Film

How to Raise a Black Boy

Director

Justice Jamal Jones

Year

2020

Four Black boys disappear one night, as many Black boys do, and find themselves on a fantastical journey to break the curses of Black boyhood.

An experimental fairytale dedicated to the modern black boy, in which four boys disappear one night, as many black boys do, and find themselves on a fantastical journey to break the curses of black boyhood. As an homage to the great fairy tales of the past, “How To Raise a Black Boy” opens with the cover of a book, intricately carved in wood with a boy and a man on either side. “I remember home, or at least I can imagine it.” This is the voice of narrator Rayceen Pendarvis of the iconic voguing House of Pendarvis, known to many as “Mother”. The narrator is an omniscient presence, a fairy godmother, who speaks as one of the boys.