Blackbird Takes an Honest Look on Being Black, Gay in the South

A Long Beach QFilm Festival Feature

By Viktor Kerney, Guest Columnist
Being black and gay is truly living on a prayer.

The pressures from family, friends and faith can stretch a closeted youth beyond their limits. That amount of burden on one’s shoulders can either come crashing down or eventually make that person stronger than before. These are the issues writer and director Patrik-Ian Polk addresses in his latest film, Blackbird, featured at this year’s Long Beach QFilm Festival.

Like his groundbreaking projects Punks and Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom, Polk continues tackling topics within the black LGBT community. In Blackbird, Polk delivers an honest and passionate coming of age story about a young choirboy struggling with being gay in a small Southern town.

This film follows Randy (Julian Walker), a young church boy who is beset by host of problems: the disappearance of his younger sister, the separation of his parents and his budding sexuality.The story opens with Randy waking up from a very sexual dream involving one of his male friends. In fact, it’s just one of many steamy dreams he has every night.  Randy quickly gets on his knees and prays for forgiveness, in hopes to be cleansed from these sinful thoughts. This first scene introduces the viewer to the major themes in the film… faith and sexuality.

Randy’s struggle with his faith and sexual identity is an all too familiar story within the African-American community. For many LGBT African-Americans, the inter-struggle with faith and sexual identity is like a war, so much is lost and there are always casualties. It is very difficult to understand what you are fighting and what you stand to lose. Although the times are changing, the idea of being LGBT is still perceived as a threat to the very fabric of African-American families.We are taught at an early age that homosexuality is a sin, or a demon living inside you. Growing up with those beliefs can be a heavy load to bare.

In this film, the viewers witness the power of those beliefs, and how damaging it can be for anyone questioning their sexuality identity. For Randy, his back-and-forth with his faith and passions take a huge toll, leaving him with limited choices and few solutions. Many viewers will see Randy’s personal battle with his sexuality and possibly identify with his journey. I think that’s the goal of this film. Blackbird puts a face on the on-going conflict with sexual identity and faith, forcing the viewers to see the effects of hate, truth and love.

Overall, Blackbird is a well-shot and a must-see film to date. While it shines a light on the anguish and sadness of a closeted youth, it also provides positive messages about truth and forgiveness. The film is very entertaining and guaranteed to spark more conversations about faith, race and sexuality.

Blackbird is featured at the Long Beach QFilm Festival, at 9:15 p.m. at the Art Theatre.

A complete schedule and synopsis of the festival’s 2014 offerings is at http://qfilmslongbeach.com.