“The time loop nightmare of being a black man in the US” African American Cultural Memory in the Short Film Two Distant Strangers (2020)

Abstract

This paper is concerned with African American cultural memory and the translation of historical experiences into contemporary narratives. To discuss this, I will analyze the American short film Two Distant Strangers“ (2020), which takes up contemporary discussions of the Black Lives Matter“ movement and problematizes racial profiling and police violence in the United States. Addressing the ways in which contemporary cinematic representations display traumatic memories and discuss existing memory processes, I will argue that films like Two Distant Strangers “are substantial contributions to African American cultural memory and thus capable of impacting predominant narratives about African American histor(ies) and identit(ies).

Keywords

• Cultural Memory
• Trauma
• History
• Cultural Identity
• African American Culture
• African American Film