Rize

Event information

In 1992, after long-simmering racial tensions in Los Angeles erupted into riots following the verdicts in the Rodney King trial, a man named Tommy Johnson sought to spread a new message in a new way to the city’s African-Americans.
Creating Tommy the Clown, Johnson developed an act that combined comedy and dancing with an anti-gang and anti-violence message. Johnson’s wildly popular performances inspired a new wave of street dancing called ‘krumping’. Rize follows the birth of krumping, documenting how many young people have adopted the dance as a style of competition, offering a safer and healthier alternative to the gang culture that has long dominated Los Angeles.
This showing is part of the Same Difference Film Festival