Residue

Roffa Mon Amour and Optie B present Residue (2020), the New Amour Award 2021 winner.

Loud hip-hop music pumping throughout his truck, Jays arrives in his hometown Washington D.C. from L.A. to develop a film on his childhood. His excitement declines once re-exploring the streets engraved in his memory. Here Jay encounters new citizens taken over so as the change of the social communion. His concerns increase when his pals from his youth do not seem to know what has happened to his long-gone best friend.

Referring to what is left behind, Residue is an intense look at the impact of gentrification, Black identity, and the complexity of dealing with loss. Residue presents mainly non-actors. Protagonist Obinna Nwachukwu is from the area to fluently pronounce the lyrical and fluid D.C. accent. As a child of two Black independent filmmakers, frontrunners of the L.A. Rebellion film movement, you can feel their influences when it comes to the director’s true-to-life, urgent story.

With Residue, Merawi Gerima made a very personal first feature film, leaving behind an urgent time document for the archive of the D.C. community. Premiered at Slamdance Film Festival in 2020, Residue won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature and the Acting Award for star Obinna Nwachukwu.