“I want to show the soft parts of the people who look like me. I want to show the sensitive bits that show up, not when we are in danger or inferior but when we are in love.” Rachael Abigail Holder on representing Blackness in her new film, LOVE, BROOKLYN

In Rachael Abigail Holder's new romantic drama, Love, Brooklyn, three longtime Brooklynites navigate careers, love, loss, and friendship against the rapidly changing landscape of their beloved city. We are proud to open the film September 5 at the Laemmle Royal and Glendale.Ms. Holder wrote the following about Love, Brooklyn:"On a bike ride, when the sun shines and the breeze hits my face, I can easily cry at the beauty in the ordinary. I am a highly sensitive person. I also happen to be Black. When I first read the script, I saw a timeless story about the wrestle that is love, and I also saw myself. The screenplay was written by Paul Zimmerman about the relationships he had while he was young. But I pictured Black people and the present day. As a filmmaker, I want to tell stories about sensitive Black people who cry and feel, in life not tragic or saccharine. What I read felt like the perfect story."I was seven months pregnant during production. When my now eleven-month-old baby hears music in a minor key, or if my extended family and I, which we often do, sing in unison, she will tear up. It is easy for her to deeply soften. I am proud of our movie because it is a story about people with brown skin who soften easily. I hope to expand the representation of what it means to be Black and what’s cool about this moment of inclusion in storytelling is that I don’t have to try to represent Blackness as a whole or all Black people. I can be really specific with how I see people, how they love, hide from love and ultimately show up for it. I want to show the soft parts of the people who look like me. I want to show the sensitive bits that show up, not when we are in danger or inferior but when we are in love."

 

"A low-key romantic odyssey that simmers with intimate heat while acting as a loving character study of the beloved, always evolving neighborhood." ~ Murtada Elfadl, Variety