Lyrical
Director: Carter M. Stewart
Short-Narrative
Drama |
USA |
18 min
English
A privileged, Black law student, trying to escape pressure from his dad, finds himself in a potential police violence situation with a group of adjudicated youth on probation, led by a talented spoken word artist.
Screens in Gala Opening Night Shorts Program
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Director’s bio:
An Atlanta native, Carter is a former presidentially-appointed United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio and former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of California. He writes stories based on his life experiences as a teacher and lawyer, particularly serving as a federal prosecutor and working with adjudicated youth while in law school. This is his first film project after successfully placing in multiple screenwriting competitions, including Tribeca Institute’s Screenwriters of Color, American Zoetrope, and Scriptapalooza.
Ever since my parents dragged me to musicals, plays, and other cultural events as a kid, I’ve been captivated by story-telling. It never occurred to me in high school or college to pursue this creative passion. But for the last 20 years, I’ve been writing screenplays and submitting them to competitions, with increasing levels of success.
I’m now at a stage in life where I’m determined to act upon this dream. So, I shortened the script that did the best in screenplay competitions, found a wonderful production partner, and shot it this past August.
The title is: Lyrical. It’s a drama about a third-year Harvard law student who intends to coast through life without exerting much effort, but instead finds himself defending a young rapper caught up in the criminal justice system. Based on my own law school experiences working with adjudicated youth, it’s a provocative story (with an overlay of humor) that explores issues of race, class, and the true meaning of success. It also examines the pressures that modern life places on father-son relationships.
This story matters to me because of concerns I developed as a privileged law student working with clients from wildly different backgrounds. It further captures tension I experienced with my dad, which I now realize emanated from his fear and concern about how I would be treated in a racialized world. More broadly, this story matters to me because I’ve seen people – particularly youth – get caught up in the criminal justice system more due to circumstance than intention. Lyrical depicts the intersection of these conflicts.