Unfiltered

TYPE: Documentary Feature
GENRE: Documentary
STATUS: Production

LOGLINE

UNFILTERED is a coming-of-age hybrid documentary that follows 15-year-old Tamia McArthur as she challenges generational cycles and fights to reclaim her childhood in a world that demands Black girls grow up too quickly.

SYNOPSIS

UNFILTERED is a cinematic portrait of Black girlhood spanning five years in the life of Brooklyn teenager Tamia McArthur. The eldest of five daughters, Tamia is expected to perform domestic chores and act as an additional caretaker to her sisters. A protector and budding poet, she speaks her truth through rhythmic verse. Tamia makes powerful strides to communicate to her mom that she needs a break, even as the reality of their situation escalates. As college nears, Tamia realizes that her departure will place her 7-year-old sister London as the eldest in the home. Tamia promptly takes her sister under her wings as the pair transform New York’s five boroughs into their playground. Can Tamia go away without the cycle resetting for her little sister? Lyrical in style and form – UNFILTERED is an illuminating exploration of race, gender and parent-child relationships, and is a testament to love, sisterhood and intergenerational healing.

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

With a character-driven verite storyline representing the present, rich family archival representing the past, and scripted daydream sequences envisioning the future  – UNFILTERED is a docu-hybrid that maneuvers between reality and radical imagination.

Tamia’s emotional journey is rendered on screen through scenes of her freeing herself and little sister London of adult-like responsibility, parental confrontation and resolve, and the tender yet fleeting moments she shares with her family before she goes away to college. Interior scenes emphasize both the conflict and care between sisters – with attention to how physical touch overlaps the two. The claustrophobia of interior scenes contrasts with the vastness of the exterior locales for Tamia and London’s “sister dates” outside the home. Tracking shots during playful scenes emphasize childhood joy and the feeling of breaking away, even if temporal. Hand-held camera and eye-level close-up shots reinforce the raw and uninhibited nature of the storytelling. The number of years I’ve spent developing my relationship with Tamia, London and their family shows up in the intimacy we’re able to achieve on camera. 

A rich collection of home movies spans two generations and shows Tamia and London’s childhoods, as well as how their mother Mohenna’s childhood was cut short by her newfound responsibility as a teenage mom. Family archival also helps to introduce the themes of inherited trauma and intergenerational healing. Black girlhood, sisterhood, and motherhood unfold on screen interlacing generational timelines to tell a present tense story in deep consultation with the past.

Tamia’s longing for a different reality from her caretaker responsibilities and mounting frustrations introduces scripted daydream sequences where Tamia’s poetry is used as a narrative device. These stylized elements pull us directly into her internal world as she is determined to forge a new path for herself and younger sisters. Whereas the verite is observational, Tamia’s immersive daydreams don’t show her in frame – allowing viewers to see Tamia’s world through her unique POV. Tamia’s daydreams work hand-in-hand with the “sister dates” to show that a new reality is not merely contained to her imagination – but we get to witness her transform her world right before our eyes. The fictionalized daydream scenes will interweave the verite 3-5 times over the course of an approximately 90-minute film.

It’s important to also note that Tamia will write a new original poem to narrate the daydreams. She will be credited as a writer on the film as reflected in our itemized line-item budget. This collaborative effort will elevate the storytelling because Tamia will have total control on how she voices her narrative, which is a part of our non-exploitative approach where she has agency in how her story is articulated to an audience. Once she writes a draft, we’ll work together as a team to script out the visuals to accompany her spoken word.

KEY CREW

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