With his
Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity brothers
William Packer and Gregory Anderson producing,
Rob Hardy wrote and directed
Chocolate City, a $20,000 film that
Blockbuster distributed through its video stores. The film about a young man's profound experience on a black college campus, was shot using
16mm color film on the campus of
Florida A&M University in
Tallahassee, Florida. In 1994, on the eve of the success of
Chocolate City, Hardy and Packer created Rainforest Films. One of the most important goals of Rainforest Films is to create work that will uplift, instead of degrade, the African-American spirit. After relocating from Tallahassee to
Atlanta, Georgia, the company produced the
erotic thriller Trois in 2000. Funded, produced and distributed independently,
Trois became the fastest black indie film to ever surpass the $1 million mark at the box office. With this achievement, Rainforest Films landed at the #34 spot of
The Hollywood Reporter's Top 500 Film Distributors of 2000, and resulted in Trois being named one of
Daily Variety’s Top 50 Highest Grossing Independent Films of the Year. In 2002, Rainforest Films released the critically acclaimed motion picture ''
Pandora's Box at the American Black Film Festival. Later that year, The Hollywood Reporter listed Rob Hardy and William Packer amongst the New Establishment of Black Power Brokers in Hollywood. Rainforest Films acquired the US distribution rights to Master P’s gritty prison drama Lockdown'' in 2003. The film received a limited theatrical run but eventually became one of
Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment's top selling independent releases of the year. ==Dissolution of company and lawsuit==