Thirty years ago, filmmaker Robert Townsend dreamed of making a breakthrough classic in African American cinema. Even though his comedy Hollywood Shuffle was groundbreaking, Townsend yearned to do more. Making the Five Heartbeats is the story of transforming that dream into a reality. It’s about a time in America when African American cinema was especially hard to get made, and it’s about one man who didn’t give up. Townsend relied on his faith, street smarts, and tenacity to create The Five Heartbeats: a film about a fictitious R&B group who rise and fall from fame together. Like the classic film, this documentary is raw and intimate. Robert Townsend takes the audience through his unique creative process from start to finish. He teaches them that the road to creating a film is never easy, but if you stay true to what you believe in, your dream can become a classic.
