1 in 3 (2017; featured in the UCSD undergrad art show)
My most current short film, is called 1 in 3. This film in inspired by Ava duVernay’s documentary 13th filmed in 2016. I watched this film in my transnational film class, when watching the film it made me think of my dad. The statement in the film that stuck out to me was “1 in 3 Black men are in jail.” I wanted to counter argue this statistic by using my dad. The concept of the film came about after I wrote a poem about the statistic, in the film I speak about how in college much of the time when I am in a lecture hall I am the only black kid and how it makes me feel to be alone. It also questions the media’s idea that a black man is a threat to society. When I was starting to develop this poem into a bigger project, I started by storyboarding the concept. Also during this time I was showing the poem to my grandmother who has lived in the Jim Crow era and my dad’s brother both of which teared up after reading the poem, their reactions made me believe this is a relevant subject to address. Within the film I included family images and images of my dad coaching young high school student many of whom come from low-income families. I wanted to show him coaching because unlike what the media shows us when we think of a Black male, not only a father to me and my brother but he is a father figure to other students making him no threat to society. I hope this film is able to address the issue with this statistic and there needs to be a change in the system, whether that be the media stop labeling a group of Black Lives Matters protesters as rioters or thugs, or changing the neoslavery prison systems.