In the latest episode of On the Radar, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder’s series highlighting Black Minnesota creatives, host Damenica Ellis sat down with writer, screenwriter, filmmaker, and playwright Maxie Rockymore to talk about her roots in South Minneapolis, her award-winning short film Fresh Cut, and the new screenplay she is currently writing.
Rooted in South Minneapolis
Rockymore grew up in South Minneapolis surrounded by Black families who had migrated north from Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama in search of a better life. Those stories, shared by aunts, uncles, and neighbors on front porches and in living rooms, became the foundation of her artistic voice.
“I felt a cadence, the richness of a story and belonging in them,” she said. “It just filled my soul with who I am and such richness that I try to bring that into my stories as well.”
She also spent much of her childhood at Hosmer Library, reading Langston Hughes and Nikki Giovanni, and by high school she was writing love poems for classmates for a dollar each. Looking back, she said there was never one moment that sparked her path as a writer. It simply always was.
“I still see myself on the back steps in South Minneapolis writing stories, writing poems and just knowing that I was going to be a writer,” she said.
Telling Black Stories Holistically
For Rockymore, the goal has always been to write Black people in their full humanity, not pathologized, not reduced to stereotypes, but whole.
“We have problems, we have deaths, we have violence, but what I don’t like and what I try not to do is pathologize the Black experience,” she said. “We are wonderful people. We’re beautiful people. We have a past that precedes slavery because we have a history from Africa.”
She pointed to filmmakers and playwrights like Spike Lee and August Wilson as examples of artists who have shown the full Black person moving through struggle, and said that is what she strives for in her own work.
Fresh Cut: A Year in the Barbershop
Rockymore’s first short film, Fresh Cut, was produced at Urban Touch Barbershop in South Minneapolis and follows a day in the life of Buzz, a young Black man who has just been released from juvenile detention and goes to work at his stepfather’s barbershop while grieving the loss of his mother.
The film was driven by her concern about the mental health crisis among young Black men, particularly around suicide, and a feeling that those stories were not being told.
“What is it like to be young, Black, and surveilled in your kind of sacred space?” she said. “And what is the sacred space of a young Black male? Uniquely, the barbershop.”
To write it authentically, Rockymore spent a full year sitting in the barbershop, listening to stories, laughter, and conversations before putting the final script together. The film went on to screen at the Twin Cities Black Film Festival before traveling to festivals in California and Greece, including the Muses Film Festival. At the Golden Gate International Film Festival, it won the audience choice award with the highest views and ratings.
The cast included Kevin West, James Craraven, Nate K, Sam Bardwell, and Bruce Purcell, and the film was co-produced by Westbone Production Company.
“It made me feel that I had birthed something, which was a script that no longer belonged to me, and rightfully belonged to other people,” Rockymore said.
What Comes Next
Rockymore is currently writing a new screenplay set in Minnesota about a young Black woman who is a schoolteacher navigating professional pressure, family obligations, questions of identity, and what success truly means. She hopes to have a table read of the screenplay at the Minnesota Screenwriters Workshop, where she serves as president, later this year.
She also encouraged emerging Black writers, playwrights, and screenwriters in Minnesota to write often, take classes at institutions like Film North or the Playwrights’ Center, volunteer on sets, attend plays and films, and stay immersed in the art.
“Keep writing. Write all the time,” she said. “That’s what’s important.”
As for what she wishes existed more of in Minnesota for Black women creatives, her answer was direct. “I wish there were more financial opportunities, more financial backing and funding for African-American women as filmmakers and artists and screenwriters,” she said. “Because at the end of the day, you have to pay people.”
How to Connect
Follow Maxie Rockymore on Instagram at @maxie.rockymore. To donate to her work or stay updated on upcoming table reads and projects, send a message through Instagram.
If you are or know a Black Minnesota creative, nominate someone for a future episode of On the Radar.
Read more about maxie rockymore
South Minneapolis filmmaker centers Black humanity in storytelling
Filmmaker Maxie Rockymore draws from her South Minneapolis roots to showcase Black humanity. From her early days at Hosmer Library to her new film Fresh Cut, she creates accessible art that honors her community and “reflects the times.”