The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence presents this reenactment of George Zimmerman shooting Trayvon Martin in order to express opposition to controversial “Stand Your Ground” laws which are on the books not only in Florida where Martin died but also in 25 other states.
Heightening the short film’s poignancy is audio from the real emergency calls made that fateful night which reflect the perspectives of different observers of what happened in the tragic confrontation between Zimmerman and Martin.
However, after we hear gunfire, this advocacy short pulls back to reveal other dead victims laying on the ground, each from a different state–Texas, Louisiana, Nevada, Alabama, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Alaska–where Stand Your Ground laws are in place.
A super reads, “Our laws should protect victims, not create more.”
The film was created by an ensemble of ad industry collaborators, including some creative from Grey NY acting independently. One of the writers, Floyd Russ from Grey, directed the short via Narrow Margin Films. Sonejuhi Sinha of Final Cut edited the piece.
Hollywood’s Oscar Season Turns Into A Pledge Drive In Midst Of L.A. Wildfires
When the Palisades Fire broke out in Los Angeles last Tuesday, Hollywood's awards season was in full swing. The Golden Globes had transpired less than 48 hours earlier and a series of splashy awards banquets followed in the days after.
But the enormity of the destruction in Southern California has quickly snuffed out all festiveness in the movie industry's high season of celebration. At one point, the flames even encroached on the hillside above the Dolby Theatre, the home of the Academy Awards.
The fires have struck at the very heart of a movie industry still trying to stabilize itself after years of pandemic, labor turmoil and technological upheaval. Not for the first time this decade, the Oscars are facing the question of: Should the show go on? And if it does, what do they mean now?
"With ALL due respect during Hollywood's season of celebration, I hope any of the networks televising the upcoming awards will seriously consider NOT televising them and donating the revenue they would have gathered to victims of the fires and the firefighters," "Hacks" star Jean Smart, a recent Globe winner, wrote on Instagram.
The Oscars remain as scheduled, but it's certain that they will be transformed due to the wildfires, and that most of the red-carpet pomp that typically stretches between now and then will be curtailed if not altogether canceled. With so many left without a home by the fires, there's scant appetite for the usual self-congratulatory parades of the season.
Focus has turned, instead, to what the Oscars might symbolize for a traumatized Los Angeles. The Oscars have never meant less, but, at the same time, they might be more important than ever as a beacon of perseverance for the reeling movie capital.
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