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A collective springs to life in this radiant tribute to radical Black politics.
When a young man inherits his grandmother’s West Philadelphia home and invites his girlfriend to move in, the dwelling soon transforms from a social hub into a Black liberationist commune. With its backdrop of brightly daubed and decorated walls, the house becomes a space for kinship, discussions, negotiations and formulating action – along with, inevitably, the interpersonal challenges of shared living.
Loosely based on the revolutionary African-American organisation MOVE – which was bombed by police in 1985, killing 11 people – and writer/director Ephraim Asili’s own experiences in a collective, the film’s often light-hearted fictional narrative is interspersed with documentary footage and readings from texts by notable artists and activists. The result is an aesthetically bold, invigorating collage of radical Black thought. Also drawing inspiration from Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960s classic La Chinoise but resolutely current in its concerns, The Inheritance is a cinematic work steeped in history and legacy.
“A reflectively avant-garde portrait of the connective threads between community making, historical archives and political awakening.” – Los Angeles Times