MOVIE TRAILERS

Saul Williams in Charles Officer's Crime Noir 'Akilla's Escape' Trailer

by Alex Billington
May 20, 2021
Source: YouTube

"I'm doing this my way…" Vertical Ent. has released the official trailer for Akilla's Escape, an acclaimed "crime noir" film that originally premiered at last year's Toronto Film Festival last fall. The second feature from Jamaica-Canadian filmmaker Charles Officer (also of Nurse.Fighter.Boy), the film is about the modern urban child-soldier. Saul Williams stars as Akilla Brown, who is about to cash out of his cannabis growing business. He then captures a fifteen-year-old Jamaican boy in the aftermath of an armed robbery at his place. Over one grueling night, Akilla confronts a cycle of generational violence he thought he escaped. The cast includes Thamela Mpumlwana, Donisha Rita, and Claire Prendergast. I heard tons of great things about this film out of TIFF last year, and I've been looking forward to catching up with it ever since. Quite a powerful trailer!! I dig the style, the poster is dope, and it's a story we haven't heard before. I'm sold.

Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Charles Officer's Akilla's Escape, direct from YouTube:

Akilla Brown (Saul Williams) is forty-years-old and for the first time in his life, the clandestine cannabis grow operation he runs is legit. Only one year into government approved legalization, the pendulum of hypocrisy takes a toll and Akilla decides to cash out. While making a routine delivery on a cool, summer night, destiny takes an unexpected turn when Akilla confronts a firestorm of masked youths in an armed robbery. In the aftermath of the heist, Akilla captures one of the thieves, a mute 15-year-old boy named Sheppard. Upon learning the bandits are affiliated with the Garrison Army, a Jamaican crime syndicate his grandfather founded, Akilla is forced to reckon with a cycle of violence he thought he escaped. Akilla's Escape is directed by Jamaican-Canadian filmmaker Charles Officer, his second feature after making Nurse.Fighter.Boy previously, as well as a few shorts and lots of TV work including episodes of "Coroner" & "Private Eye". The screenplay is by Charles Officer and Wendy Motion Brathwaite. This initially premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year, and it played at this year's Santa Barbara Film Festival. Vertical Ent. will release Officer's Akilla's Escape in select US theaters + on VOD starting June 11th, 2021 this summer.

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