Q&A with Shawn Antoine II, Ellie Foumbi, and Charles Obiemere

Featuring Showtime by Shawn Antoine II, Suicide by Sunlight by Nikyatu Jusu, No Traveler Returns by Ellie Foumbi, Sign Up by Abeer Yehia, Wrong Con by Charles Obiemere, and Hello, Rain by C.J. “Fiery” Obasi

Showtime
Shawn Antoine II, USA, 2018, 15m
Darius and Hakeem dance on New York City trains to earn honest money and escape the streets of Harlem. When Darius is offered an opportunity to audition for Juilliard’s traveling dance team, Hakeem grows jealous. When Hakeem begins to sell drugs with the neighborhood goon TJ and succumb to the crime in Harlem, Darius is faced with the decision to pursue his life-changing opportunity or help keep Hakeem out of trouble.

Suicide by Sunlight
Nikyatu, USA, 2019, 17m
Valentina, a day-walking black vampire protected from the sun by her melanin, finds it difficult to suppress her bloodlust when a new woman is introduced to her estranged twin daughters.

No Traveler Returns
Ellie Foumbi, Ivory Coast/USA, 2019, 12m
French with English subtitles
A young African immigrant’s struggle to adjust to life in America pushes him toward an existential crisis.

Sign Up
Abeer Yehia, Egypt, 2019, 15m
Arabic with English subtitles
Detainees in an Egyptian jail cell receive a new prisoner, Ahmed, who happens to be well-known on social media. Their interaction brings out their different backgrounds and perspectives, and as their relationship further develops, we learn the reasons behind their imprisonment. Together, they come up with an unusual solution to confront their new reality.

Wrong Con
Charles Obi Emere, Nigeria, 2018, 18m
English and Pidgin with English subtitles
Two down-on-their-luck con men desperately need to make a few bucks. They decide to pose as pastors in order to waylay a desperate wealthy man with a sick daughter. The job is supposed to be easy, but things take a turn when he locks con men inside the room with the demon-possessed girl, refusing to let them out until they have healed her.

Hello, Rain
C.J. “Fiery” Obasi, Nigeria, 2018, 30m
English and Pidgin with French and Spanish subtitles
In this adaptation of an Afro-futuristic short story by Hugo Award–winning author Nnedi Okorafor, three scientist witches create magical wigs that grant them untold supernatural powers. As with everything, power corrupts, and the leader, Rain, must stop them before they destroy the nation.