With several short films on his directing resume, Ka’ramuu Kush has now set his sights on his feature film directorial debut, and Shadow & Act has your first look at a teaser trailer Kush put together for the project, to give viewers an early glimpse at what to expect.
Titled Die Enormous, which Kush borrowed from a track called Can I Live, from Jay-Z’s 1996 debut album Reasonable Doubt – considered his crowning achievement – in which he expresses, “I’d rather die enormous than live dormant…,” the film currently boasts actor Omari Hardwick as its star.
Calling it an unconventional, genre-bending work of cinema, which combines character driven action and drama, explicit plot details on Die Enormous are currently being kept underwraps, but, in a statement he sent, here’s a summary of how Kush describes the project, his motivations, and end-goals:
“What wouldn’t you do for a million dollars?” is the thematic question which sets this action packed indie feature in motion. The question suggests the moral dilemma of our protagonist, in a world that implores him to, “get yours, by any and all means.” Built to be hyper-realistic, DIE ENORMOUS re-imagines the real life US government $2 million dollar bounty on legendary political exile, Assata Shakur. With DIE ENORMOUS, I’ve set out to revisit tenets of 1970’s independent American cinema; that which tackles a controversial idea while balancing “the sacred” and “the profane”. The emotional journey is that of the motherless child; a metaphor for the Black American experience. Having endured the passing of both parents at a very young age, there are so many life rigors and lessons that I’ve had to negotiate for self; many of which have left indelible marks; a form of psychological scarification, if you will. What I’ve found is that my personal experience is a microcosm of the greater Black American experience. As an artist, I process my deep rooted maternal/paternal neurosis through the medium of cinema. Parents, the loss of parents and the journey that follows as one consciously assembles who and/or what they are, figures prominently in my work.
