"KILLING MY FRIENDS"
by REGOTHERESHEGO
USA // 2021 // Music Video // LOS ESPECIALES
A collaborative project with the Juntos Fuerza Youth Program in Philadelphia, Guatemalan & Vietnamese recording artist REGOTHERESHEGO explores the concept of racial liberation through collective struggle, and examines her position in the fight. This song's instrumental version was originally produced by SK8Z & SANTRISTÁN in 2015 following the events in Ferguson, Missouri. In 2020, REGO's collaborator SANTRISTÁN showed her the instrumental during the uprisings sparked by the police killing of George Floyd. It was here that REGO recorded her lyrics and gave a voice to the song. Upon KILLING MY FREINDS's release, the proceeds of Bandcamp sales were donated to the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund. Following this, REGO & SANTRISTÁN applied for community grants to create a music video for the project, working with the non-profit Juntos to give their Youth Program hands-on experience in video production, while collaborating with choreographer Caitlin Green to create a dance film to articulate the the nuances of the message behind the song.
Director: SANTRISTÁN
Producer: SANTRISTÁN, Lisa Jiang, REGOTHERESHEGO
Music Video / Experimental / Drama
English (subtitles available)
5 minutes
Screening as part of LOS ESPECIALES Program Block.
TRISTAN SANTANA aka SANTRISTÁN is a writer, director, producer and musician from Philadelphia. His first short film, “The Block”, premiered at BlackStar Film Festival in 2015. “Hanh, Solo”, a feature comedy he co-directed, screened at the 2018 LA Asian Pacific Film Festival. Tristan was selected as a grantee by the Independence Public Media Fund for his in-progress documentary, Ave Maria, which explores food justice as a means of liberation in Puerto Rico.