What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?

In the summer of 2016, black CD salesman Alton Sterling was shot dead by two white policemen in Louisiana. They were not prosecuted, which led to huge protests by the New Black Panther Party – successor to the movement founded in the sixties to fight for equal rights for the Afro-American community.

In What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?, Italian filmmaker Roberto Minervini follows these protests, as well as their leader, the undaunted Krystal Muhammad, from close by. The action is intercut with footage of Judy Hill – a singer who has given up drugs and runs a bar in New Orleans – and discussions between brothers Ronaldo and Titus and their mother, who fights like a lioness for a better future for her children. This observational documentary, shot in beautiful black-and-white, was in the Golden Lion competition at the most recent Venice film festival, and picked up awards in London, Vienna and Mar del Plata.

Also see Big Talk Roberto Minervini.

Trailer

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