With finals just around the corner, one way to “destress from the test” is to watch some of the eye-catching films that were featured in the SCAD Savannah Film Festival. One amazing film that premiered here at the film fest was George Tillman Jr.’s The Hate U Give.
TheHate U Give gets its source material from the book of the same name written by Angie Thomas.She based the content of the young adult novel off rapper Tupac Shakur’s philosophy T.H.U.G L.I.F.E., that stands for The Hate U Give Little Infants F*cks Everybody. T.H.U.G. tells the story of Starr, played by SCAD Rising Star Award honoree Amanda Stenberg, and the actions she must take after witnessing her childhood friend being shot by a police officer.After attending the film myself, I can tell you there wasn’t a dry eye in the audience. This film, along with many other SCAD Film Festival films such as Monsters and Men and BlacKkKlansman touched upon race. It gives people the opportunity to have conversations like the ones presented in the movie, despite their racial or social views.
After the screening, movie-goers were able to attend the Q and A with Amandla Stenberg as she informed the crowd about her process of getting ready for the film, getting in touch with her character, and what it meant to be a person of color in society. The 20-year-old actress even discussed the term “code-switching” and how she felt about the audience response to the movie.
“We wanted you to cry”, said Stenberg. “It means you were listening”.
As someone who read the book before seeing the film, I am so glad that the movie stayed true with its original content, all while still providing new material for its story and characters.
You don’t need to be white to see this movie, you don’t need to be black to understand this movie, you don’t even have to agree with this film. What you need to do is open your mind and look at the world around you and decide whether you’re fine with living in a one-sided society or are ready for a change to start happening.
If the answer is yes to either of those questions, then go to the nearest movie theater and pick up a ticket for The Hate U Give.
You won’t regret it.
Amandla Stenberg at the Q&A 
Still from The Hate U Give
