AFI Fest: From Queen & Slim to Babyteeth, to Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Female Moviemakers Took the Lead

Queen & Slim

Queen & Slim is a “love letter to blackness,” screenwriter Lena Waithe said when she and director Melina Matsoukas premiered the film at AFI Fest. The audience sent love letters back. The film stars Daniel Kaluuya and newcomer Jodie Turner-Smith as a young couple on a first date that is marred by racial profiling. The situation quickly escalates, and the lead characters find themselves on a road trip for justice. Their trip takes them through gorgeously photographed stretches of the Deep South and through road-trip deep cuts as sumptuous as you would expect from Matsoukas, who gained fame as a music video director before turning to the big screen. The screening was divided between moments of rapt silence and rapturous cheers. “Come walk with us,” Matsoukas told the audience. “Ride with us. Experience life through our lens.” If the AFI reception was any indication of what’s to come, audiences have been waiting a long time for a journey like the one in Queen & Slim. —Tim Molloy

Also read: Daniel Kaluuya Tells Us Why Queen & Slim is More Like Thelma & Louise Than Bonnie and Clyde

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