Speller Street Films and The Luminal Theater presents BLK Docs, a monthly virtual screening series dedicated to Black documentary filmmakers.
Our 2nd virtual screening is the documentary MILES IN THE LIFE: THE STORY OF A BMF DRUG TRAFFICKER, July 30 – August 6. Tickets are $5 at www.blkdocs.com (ON SALE NOW!)
MILES IN THE LIFE : The Story of a BMF Drug Trafficker
2018/USA/96 minutes
Directed by Shaun Mathis
After growing up in a crack house in Brooklyn, New York, Jabari Hayes became an All-American track star at Morehouse College. But upon graduating, he used the cover of an Atlanta limousine driver to traffic large quantities of cocaine across the country for the then largest African American drug organization in America (1999-2007) known as Black Mafia Family (BMF).
This is that story, and the story of Jabari’s redemption.
Live Q&A with Curtis Caesar John & Christopher Everett
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
7:00pm - 8:00pm
Join Curtis Caesar John and Christopher Everett as the founders of BLK Docs dig into the state of the film & documentary scene that led them to create this showcase for Black documentaries, as well as why MILES IN THE LIFE is necessary viewing for all who care about how Black stories are told and shared.
This Q&A will be moderated by filmmaker & dramatist Dennis Leroy Kangalee (As An Act of Protest)
Join them at 7pm on August 4th on the 'virtual events' tab at BLKdocs.com
Live Q&A with Jabari Hayes & Shaun Mathis
Thursday, Jul 30, 2020
8:00pm - 9:00pm
Join Jabari Hayes, the inspiration and main subject for Miles in the Life and the film’s director/producer Shaun Mathis, as they discuss how and why they came together to make this transformative documentary, as well as the socio-economic issues that drove Jabari to make the problematic choices he did in his youth.
moderator: community organizer VICTOR DEMSPEY
Community organizer Victor Dempsey wears many hats. As a liaison for the Community Justice Unit within The Legal Aid Society, he works in all five NYC boroughs connecting communities to services, while advocating for clients on crucial pre-arrest and pre-arraignment services as well as re-entry issues that arise in the post-conviction. He is an integral part of the CURE Violence Program and conducts several training throughout the city.
The impetus for Victor’s activism, unfortunately, started with a tragedy; the killing of his brother
Delrawn Small on July 4, 2016 by an off-duty police officer in Brooklyn, New York. After this tragedy, Victor and his family began to seek out justice through the legal system. They aligned themselves with numerous organizations to help bring awareness to Delrawn’s case and to shine a light on the social injustices and police brutality faced by communities of color on a daily basis. The hope was to strengthen the front line of defense. To lend to his advocacy portfolio, Victor uses his life experiences of being a former gang member, being formerly incarcerated and also a product of the NYC Administration of Children’s Services as a way to directly relate to the clients he now serves. He does this by being a Credible Messenger and sharing his life story as a way to show folks second chances are not a thing of the past.