film Festival, Berlin
16th Annual African Diaspora Film Festival
III Bahia Afro Film Festival

LAMONT B. STEPTOE is a poet, photographer, journalist, and activist based in Philadelphia. His collection of poems, A Long Movie of Shadows, was awarded a 2005 American Book Award. Lamont is the founder/publisher of Whirlwind Press. He was a Combat Army Sergeant in Vietnam and was decorated with the Bronze Star. Lamont has won the 1999 Literary Fellow for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, 2002 Kuntu Writers Workshop Lifetime Achievement Award in Poetry from founders Rob Penny and August Wilson, and was a Discipline Winner in the Literature Category of the Pen Fellowship Program in Philadelphia. His other books of poetry include Mad Minute, Crimson River, and Uncle’s South China Sea Blue Nightmare. His work has been anthologized in Life on the Line: Poems of Healing, Brother to Brother, In Search of Color Everywhere, and Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe, among others.