The filmmaker shares her latest.
Lena Wither’s first feature film is set to arrive this Fall in the form “Queen & Slim,” an updated take on the Bonnie & Clyde narrative. Sunday night, Waithe stepped onstage at the BET Awards with director Melina Matsoukas and actress Jodie Turner-Smith to promote the new fulm =, gifting audiences with a first look at the trailer for the new film, starring Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya.
The film surrounds a young couple (Kaluuya and Turner-Smith) who are forced to go on the lam after Kaluuya’s character kills a police ficer in self-defense.
“I have lived a lot this shit and that’s why it spoke to me,” Kaluuya said his role in the film. “I’ve been through a lot certain situations with police. It’s life, certain situations with the law can stop that and a lot my friends can’t even get into the country because ] saying yes to a caution that] they should not have said yes to at 14 or 15.”
Previously, Waithe has described the film as a form “protest art” while speaking at a convention.
“It’s meant to get people talking,” Waithe said at the convention. “The film is not made to give the audience answers, but instead to ask questions and show what it looks like to be black and in love while the world is burning all around you.”