Bakari
Format
Short film
Genre
Drama
Pages
13
Comps
12 Years a Slave / Django / The Last Black Man in San Francisco
Logline
In 1800s Virginia, a runaway enslaved man hunted after a failed escape that kills his wife must survive his pursuers—and his own shattered identity—to honor her final promise of returning home to Africa.
The Story
Set in 1800s Virginia, the film follows Bakari, a runaway enslaved man forced into flight after a failed escape attempt results in the death of his wife, Imani. Hunted by those who claim ownership over his body and spirit, Bakari must survive the pursuit while grappling with the loss of his identity, dignity, and sense of self. His journey becomes less about escape and more about whether he can reclaim his humanity long enough to honor the promise he made to his wife—that one day, they would return to Africa.
Behind The Story
This film comes from a desire to explore enslavement not only as a historical institution, but as a lived psychological condition whose effects still echo today. Bakari’s struggle with powerlessness, pride, and displacement mirrors modern conversations about Black identity, belonging, and the inherited trauma of forced separation from home and history. In a moment where images of Black suffering are often reduced to spectacle or shorthand, this story insists on intimacy. It asks us to sit with grief, love, and the cost of survival—and to consider freedom not as a destination, but as an internal reclamation. The promise of Africa is less about geography and more about the human need for origin, dignity, and self-definition—questions that feel urgently contemporary.
The World
The world of the film is harsh, restrained, and intimate. 1800s Virginia is depicted not as a grand historical backdrop, but as a claustrophobic landscape where land, forest, and plantation all function as extensions of control. Nature becomes both refuge and threat—offering concealment, but never safety. Visually and tonally, the world is grounded and unromanticized. Violence is present, but not sensationalized. The environment reflects Bakari’s internal state: vast, isolating, and indifferent. Within this world, Africa exists as a counter-space—spoken of, remembered, and imagined—representing a freedom that cannot be hunted or owned.
