WHAT YOU GONNA DO WHEN THE WORLD'S ON FIRE?
Film - International Independents Filmfest 2019

WHAT YOU GONNA DO WHEN THE WORLD'S ON FIRE?

Directed by Roberto Minervini

Info

Director: Roberto Minervini
Section: International Independents
Country: France, Italy, USA
Year: 2018
Language: English
Version: Original version with English subtitles
Cast: Judy Hill, Dorothy Hill, Michael Nelson, Ronaldo King, Titus Turner
18+ (no age rating)

Logline

WHAT YOU GONNA DO WHEN THE WORLD'S ON FIRE?

This was supposed to be a documentary about the music of 1930s Louisiana. But when Italian director Roberto Minervini learned how often young African-Americans are killed by police and the Ku Klux Klan, he changed the focus of his black-and-white film to the stories of various protagonists. For example, the new Black Panther Party in New Orleans, which attempts to organize neighborhood protests. Bar owner Judy Hill, whose experiences have made her aware of her standing in society. And 14-year-old Ronaldo, who is preparing his younger brother Titus for life, including giving him boxing lessons and talking to him about what it means to be black. Together they illustrate how African-American society in the United States has been changing, what price it pays on a daily basis, and what a long road lies ahead of it.

Meet the director

WHAT YOU GONNA DO WHEN THE WORLD'S ON FIRE?

Roberto Minervini

Roberto Minervini, born in 1970, lives and works in the United States. After completing a master's degree in media studies at the New School University in New York City in 2004, he moved to the Philippines to teach documentary filmmaking to university students. In 2007, he moved to Texas, where he directed three feature films, THE PASSAGE (2011), LOW TIDE (2012), and STOP THE POUNDING HEART (2013), a trilogy shown at film festivals in Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Rotterdam, and elsewhere. His fourth documentary, THE OTHER SIDE (2015), premiered in Cannes in the section "Un Certain Regard".

Credits

Screenplay: Roberto Minervini
Director of Photography: Diego Romero Suarez-Llanos
Film Editor: Marie-Hélène Dozo
Composer: Bernat Fortiana Chico
Sound: Ingrid Simon
Producer: Paolo Benzi, Denise Ping Lee, Roberto Minervini
Production Company: Okta Film & Pulpa Film
Co-Production Company: RAI CINEMA, SHELLAC SUD
World Sales: The Match Factory