The Story
Body and Son is the story of DeShawn, a 9-year-old boy who lives with his single mother. He comes across the dead body of a man he believes to be his absentee father and confides in it about being bullied at school until his real father unexpectedly returns causing DeShawn to react in the only way he knows how.
From the Director
This short film is an exploration of the effects of black fathers missing from African-American households in our urban neighborhoods. It also delves into the issue of over-policing and its impact on the psyches of black, urban youth.
This story is one that resonates deeply with me as one that could have been mine if my life had taken just a slightly different turn. The sheer circumstance of being born black, male and lower-class in America is such that it has the power to cast a foreboding shadow over one’s knowledge of self their entire life. That shadow seeps into the soul and infects his whole being. The assumption of guilt, the lack of opportunities and the denial of humanity add up to a cycle of despair that must be addressed first by calling it by its name.
My hope is that this film opens up a dialog about the state of our urban communities and what we can do to take up the challenge of bringing change together.
-Chris Anthony Hamilton
