Catalogue > Un extrait vidéo au hasard

CIVIC is a short film that follows Booker on his first trip back home to South Central, L.A. after several years of self-imposed exile. Without any clear motive, or even a warning, Booker returns to the place that holds his origins and the people who shaped him. Framed almost exclusively inside of his car, CIVIC tracks Booker’s fleeting and fragmented encounters around his old streets. Booker spends most of his time with his childhood best friend, Tee. They ride around to liquor stores and lingering in parking lots after closing time. Closeness and distance ebbs and flows between them as they talk about their lives, old and new. The repaved ground between them allows Booker to dive deep into the past, seemingly letting go of the tension in the present. However, we soon realize Booker is avoiding his responsibility to his family members across this trip. Just as he plans his disembark from L.A., he has an unexpected encounter that helps to reframe his perspective in the world. CIVIC is an introspective film, giving life to the wordless exchanges, the mundane and the familiar shorthand of unfettered Black life.

Dwayne LeBlanc is a Los Angeles based, first generation, Caribbean-American artist and filmmaker. Primarily self taught, his practice focuses on themes of migration, visibility and dual identities. His debut narrative short film, Civic (2022), an introspective short film about homecoming, was awarded a production grant from Ghetto Film School and Netflix while simultaneously developed at Berlinale Talents 'Short Form Station.' Civic has been screened and awarded at international film festivals around the world, including International Film Festival Rotterdam, Clermont-Ferrand, New Orleans Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival and Indie Memphis. LeBlanc was also named as part of the "future of cinema" at the 2023 New Directors / New Films festival in NY where Civic was screened at Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art. LeBlanc is a MacDowell fellow and a member of the Writers Guild of America.