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BlackStar Festival | A Love Song for Latasha

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Still from A Love Song for Latasha ![Still from A Love Song for Latasha](https://assets-global.website-files.com/62ee0bbe0c783a903ecc0ddb/6472be4c6e3fb0f8b6cf0990_Screen%2BShot%2B2020-05-08%2Bat%2B4.53.01%2BPM.jpeg) Still from _A Love Song for Latasha_ 28 years ago, a jury acquitted four LAPD officers for the beating of Rodney King and sparked six days of unrest, rioting, and upheaval in Los Angeles. But the King trial wasn’t alone in setting the stage -- the week before, a California appeals court upheld the decision of a judge to sentence Soon Ja Do, who was convicted by a jury of manslaughter for shooting the 15-year-old Latasha Harlins in the back 13 days after King’s beating, to community service and probation, a decision that also sparked intense outrage. This weekend, the BlackStar Film Festival, which is dedicated to the work of filmmakers of color, is marking the anniversary by hosting a series of free, online screenings of director Sophia Nahli Allison’s _A Love Song for Latasha_. The 19-minute experimental documentary centers on Harlins’ life, not just her trauma, through memories of her friends and family. The screenings will culminate on Sunday with a conversation between Allison, _Insecure_ producer Deniese Davis, artist Lynnée Denise, _Surviving R. Kelly_ executive producer dream hampton, and scholar Marcus Anthony Hunter on the links between visual art, collective memory, and Black liberation, which will also be streamed lives. The dreamlike and deeply moving short film premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, was an official selection of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, and won Best Documentary Short at the 2019 BlackStar Festival.  Still from A Love Song for Latasha ![Still from A Love Song for Latasha](https://assets-global.website-files.com/62ee0bbe0c783a903ecc0ddb/6472be4c6e3fb0f8b6cf0994_Screen%2BShot%2B2020-05-08%2Bat%2B4.55.33%2BPM.jpeg) Still from _A Love Song for Latasha_ The film will be streamed three times consecutively over the course of an hour, beginning at 4pm PST on Friday, 4pm PST on Saturday, and 1pm PST on Sunday. “Latasha Harlins is a name that is synonymous with the riots, but too often nuanced stories of black women and black girls go unnoticed and their trauma becomes their full existence. To commemorate this time in LA history we hold space for Latasha Harlins, celebrating her life and the women who’ve kept her memory alive,” Allison said. The live streams will all be accessible on BlackStar’s Facebook page, [here](https://blackstarfest.org/lovesong).