Run

“The story of Run is based on a true story my best friend told me when I was 18. He called from his parents closet and said that he was not at school in Georgia because he was on the run. There was a local drug dealer killing students on campus he thought were dealing. He had an execution list and several boys on it had been killed already. David was next. Fearing for his life, he pawned his computer and anything else he had of value so that he could buy a gun and a bus ticket home to Texas. He holed himself up in a closet at his parents' house for several days without them knowing. Eventually, his parents found him and took him to a therapist where he’d be diagnosed with bipolar disorder. At 18, I had never met anyone with a mental illness. And in the black community, it wasn’t something that was really discussed. So when you get a call from your best friend saying they’re on the run you believe them. On the surface, this story is a thriller about a boy running from a killer. But it’s also about mental illness in the black community. I’ve always thought it would be powerful to tell this story from his perspective because for him, and for me, it was so real. Hope you feel the same.”

Link: https://vimeo.com/288601751

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