“Enough.” By Nathan Nzanga

Using footage captured over a decade, "enough." is a musical concept film exploring one American's path from quirky kid born to Congolese immigrants, to idealistic teenage artist, to a frustrated young man struggling after grace amidst pain. Set against a backdrop of a culture war, the film uses dream logic to sift through his most conflicted feelings about race, policing and one’s place in a broken world.

The short film IN MEDIAS RUSH is an experimental cinematic journey into the depths of a manic mind. A poetic retro-sci-fi narrative unfolded in a string of unsettling tableaus that encapsulates the male protagonist’s ambiguous feelings about his birthday. While balancing between realities in his silent struggle with severe mental illness, we plunge into the film at a neatly orchestrated birthday party. The protagonist is accompanied by his girlfriend, and they are drinking cocoa on the couch in their mutual home. The setting breathes pure perfection, but through the voice over we sense that another reality is soon to be revealed. With one foot on the accelerator, he is heading towards the edge. The thematic focal point of IN MEDIAS RUSH is mental health problems among young adults, and the social/personal consequences related to the existing taboo on the subject. The film wishes to formulate an honest cinematic space in which words, sound, and image artistically interprets and articulates some of the perspectives related to especially bipolar, anxiety, and psychotic disorders. IN MEDIAS RUSH was nominated in the category 'Best Danish Short Film' at Copenhagen Short Film Festival in 2020. Original title: IN MEDIAS RÆS Directed by: Esben Persson -------------------- DK: IN MEDIAS RÆS IN MEDIAS RÆS er en filmisk rejse ind i dybderne af et manisk sind. En ung mand fejrer sin fødselsdag, mens hans tanker tordner afsted. Med en uvillig fod på speederen har han kurs mod kanten. FR: IN MEDIA RES IN MEDIA RES est un voyage dans les profondeurs d’un esprit maniaque. Un jeune homme fête son anniversaire tandis que ses pensées se multiplient. Malgré lui, il se dirige vers un point de non-retour. -------------------- Cast: Peter Alexander Bach & Amanda Overby Drew Director // Script writer // Set designer // Costume designer // Editor // Speaker: Esben Persson Photographer // Editor: Lasse Mølsted Producer: Latifa Lykke Ben Mabrouk Assistant producer: Cecilie Creutsberg Music composer: Martin Bejder Sound designer: Mads Hye Chief Lighting Technician: Rasmus Bruun Liboriussen VFX: Jonas Fonnesbæk Lodahl Colorist: Kristopher Paterson Graphic designer: Jakob Toft Kristensen -------------------- Shot on RED Monstro 8K with Lomo Squarefront Anamorphics.

My name is Nathan Nzanga, I was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. Second son of two diligent Congolese immigrants. The American dream for my parents was working tirelessly to make sure their four kids would have the opportunity to live out their dreams. They worked too hard for me not to give this moment my all.

When I was 16, I watched Philando Castile and Alton Sterling killed on camera. Soon after I read about six officers shot down in Baton Rouge. So I wrote my first song, and the first one in this film, "Truce." I was just a kid at summer camp trying to make a difference. Every day watching the news seemed like the world was getting worse, but at camp I learned how Humanity naturally bonds together through storytelling, so that’s what I set out to do. By the time George Floyd was murdered four years later, my feelings had changed. I'd changed. But the world hadn't. So I wrote a sequel to that first song called "Enough."

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Prodigy Camp is where Caleb and I met as mentors for young filmmakers and young musicians. The founder of the camp Rick Stevenson had been interviewing me since I was a kid so I could look back and see how I changed growing up. When camp got cancelled due to the pandemic, we had an idea of how we could come together as a community and use all these pieces to make something more bigger than all of us. ENOUGH was created by the honest conversations that took place in the wake of the protests, and by my camp family trying to lift me up at a really hard time.

We have a problem in the US with dehumanizing each other. We can't fix it in a moment, but we can keep the movement alive. The years-long movement for Black Lives, the decades-long movement for Civil Rights, the centuries-long movement for a free and equal America, and the millennia-long movement for a society without tribalism and oppression. I want to prove in my lifetime it can be done.

Tomorrow’s a reflection of today. If I want things to be better later on, I gotta start doing something right now. I consider myself a professional storyteller and a Love Advocate. I challenge myself to do right by you by being genuine and empathizing with you regardless of the circumstance, in hopes that you’ll be willing to do the same for me.

I wanna love you, so let me get know you.

I want you to love me, so hear me out.

Hope my story resonates,

Nzanga

Credits

Directed by Caleb Slain
Starring: Nathan Nzanga
Music & Lyrics by Nathan Nzanga
Created in Community at Prodigy Camp
Producers: Rick Stevenson, Max Losee, Ethan Senekar, Hope Alexander, Jennette Vasiljevic, La'Charles Trask, Caleb Slain
Co-Executive Producers: William Way, Nathan Nzanga, Elizabeth Neufeld
Director of Photography: Drew Dawson
Production Designer: Hadley Hillel
Edited by Nick Pezzillo & Caleb Slain
Wardrobe: Ron Leaman
Color Correction: Chad Terpstra

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