Little Brown Boy

For his follow-up to MY JOSEPHINE, Barry Jenkins turned to an issue closer to his Florida home in the early 2000s: the spate of young black boys being tried as adults for the gunshot deaths of other kids. But this is no crime drama. There is no trial in this short film and the killing occurs off-screen in the first minute of the film, an event that escalates before the kid even understands what is going on. Jenkins focuses his camera on the confusion and fear of the boy, finding himself suddenly alone and adrift after committing an act he isn't equipped to deal with. Shot in moody black-and-white with minimal dialogue, this is more of an impressionist portrait than a narrative; a tender, melancholy odyssey to find some sort of peace in the confusion of a life surrounded by violence. - Sean Axmaker