Kahlil Joseph & James Shani Talk ‘BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions’, Why Rich Spirit Acquired The Film From Participant & Plans For A Wide Cinema Release — Q&A

deadline.com:

An old quote, often ascribed to Jim Jarmusch, popped into my head after seeing Kahlil Joseph’s impressive feature debut BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions this week in Berlin. “Authenticity is invaluable, originality is nonexistent,” Jarmusch is reported to have once said.

Even with Jarmusch’s trademark opacity, the point is clear: Filmmakers should aim to create a practice that is personal and honest because that is what makes the work interesting.

It’s a remix of Jean-Luc Godard’s famous mantra, “It’s not where you take things from – it’s where you take them.” In BLKNWS, Joseph honors this tradition, trading in any broad conventions about the shape or content of feature filmmaking for a personal approach that is challenging, accessible, yet, miraculously, unlike much else we’ve seen on the big screen before.

The film, which screened in the new Perspectives competition in Berlin, is the latest incarnation of Joseph’s BLKNWS art project, which was originally conceived as a video installation at the Underground Museum in Los Angeles and was later presented as a two-channel installation at the Venice Biennale in 2019.