Fusion Entertainment has signed writer-director Ryan DeForeest for management and will produce his feature debut, an expanded adaptation of his short film My Brother & Me, which he’ll write and direct.
DeForeest wrote the original 17-minute short after his first trip to Sundance in 2023. Starring Zechariah Eubanks and Alexander Bello as brothers Malik and Terrence, the short follows the pair as they plan to rob their distant father of overdue child support, a heist that turns out to be a misdirect for the film’s real focus: the relationship between the brothers, particularly after Malik learns his younger brother has a crush on another boy and responds not with rejection, but with a kind of overprotective big-brother instinct. “It’s not about the child support,” DeForeest has said. “It’s about the relationship between the brothers.”
The short premiered at the 2024 American Black Film Festival and went on to screen at the Micheaux Film Festival, Oak Park Black Film Festival, NewFilmmakers Los Angeles, the Directors Guild of America, and Lincoln Center, earning a nomination for Outstanding Short Form (Live Action) at the 56th NAACP Image Awards, along with two 2026 Best of NFMLA nominations. After streaming on American Airlines for a year, it’s now on YouTube, where it’s passed 110,000 organic views and gone viral on TikTok and Twitter. The project was funded through grassroots crowdfunding on Seed & Spark, drew support from Oscar-winning director Matthew A. Cherry, and used a New Music USA grant to record composer Evan Wright’s score with live musicians.
The feature expands the story across three decades, following Malik and Terrence from South Los Angeles to Oakland as they grow up under their father Allen, with Malik absorbing the brunt of his father’s violence and Terrence, who is gay, growing up feeling invisible to him. DeForeest based Malik on his own older brother and modeled Terrence largely on himself.
Fusion co-founder Chris Evans described DeForeest as “a rare new voice” whose work speaks to Black fatherhood, masculinity, queerness, and the complicated dynamics of brotherhood. DeForeest called the opportunity to expand the short into a feature “something I never could have imagined,” crediting Evans and co-founder Adam Kersh for believing in the project.
Evans and Kersh will produce for Fusion, alongside Lexx Truss, who also produced the original short with Shandrea Evans. Cinematographer Sade Ndya, a 2023 ASC Rising Star, and composer Evan Wright both return from the short film. DeForeest has also documented Victoria Monét’s creative process since 2021, including the making of her Grammy-winning album Jaguar II, and was selected for GLAAD’s 2025 Black Queer Creative Summit.
The feature is currently in development, with title and casting still to be announced.