Presented as part of OUT OF THE ARCHIVE: ENVISIONING BLACKNESS

Arrive hungry at 6:15 for ample pre-show appetizers catered by Sugapeach!

Stick around for a post-show Q&A with director S. Torriano Berry in person.

In the Hole (1984)

A newly incarcerated prison inmate learns his cellmate has been doing time for a similar crime.  Now locked in the same cell, he discovers passion once made them the same, but they are very different. Adapted from a play by Robert Wheaton, starring Robert Wheaton and James Nelson.

Deathly Realities (1985)

A serial killer discovers there is life after death and that there are consequences to his worldly actions. Written by S. Torriano Berry, starring Sharon Neil, Leonard Thomas, and Tommy Ford.

Embalmer (1996)

Based on a neighborhood myth about a deranged mortician who slaughtered his family with his scalpel, and now seeks fresh blood and body fluids to bring them back to life.  Is he still hiding in the catacombs beneath his old funeral parlor like the rumors say?  One night, Chiffon and friends find out.  They also find out that, “When the pain goes away…You’re dead!”  Written by S. Torriano Berry and edited from his original feature film.  Starring Jennifer Kelly, Kenneth E. Mullen, Tracy Lynn Owens, Cynthia L. Webb, Andre M. Manly, Myron Creek, Dexter K. Tennie.

About S. Torriano Berry

S. Torriano Berry is an award-winning independent filmmaker who has created the anthology series Black Independent Showcase and Black Visions/Silver Screen: Howard University Student Film Showcase for WHUT-TV 32, in Washington, D.C. His two, half-hour made-for-television movies The Light and When It’s Your Turn were produced through the Minority Advisory Board of WPVI-TV 6, in Philadelphia, PA. Berry is creator of the science fiction anthology series The Black Beyond.  A 30-minute version of his feature-length horror film Embalmer was a finalist in Showtime Network Inc.’s 1998 Black Filmmaker’s Short Film Showcase. He is co-creator and director of Noh Matta Wat, the first dramatic television series of Belize, and director of Livin' Mi Life, the first episodic sit-com of Belize in Central America.  He co-produced, directed, and edited Episode #3 of the Iowa Public Television Series Telling our Own Story - Black History in 2022.

As a writer, Berry co-authored the film resource books  published by Citadel Press in 2001, and Scarecrow Press, 2007 & 2015 ( - Paperback). He has also self-published two fiction novels: based on his feature length screenplay addressing the roots of racism in America, and  a coming-of-age adventure set in the 1930s, Post-Depression America. Berry is Professor Emeritus at Howard University’s Department of Media, Journalism, and Film. He received his BA in Art/Photography from Arizona State University and earned his MFA in Motion Picture Production from the University of California, Los Angeles.  He lives in Coralville, Iowa.