News

Copy Page URL
F2.5
FPS 24
News
01

Documentary 'Dry Bones' tells personal narrative of Black life in Elyria | Ideastream

Thursday, February 05, 2026

Jean-Marie Papoi, Ideastream

ideastream.org

Download1

"Dry Bones" follows the triumphs and setbacks of former Elyria football star "Dynamite Ike" Maxwell. His life changed course after his younger brother was fatally shot by a white police officer in 1975. | Tara L. Conley/Media Make Change

A documentary produced by an Elyria native is at the center of a sold-out screening Friday night at Karamu House, Cleveland’s historic Black theater.

“Dry Bones” is in this year’s Film Forward Documentary Spotlight with the Greater Cleveland Film Commission. The annual event focuses on filmmakers and stories from underrepresented communities, typically with a Northeast Ohio connection.

A little more than a decade ago, Tara L. Conley came across an article in the New York Times about a former 1970s high school football star from her hometown.

She remembered growing up and hearing about Ike Maxwell, the young man known as “Dynamite Ike” out on the field. His future looked bright, but a tragedy changed the course of his life.

Fifty years ago, Maxwell’s younger brother, Daryl Lee, was shot and killed by a white police officer. A three-day uprising followed in Elyria, a city that Conley said is still looking for closure from its painful past.

“This was a story where in 1975, Black folks were still, you know, they were organizing and they were coming together and speaking truth to power,” Conley said.

Conley is an assistant professor in the school of media and journalism at Kent State University. As a filmmaker and storyteller, she concentrates on documenting Black life in regions along the Gulf Coast and Rust Belt.

Once she began delving into the story of Maxwell, she said it was like peeling back the layers of an onion.

“The more I talked to folks in the community, the more I started to realize there's a story here within a story,” she said. “It's not just about Ike's accomplishments, but there's also a lot of trauma there.”

Download2


Tara L. Conley returned to her hometown of Elyria in 2021 to begin documenting the life and story of football great Ike Maxwell for the film "Dry Bones." | Tara L. Conley/Make Media Change

Spotlight on diversity

Lowell Perry Jr. is the chief diversity officer of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission. When he saw “Dry Bones,” he said the story not only fit with the mission of the Film Forward series but is also especially relevant with the topic of police violence frequently in the news.

“Even though the protagonist in this happens to be African American, it's not an African American story. This is an American story,” Perry said. “You see this community that had a history of racial tension, of segregation … come together around this story and say, ‘You know what? I can see a little bit of myself in this.’”

The film especially resonated with Perry. He played high school football in Detroit in the ‘70s, around the same time Ike Maxwell was making his mark in Elyria. Segregation was still very present in society, he said, but it was different when he stepped onto the field.

“All we cared about was, ‘Look, are you working hard enough to help us win? We don't care whether you're Black, white,’” Perry said. “That's one of the things that sports can do for a community – it can bring people together.”

It’s personal for Conley, too. It’s going back to the community she called home to shed a greater light on a man who’s just as important to the city today as he was back then.

“When I was working on the film, I was saying that it was a love letter to Elyria, and I still believe that,” Conley said. “It's a love letter to the city that I grew up in and the families that I knew and helped raise me, and my family as well.”

While Friday’s event with GCFC is currently the only screening in Northeast Ohio at this time, “Dry Bones” is an official selection of the 2026 Little Venice Film Festival in London.

Download4

Lowell Perry Jr. joined the Greater Cleveland Film Commission in 2023 as chief diversity officer and vice president of corporate and community engagement. | Shannon Ahlstrand

Continue Reading