

The Sundance winner that Hollywood buried — and the cigarette-smoking truth teller who exposed why.
Elvis Mitchell uncovers why Chameleon Street (1989) by Wendell B. Harris Jr. failed to secure a proper distributor deal. Originally aired as a segment on "20/20".
Direction
Mitchell's freeze-frame interviews feel like cinematic indictments.
Writing
Dense, cigarette-ash wisdom packed into 13 furious minutes.

Director
Elvis Mitchell
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This 20/20 segment aired when 'hood films' were becoming Hollywood's only accepted Black stories, making Harris's cerebral con-man film commercially 'invisible.'
Steven Soderbergh appears here fresh off Sex, Lies success — he later helped revive Harris's career by casting him in small roles, including Out of Sight.
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