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Shorts 6: Wanderlust – Superman Doesn’t Steal
September 1, 2024 @ 5:04 pm – 5:23 pm EDT
Based on true events, SUPERMAN DOESN’T STEAL is a coming of age story, set during the 1970’s Atlanta child murders, as seen through the eyes of 9 year old Harriet and her brother, who are fascinated with superheroes. However, when they experience a troubling series of events, the impact on their family leaves emotional scars and causes them both to grow up fast as they redefine their definitions of heroes, villains, and yes – even Superman.
Director/Writer/Producer: Tamika Lamison
Producer: Chris Beal, Dominque DeLeon, Carol Shine, Ben Ephraim
Starring: Ellis Hobbs IV | Jordyn McIntosh | Tamika Lamison | Mustafa Shakir | E Roger Mitchell | Mark Totty | Kellen Boyle
2023 | 19 mins | US | Color | 🏆 | Drama, Coming of age
The filmmakers are expected to be present at this screening for a post-film discussion.
Screening in Theater #2
Other films in this program include:
About the Filmmaker
Tamika is a Virginia native who attended The American University & Howard University with a BA in Performing Arts & Theatre while continuing her studies in film at the NY Film Academy and AFI. She worked at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences helping to research & develop the Academy Gold program and currently works as the Exec. Director of the CDDP – Commercial Directors Diversity Program – a diversity and inclusion program she created for the Directors Guild of America and the Assoc. of Independent Commercial Producers. Her first screenplay, JAR BY THE DOOR, was a Sundance Finalist and won several awards including the Gordon Parks Indie Film Award. She won several other fellowships and awards in writing and directing including the ABC/Walt Disney Fellowship in Screenwriting, Guy Hanks and Marvin Miller Fellowship, the CBS Director’s Initiative and AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women Fellowship in which she wrote, directed and produced the multi-award-winning short film, HOPE. Tamika has produced several other films including the award winning, THE MALE GROUPIE which aired on HBO and SPIN, which she also directed.
Director’s Statement
Growing up in the South, well before the internet, cell phones and society’s current love-fest with technology, my brother and I would amuse ourselves by playing outside, riding our bikes and creating stories while inhabiting the spirits of our favorite superheroes. During one particularly memorable summer when all Black families were on edge and more nervous than usual due to the ongoing saga of the Atlanta Child Murders, a series of events unfolded that have haunted us both ever since. After many attempts at writing this incident as a short film, I believe I have finally captured it on the page.
Black Love is complicated. Black Love in families expresses itself- sometimes in traumatic & painful ways, often to protect Black boys (and girls) from their own mistakes, but really from a society at large which often doesn’t allow them to make any.
Set in the suburban south on a hot summer day that only gets hotter as events heat up and combust, this is a coming-of-age story that involves the first time my brother and I were called the “N” word. It’s a story of an innocent summer of family and fun that turned dark and painful. It’s a story that highlights the sad truth that when inhabiting a Black body- there is no such thing as an innocent mistake in a world where it could cost you your life.
Superheroes, Villains, Tough Love, Black Love- this coming-of-age film, based on a true, personal story- is an exploration of all of these things through the pov of a little girl and a little boy who want to be superheroes in a world determined to only see them as villains.