trailer

what is our mission?

The Rainbow Prince Project aims to foster conversations with children about their heroes, their differences, and their commonalities. We will do this by screening our thirty-minute modern fairytale which flips that traditional narrative and offers new models…

Once upon a time a Brown Princess saved a Prince...

synopsis

nce Upon a Time a Brown Princess saved the Prince…

The Rainbow Prince is a contemporary live action fairy tale, with a twist on The Sleeping Beauty story.

Rainbow, who changes colors with his feelings, is left on the castle steps of a King and Queen. Now a Prince, he is put to sleep by an evil Wizard and his dangerous cohort scheming to take over the kingdom. Rainbow is temporarily awakened for 21 years by the Mother of the Forest, a wise, powerful healing woman. The sole remedy to reverse the spell forever is a kiss from True Love. This happens to be from a beautiful Brown Princess. Marea must save the Prince and his entire kingdom.

The Rainbow Prince is a 30-minute live action film for a K-6 audience that flips the traditional fairy tale narrative to expose children to new models of power and heroism.

Dwayne Moore ( Prince Rainbow )

Clare-Hope ( Princess Marea )

behind the scenes galleries

Elizabeth Beitel, Bill Short, Matt Sutton, John Noble, Hieu Tran, Jordan Allison, Marcia Myers - Photo by Alex Nicoletti

Samantha K. Tan (Associate to the Producer & Director), Maxwell Scott (King Martin) - Photo by Alex Nicoletti

Marea Claybourne-Napier (Co-Creator), Novina- Photo By Clare-Hope Ashitey

Dwayne Moore (Prince Rainbow), Marea Claybourne-Napier (Co-Creator), Valene Dorsey (Hair Key) - Photo by Clare-Hope Ashitey

Elizabeth Beitel (Wrangler for Novina), Marea Claybourne-Napier (Co-Creator), Bill Short (Wrangler for Novina) - Photo by Clare-Hope Ashitey

Clare-Hope Ashitey (Princess Marea), Nike - Photo by Clare-Hope Ashitey

who we are…

We are parents and teachers, community members, activists. We are artists and seekers. We are children. We are as grassroots as you get, born in our living room... from princess fairy dust and missing mirrors, we rise up to help foster the Rainbow Kingdom.

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why our film?

Bullying is one of the biggest threats to our children in school. Identity-based, or bias-based bullying, targets children because of an aspect of their social identity; race, ethnicity, religion, gender identification, sexual orientation, or a disability.

Bias-based bullying is the bullying most reported in students.

National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019

Without diverse models and understanding differences,

bias-bullying will thrive.

We need to offer more diverse models to children while they are younger so they develop having healthy perceptions of differences in others and themselves.

Narci Regina ( Kenya's mother )

Christian Booker

( Kenya )

ome walk with me, my dear child,

Through a rainbow, so beautiful and wild.

We'll see colors that look like us all,

We'll be kindness, Winter, Summer, Spring, and Fall.

We will find heroes that might look like you,

Or they might look like friends or neighbors, too.

Come walk with me, my dear child,

Through a rainbow, so beautiful and wild.

Let's find the joy, the wonder, the magical kiss,

For love will always win, I promise you this.

Writer / Director's Statement

— Laura Napier, writer / director

am passionate about showing this short film we made for our daughter. For that matter, for children of all ages. It has become clear to me how important it is for young people of all colors to have models of heroes that look like themselves on screen. Models make a difference – as teachers, as parents and as images and icons – we teach by example.

I have my youngest daughter to thank for my waking consciousness about young people and their needs. It has taken me too many years, but my eyes are now open.

Our children need heroes of all colors to see life in all its richness. I can still hear my grandfather telling me fairytales at bedtime – the three pigs, the troll under the bridge and the Billy goat family I remember well. Fairytales last a lifetime.

— Doug Claybourne, producer

Producer's Statement

15. Matt Sutton (Executive Producer) - Photo by Alex Nicoletti.JPG

executive producer’s statement

s far back I can remember, I have always admired truly great educators. As the son of two public school teachers, this respect may come as no surprise.

However, I’ve come to realize that my admiration was fostered not on the basis of the profession itself, but rather my experience with a handful of teachers who made a real difference in my life.

So, what has positioned these select individuals as so highly regarded in my mind? There is certainly a myriad of factors, but I think that their impact can be aptly distilled into a single line:

These educators allowed me

to see myself for all that I could be.

“Could be” defines all that we are as students.

Potential. Nothing more, nothing less.

Throughout my school days, the statement “I want to make movies” was consistently met with sneering pessimism from nearly all of my teachers.

And why shouldn’t it have been? With no connections to the film industry, no equipment, and no team behind me, the statement seemed ludicrous – impossible even.

But the few teachers who met this statement with the even slightest encouragement were the ones who helped shape my ultimate goals and dreams.

What if a student never comes across one of these true educators?

What if he or she never has the opportunity to see themself as the hero of their own story?

This is what has kept my passion for The Rainbow Prince alive for nearly four years – the hope that even one student will watch the film and see all that they could be.

Students need models.

They need heroes.

They need The Rainbow Prince.

Matt Sutton

Executive Producer

scenes from the film

Matt Sutton (Executive Producer)

Maxwell Scott

( King Martin )

Jabari Barnes

( Baby Rainbow )

Elizabeth Priestley

( Queen Angela )

Rainbow's Castle color corrected copy.png

Clare-Hope

Ashitey

(Princess Marea)

celebrating differences

What can we do to stop bias-based bullying that is so damaging to our children?

Since children notice skin color, hair texture, etc. by the age of six months to a year and begin to verbalize these differences between ages two and three,5 the best thing we can do is to teach about difference. We can use stories to celebrate the “3 D’s: diversity, difference, and dignity. 6”

This is exactly what The Rainbow Prince Project is about... teaching the 3 D’s to young children as they are forming their beliefs and biases or being taught biases by others. We will provide an opportunity for the children to explore their similarities and their differences. Between themselves and the Prince. The Princess. The Queen. The King.

We must allow children to embrace each other’s differences and find in themselves what is the same. To do this, they must be familiar with difference through exposure and conversation. In 2017 there were approximately 35 million elementary school children in the United States.

A study done at the Children’s Television Project at Tufts University found that in a sample population of 1,500 television characters 5.6 percent are Black or African American, – that’s 84 African American characters, yet, about 15 % of the child population in the U.S., are African American.7 We must have more characters of color. Children need a diverse universe.

Our differences are our strength as a species and as a world community." (Nelson Mandela (2012). “Notes to the Future: Words of Wisdom”, p.72, Simon and Schuster)

5. https://www.parents.com/parenting/better-parenting/teaching-tolerance/talking-about-race-with-kids/

6. https://www.edutopia.org/article/building-supportive-classroom-community-early-childhood

7. http://theconversation.com/why-its-so-important-for-kids-to-see-diverse-tv-and-movie-characters-92576