Bellringer
Blending live-action cinematography and experimental animations, Bellringer tells the story of Latasha Harlins—a Black 16-year-old whose murder by a Korean grocery store owner in 1991 served as a catalyst for the LA Riots in 1992. Her name, like that of many Black women, is often erased from discussions of the uprisings. The animated part of the film brings hand-painted scenes of Latasha's murder, funeral, and the ensuing Los Angeles riots to life.
We also see the narrator of the story, Linqua Franqa, struggling with their own trauma in an empty sanctuary—presumably because everyone is out rioting instead of praying— wondering how the “grim reaper” will come for them. Will they be killed by white supremacist violence or by the coping mechanisms that they have developed in order to deal with the trauma of white supremacist violence? The answer comes in the last few seconds of the film.
Featured in
award-winning rap film
Wurk
Blending live-action cinematography and experimental animations, Bellringer tells the story of Latasha Harlins—a Black 16-year-old whose murder by a Korean grocery store owner in 1991 served as a catalyst for the LA Riots in 1992. Her name, like that of many Black women, is often erased from discussions of the uprisings. The animated part of the film brings hand-painted scenes of Latasha's murder, funeral, and the ensuing Los Angeles riots to life.
We also see the narrator of the story, Linqua Franqa, struggling with their own trauma in an empty sanctuary—presumably because everyone is out rioting instead of praying— wondering how the “grim reaper” will come for them. Will they be killed by white supremacist violence or by the coping mechanisms that they have developed in order to deal with the trauma of white supremacist violence? The answer comes in the last few seconds of the film.
Featured in
a labor movement banger
Ridin’ Around with the Green
Ridin’ Around With the Green is a rap film featuring The Real Young Prodigys—a Louisville-based hip-hop social justice group. The film tackles mass incarceration and the criminalization of marijuana among Black communities.
The music video features three members of TRYP—three Black young men who envision a world wherein their people are not locked up behind bars for what is considered an everyday activity among many, especially their white peers. In the video, viewers are confronted with another world; an upside down world where Black kids aren't imprisoned, but the white students are, instead. The tables are turned, not to suggest the evils of the American prison system take its toll in more directions, but to illustrate the futility and ridiculousness of the system itself. To stir our convictions about justice. To imagine Black kids as free; truly free.
Oh Fxck
Oh Fxck is a love song to the self and to femme ferocity, inviting listeners to relish their power and possibility. The film captures the joy of knowing and loving oneself enough to find joy and freedom while organizing for revolutionary change.
