The Revenge of Emmett Till

The Revenge of Emmett Till is a 2016 short documentary film about African-American boy Emmett Till, produced by Dwamina "Enstrumental" Drew and Hebru Brantley. It was released on April 23, 2016, for the (In)Justice For All Film Festival International (IFAFFI). American rapper Lupe Fiasco served as the moderator.
The film details the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) in Mississippi, after a report to have offended a white woman. He was brutally assaulted, shot, lynched, and disposed in the Tallahatchie River with a 70-pound cotton gin fan tied around his neck with barbed wire. His body was discovered three days later and returned to Chicago, where the public open casket funeral service drew attention to the violent persecution of African-Americans in the United States.
Fiasco wore a "The Revenge of Emmett Till" t-shirt in the "Poor Decisions" music video (2013)."Wale feat. Rick Ross and Lupe Fiasco - Poor Decisions (Official Video)". YouTube. July 13, 2013.
== Background ==
In an interview, Drew shared that he wanted to make a film with "imagery similar to a blaxploitation film." He recalled, "At two in the morning, one night with Hebru Brantley, we were coming up with the concept and he was like look 'You remember JD's Revenge? You remember Shaft and how the posters looked?' He pulled it up on his phone and he said ok this is how we are going to do it. We're going to show him kind of getting some get back and revenge. The concept of revenge is just a metaphor for the visible and invisible fight for injustice. We did that in 2010." In 2013, he was told that Emmett's two cousin, Wheeler Parker and Simeon Wright, walked into the library, where his sister happened to work at. Drew went to church to interview them both. Followed by this, was a request to Brantley for a larger painting of "The Revenge of Emmett Till," believing that they could "work out a little 8 minute video story to mix in the timelapse as the cousin is talking about the story." Drew summarized, "It was a shirt, then once I met the cousin it turned into the painting, then towards the final product."
While a trailer for the project was released in 2013, films were expensive to make, so he held off on the creation. It wasn't until June 2015 that a person told him it would be the 60th anniversary of Emmett Till. He contacted Brantley and Lupe Fiasco, then "called the directors who filmed in 2013" to finish it. Drew decided to use his own money, where a majority of the process of editing, having a lot of footage.Kimble, Melissa. "Drew on Drawing Inspiration from History, Going Beyond the Hype and Honoring the Truth in Ourselves". The Blkcreatives Network . Archived from the original on November 15, 2016.
A private screening was held on September 13, 2015."Enstrumental (@Enstrumental)". Twitter. September 12, 2015.
== Crew ==
* Dwamina K. "Enstrumental" Drew – director, executive producer, writer
* Emmanuel Camacho – director, editor, animator
* Gregory Buissereth – co-director, cinematographer, assistant editor
* Hebru Brantley – producer, art director
* Wasalu "Lupe Fiasco" Jaco – moderator, commentator
== Gallery ==
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== References ==
Category:Films