<I>I, Destini</I>
date: label: Date
content: 2016
name: label: Directed by
content: Nicholas Pilarski, American
label: Directed by
content: Destini T. Riley, American
label: Produced by
content: Nicholas Pilarski, American
label: Produced by
content: Destini T. Riley, American
label: Produced by
content: Lattina Lennon Riley, American
label: Produced by
content: Sarah M. Bassett, American
label: Subject of
content: Carlos Riley Jr., American
label: Subject of
content: Destini T. Riley, American
label: Subject of
content: Carlos Riley, American
label: Subject of
content: Lattina Lennon Riley, American
label: Subject of
content: Patricia Riley, American
label: Subject of
content: LeDarius Riley, American
notes: label: Caption
content: The short animated film "I, Destini" tells the story of having an incarcerated brother from Destini Riley’s perspective (at the time she was 14). The film is a collaboration between her and filmmaker Nicholas Pilarski. All of the key frames were drawn by Destini. Destini’s mother and father, Latina Riley and Carlos Riley, Nicholas, and Sarah Bassett did the subsequent Rotoscoping of more-than 10,000 frames. Destini and Nicholas met at a community meeting held at JC’s Kitchen, a soul food restaurant in Durham, NC owned by Destin’s aunt Phyllis Terry, while Destini’s family was organizing around what they deemed an unjust incarceration of her brother. Destini’s brother Carlos Riley, Jr. was acquitted for shooting a police officer, but imprisoned on lesser charges.
label: Description
content: A short, animated film with the title "I, Destini." It is held as an Apple ProRes file (2018.94.1.1) with a Digital Cinema Package (DCP) (2018.94.1.2).
label: Description
content: In the opening scene, Destini introduces herself before beginning a monologue about nature documentaries as animation of a savannah appears on the screen. This quickly segues into a scene with lions chasing antelopes, as Destini states that her "brother is not a lion, he is a giraffe." The last shot of this scene tracks away horizontally, revealing Destini sitting in the back seat of her grandmother's car on her way to visit her brother Junior in prison.
label: Description
content: When they arrive at the prison, Destini stands outside looking directly at a surveillance camera on the fence before a scene in which a police officer approaches a man sitting at a bus stop in Walltown. While frisking the man, who at this point is lying on the ground, the officer tears open his chest, revealing a multicolored light emanating from within him. The officer then removes a glowing seed from inside the man and tosses it on the ground for Destini to find.
label: Description
content: Shortly after, the animation returns to the prison, panning down a narrow hallway past fluorescent lights and other families visiting inmates behind screens, before eventually reaching Junior, whose image morphs into a giraffe's.
label: Description
content: In the next scene, Destini discusses the impact of Junior's arrest on members of the family. Her father, Carlos, is seen typing on a laptop beside a bottle of pills as Destini states, "All my Dad does is worry...He sleeps, eats, and thinks about Junior. It makes his nose bleed once or twice a week." Her "other brother, Darius, tries to cut everything out with music and videogames." Her mother stands with her eyes closed as she holds her neck, while her grandmother sits in front of a television set praying. The scene ends with members of the family holding hands as they bow their heads in prayer.
label: Description
content: The court waiting-room sequence presents the waiting room in a section elevation view in which Destini and Tina lean against a wall listening for Junior's movements as he walks down a hallway shackled.
label: Description
content: The camera then pans horizontally to the family in their living room watching The Wendy Williams Show as each member futilely tries to create a smile. Darius tries to massage his face into a smile. Tina tries to tape one on. Pat attempts to attach one with glue and Carlos uses thumbtacks. Destini then steps away from the group and opens her hand, planting the glowing seed she picked up in Walltown in the middle of her palm. The seed quickly grows into a large glowing multicolored tree.
label: Description
content: After the tree shatters, a hand holding a gavel appears in its place. A bespectacled judge holding binoculars and speaking gibberish addresses Junior in the courtroom. As he looks at Junior through his binoculars, he sees a lion.
label: Description
content: The last scene shows each member of the Riley family in different rooms attending to different screens. Carlos types on his laptop in the kitchen. Pat watches a televised sermon in another room. Junior plays his video games in the living room. Tina sits on her bed playing Candy Crush, while Destini lies in her bed texting. The camera then pans out to reveal a section elevation of the house with each family member in a different room on a different screen.
label: Description
content: The film ends with a shot of Destini observing the section elevation from afar as her voiceover remarks, "After the courts, the prison visits, the rallies, we have to go home. We can just fix ourselves something to eat and look for what we lost. We are like that one puzzle in the back of the closet that has the missing piece. And we are trying to find it."
place: label: Place filmed
content: North Carolina, United States, North and Central America
title: label: Title
content: Apple ProRes file and Digital Cinema Package (DCP)
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Activism
label: Topic
content: Animated films
label: Topic
content: Animation
label: Topic
content: Families
label: Topic
content: Film
label: Topic
content: Independent films
label: Topic
content: Journalism
label: Topic
content: Justice
label: Topic
content: Mass media
label: Topic
content: Nature
label: Topic
content: Police brutality
label: Topic
content: Prisons
label: Topic
content: Race relations
label: Topic
content: Stereotypes
label: Topic
content: Youth
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Collection title
content: I, Destini Film Collection
label: Classification
content: Time-based Media - Moving Images
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Destini T. Riley, Nicholas Pilarski, Lattina Lennon Riley, Sarah M. Bassett, Kathleen Lingo and The New York Times Company
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2018.94.1.1
objectType: label: Type
content: digital media - born digital
label: Type
content: sound films
label: Type
content: color films (visual works)
label: Type
content: short subjects
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Destini T. Riley, Nicholas Pilarski, Lattina Lennon Riley, Sarah M. Bassett, The New York Times Company
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: digital
label: Dimensions
content: Duration: 13 min., 41 sec.
label: Dimensions
content: File size: 1.93 GB