Afro-Punk

Thirty-six years after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded in Soviet Ukraine, newly uncovered archival footage and recorded interviews with those who were present paint an emotional and gripping portrait of the extent and gravity of the disaster and the lengths to which the Soviet government went to cover up the incident, including the soldiers sent in to “liquidate” the damage. Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes is the full, unvarnished true story of what happened in one of the least understood tragedies of the twentieth century.

James Spooner travels the fiction route with White Lies, Black Sheep, but also interweaves the rudimentary elements of nonfiction (location and behavioral-fueled observation and insight) into this journey -- to such a degree that the outing might well be termed a "scripted documentary." Ayinde Howell stars as Ajamu "A.J." Talib, a young indie rock promoter at ease amid the New York club scene. Though officially Afro-American, he is neither continually conscious of his racial identity, nor -- it seems -- all that affected by it. Meanwhile, his Caucasian buddy Josh (Jeremy Bobb) appears to be grappling with his own racial identity by suppressing his "whiteness" and both acting and thinking black -- dating African-American women, aggressively and vociferously touting The Autobiography of Malcolm X, etc. Initially, though A.J. insists that his African-American heritage is neither here nor there for him, he begins to observe the myriad ways in which it impacts his social relationships.