George Ellzey, a Chicago-based filmmaker, director, and producer, recently returned to Bowdoin to share his wisdom and his work with students. He screened his award-winning short film Cottage Grove, along with two works in progress, Accessories and Closed Mouths.
Following the screening, Ellzey spoke about the inspiration for each project. His first film, Cottage Grove (2023), is a Chicago/Midwest Emmy-nominated short that depicts a young man and his stroke-afflicted father as they struggle to find common ground in a store parking lot.
“Cottage Grove is about the process of getting an apology from a parent, and the challenges of communication between fathers and sons,” Ellzey said. “The story is loosely based on an experience with my own father, when I picked him up from the hospital and we sat in a Wallgreens parking lot. We didn’t talk—we just listened to jazz music.”
Accessories, the second film that Ellzey shared, is an eight-minute experimental short that he created in 2021. “Accessories is the product of my wrestling with the question of tokenism for Black and Brown people on television,” he said. “I wanted something grungy, bombastic, and colorful that differed from my other films.”
Ellzey’s third film, Closed Mouths, follows a young man riddled with self-doubt about his success as an artist. “So many of us experience imposter syndrome, which makes us feel like we aren’t accomplishing enough in comparison to our peers,” he said. “I wanted to externalize that feeling.”
The common thread that binds Ellzey’s work, he shared, is to encourage meaningful dialogue. “The goal of my films is to foster conversations about mental health, specifically for Black men,” he said. “My best work always comes from a personal place. I begin with a seed of my own experience, and then work to see how I can bring other people in.”
The Path From Bowdoin to the Screen
Ellzey, who double-majored in English and theater at Bowdoin, said he did not initially plan to pursue filmmaking. Still, he felt prepared by his liberal arts education. “I acquired the skills that I needed to be a storyteller,” he said. “When I first came to Bowdoin I was heavily into science, but then I was opened up to the life of an artist.”
Ellzey emphasized the wide applicability of Bowdoin’s coursework. “The beauty of a Bowdoin education is that it allows you to explore while encouraging you to become a critical thinker. You need that to become a filmmaker, or to succeed in any creative profession,” he said. “The work that I wanted to do required nuance and complexity, and I credit Bowdoin’s English department for helping me think beyond my own perspective.”
The Bowdoin community, he added, remains central to his work. “Many Bowdoin alumni played a role in my films,” Ellzey shared. Jordan Shields ’98 served as an executive producer for Cottage Grove, Corey Yates ’13 appeared in a supporting role in Closed Mouths, and Raven-Seymone Johnson ’13 was featured as an extra.
Ellzey concluded by offering advice to Bowdoin students in the audience. “You may chart a nonlinear path, but a Bowdoin education provides you with the building blocks to manage that uncertainty when you graduate,” he said. “Reach out to alumni and ask for guidance—trust me, we are more than willing to help you find your way.”
Follow George Ellzey Jr.’s work on his social media and website:
- @cottagegroveproductions
- www.cottagegroveproductions.com
Cottage Grove is available for streaming on Mansa and AMC+
