LOVEWESTFILM.COM

LOVE WEST

Documentary

Impulse Media

LOVEwestfilm.com

Impulse Media

ABOUT

LOVEwestfilm.com

LOVE WEST follows the journey of a West Philly high school girls basketball coach, Beulah Osueke (o-sway-kay). “Coach B” who will stop at nothing to ensure her players actualize their fullest potential. LOVE WEST holds love and loss in the same breath while challenging expectations of Black womanhood as they pursue a state championship during the dual crises of the global pandemic and the global uprisings against systemic racism.

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the play

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Mood & texture

Through our intimate cinematic approach we strive to capture the true essence of joy, community and togetherness from the lens to the screen.

As Black storytellers, it's our obligation to capsulize the joyous moments that are key to our survival. In LOVE WEST we see what it looks like for our kids to be valued, defended and loved unconditionally in a world that too often sees them as disposable.

LOVE WEST is a dynamic portrait of the many layers this team, and our people, are made of. Through them we see how love Is always at the center of the many fibers that keep us connected.

#AKM20

LOVE WEST seeks to honor and uplift the legacy of Akyra Murray. Akyra was an all-star on and off the court. She transformed the school's once winless basketball program and was the first player to believe in Coach B. After graduating third in her class, she was tragically taken as the youngest

victim of the Orlando Pulse Massacre in 2016.

Coach B became the first Black woman to win a state basketball title in Pennsylvania's 100+ year history, she dedicated the historic win to Akyra.

visionary

Jasmine Leeward

Director

Jasmine is committed to the delicate work of culture shifting towards Black and Brown liberation, particularly in the U.S. South. She has worked as a communications specialist for Women’s March Inc.; ReFrame; and New Virginia Majority, a group organizing for racial, environmental, and economic justice through strategic electoral work and grassroots campaigns.

She received her undergraduate Psychology and Africana Studies degree from The College of William and Mary. Jasmine is a 2019 Echoing Ida fellow, a 2020 Visionary Justice StoryLab fellow and a 2021 Just Films fellow.

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above the rim

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Janae Thompson

Producer

Theatrical performer and creator. Janae is a graduate of the Governor's School for the Arts: Theatre Department, American Musical and Dramatic Academy (Musical Theatre), and studied film at Full Sail University. Recent performances include Zeiders American Dream Theater's “Refraction of Light” (Nettie), The Studio of Key West's “The Dinner Party," Emmy Award-Winning Inheritance Theater Project's “Exodus: Homecoming” (Foxtrot/Foxy), Virginia Musical Theatre’s “Little Mermaid” (Arista), and “Evita” (Ensemble).

Produced works include: Richmond 48 Hour Film Project Audience Choice winner “Back in My Day” and "Switch the Web Series.”.

Janae serves as Communications Coordinator for ROŪGE: Theater Reinvented, Repertory Member for the Canady Foundation for the Arts, and collaborator of The Underground Performing Arts Collective.

Jon Olshefski

Lead Cinematographer

Jonathan Olshefski is an artist and documentary filmmaker.

His debut feature documentary, QUEST was nominated for two News and Documentary Emmys in 2019. The film premiered in competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and went on to screen at over 75 festivals nationally and internationally.

Olshefski strives to tell intimate and nuanced stories that honor his subjects’ complexity by employing a production process that emphasizes collaboration, dialogue, and relationship in order to amplify their voices and reflect their points of view in an artful way.

He has an MFA in Film and Media Arts from Temple University and is an Associate Professor at Rowan University where he teaches in the department of Radio, TV, and Film.

Natalie Bullock Brown

Executive Producer

Natalie Bullock Brown is a teaching assistant professor at North Carolina State University, and a documentary filmmaker. She is currently working on her first feature length documentary film as a director, which explores the white beauty standard and its impact on Black women and girls.

She is also a producer for award-winning filmmaker Byron Hurt’s upcoming PBS documentary, HAZING. Natalie is a contributor and guest for the monthly program #BackChannel, for which she provides pop culture on WUNC radio’s The State of Things. She also serves as strategist for the organization Working Film’s StoryShift initiative, which develops praxis and best practices for ethical, accountable documentary storytelling.

Taj DeVore-Bey

2 Unit Cinemetographer

Taj DeVore-Bey is a documentarian and cinematographer based in Philadelphia, PA. He uses the art of storytelling and imagemaking as an expression, hoping to carry the audience into a realm of emotion and perspective.

Evan Smith

Impact Strategist

Evan experiences are highlighted by planning the annual Black & Bold Awards to celebrate Black LGBTQ+ leaders at Diversity Richmond. Evan also executed community programming in preparation for the re-opening and racial integration of a once dormant theater (closed in 1958) while at the Academy Center of the Arts in Lynchburg, VA. Their academic background includes a B.A. in Philosophy from Randolph College (formerly Randolph-Macon Woman’s College) where they graduated with the honors of Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Kali Baker Johnson

Editor

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Team mates

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Beulah "Coach B" Osueke

Coach

Beulah Osueke is the founder and director of PILR Training, (blurb). She Is the recently retired Head Coach of a girls Varsity Basketball team in West Philadelphia.

A Nigerian-American and native of Houston, Texas, Coach B uses her identity and cultural heritage as a guidepost for powerful community building. She opts to lead her kids with her voice and accountability instead of a whistle. Through her work as a coach and community organizer, Osueke uses her platform to optimize the impact of sports in young people’s lives. She is currently writing a book to offer to other Black coaches up against the same systems.

Patience Sanders

Starting Player

Patience is a natural born leader. She returned to the team after a year break and made an immediate impact. She adds grit to her team and vocal leadership in practice and in games. She takes on kids twice her size and sacrifices her body without question day in and out. Patience is at Louisiana State University where she plans to study Marine Biology.

Ciani Montgomery

Starting Player

Ciani wandered into high school completely unaware of her remarkable talents. She has humor, wisdom, and warmness that her peers can’t compete with. Ciani drove her team to victory scoring 34 points In the state championship game. Ciani is currently playing basketball at Lincoln University.

Destiney McPhaul

Team Captain

Des protects herself by any means necessary, from strangers and those who love her. And it’s absolutely necessary. She makes it clear that trust needs to be earned, and once earned, shows how an exchange of trust can become the foundation of mutual transformation. She’s achieved local stardom by barely scratching the surface of her full potential. Destiney is playing D1 basketball at Temple University