Summertime
Director: Carlos López Estrada Run Time: 95 min. Rating: R Release Year: 2020
Starring: Amaya Blankenship, Austin Antoine, Bene't Benton, Bryce Banks, Marquesha Babers
Country: United States
Language: English
Presented in our Virtual Screening Room
“an upbeat, feature-length poetry slam that just might be the most inspirational movie to hit the indie circuit this year”
– Peter Debruge for Variety
About the film:
Official Selection of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Director Carlos López Estrada’s follow-up to his impactful 2018 debut Blindspotting.
Over the course of a hot summer day in Los Angeles, the lives of 25 young Angelinos intersect. A skating guitarist, a tagger, two wannabe rappers, an exasperated fast-food worker, a limo driver—they all weave in and out of each other’s stories. Through poetry they express life, love, heartache, family, home, and fear. One of them just wants to find someplace that still serves good cheeseburgers.
About the filmmaker:
Born in Mexico City to a family committed to the arts, filmmaker Carlos López Estrada moved to the states at age 12. His debut film, Blindspotting, premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for a DGA Award. He directed an episode of FX’s Legion and has made videos for musicians such as Billie Eilish, Katy Perry, Father John Misty, Thundercat, and Flying Lotus, and in 2012, he won a Latin Grammy for Video of the Year. He recently joined Walt Disney Animation Studios to direct the Southeast Asian-inspired Raya and the Last Dragon.
The actors in Summertime are a mix of volunteers and participants in L.A.’s Get Lit spoken-word teen literacy program. Read more here.
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