POV
After Sherman
In the wake of Southern violence, After Sherman documents the imparting of wisdom between generations of African Americans on how to survive not just materially, but spiritually.
Out in the Night
Gay African American women friends defending themselves against a violent sexual assault in a seemingly gay-friendly New York City neighborhood are arrested for assault and attempted murder. A different kind of fight ensues in the courts and the media.
- Series
- POV
- Premiere Date
- June 22, 2015
- Length
- 60 minutes
- Funding Initiative
- Open Call
Producer/Director
blair dorosh-walther
blair dorosh-walther is an award-winning documentary director, activist, and artist passionate about inspiring action for social justice. Their first feature-length documentary Out in the Night had its international premiere at the 2014 Los Angeles Film Festival with a simultaneous broadcast on POV and Logo in 2015.
- Other ITVS Films
- After Sherman
Producer
Giovanna Chesler
G. Chesler's (they/them) films focus on gender, racial justice, health, and sexuality. Their latest feature Connection | Isolation features transgender lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. G. is a 2024 PGA Create Fellow for their work on Intersex Justice and serves as a professor of film and gender studies at George Mason University.
- Other ITVS Films
- Intersex Justice
Producer
Yoruba Richen
Yoruba Richen is a 2012 Guggenheim fellow who has worked as a journalist and a documentary filmmaker in New York City. Her film Promised Land, a documentary about race, reconciliation, and land reform in post-apartheid South Africa, was broadcast on PBS’s POV in 2010. In 2007, Yoruba won a Fulbright award in filmmaking and traveled to Salvador, Brazil to… Show more
Producer
Mridu Chandra
Mridu Chandra is a New York-based filmmaker and producer of award-winning documentaries and fiction films that cover topics of civil rights, environmental and racial justice, and gender equality. Recent projects include producing Becoming Cousteau (BAFTA nominee for Best Documentary) and Cured (Emmy Award nominee for Outstanding Research).
- Other ITVS Films
- Ask the Sexpert
- Let the Church Say Amen
- Saund vs Cochran
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The Film
Out in the Night follows Renata Hill, a young, gender non-conforming African American woman and mother to a young son, struggling to make ends meet in New Jersey.
On a warm August night in 2006, Hill and a group of six lesbian friends go out in the West Village, a gay-friendly neighborhood of New York City. On the street, a man makes an advance toward one of the women, but after realizing she is gay, he sexually and violently threatens her and the group. A short fight escalates as Renata and some of the women defend themselves while strangers on the street jump in to defend them. After the skirmish ends with injuries on both sides, police sweep the neighborhood, arresting Renata and her friends, charging them with serious crimes including gang assault and attempted murder.
Three women take a guilty plea, but four — including Renata — argue they fought in self-defense and are not a gang. As they await trial, they become known as the “New Jersey 4” by activists, while the media dubs them “Wolfpack” and “Gang of Killer Lesbians.” The trial becomes racialized and with gendered prejudice, as both the District Attorney and judge try to paint the women as a menacing gang instead of as friends on a night out. Renata and her friends are found guilty and receive unprecedentedly harsh sentences — 3 to 11 years — for a crime that in most cases would have been met with a fine and short prison sentence. Now in prison, separated from her son, Renata must begin a new fight — to maintain custody while dealing with painful memories that led her to that hot August night.
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