An ecstatic epic of a heartbreak in the most extraordinary 200-minute self-portrait in the history of cinema. Screening as part of the Antonyms of Beauty. Directed by Khalik Allah film programme.
IWOW: I Walk on Water
- Date:
11 Feb 2024
- Age restrictions
- 18+
IWOW: I Walk on Water
2020, Khalik Allah
United States
200 minutes, English with Russian subtitles
Documentary
T
On the corner of 125th Street and Lexington Avenue in Harlem, a black homeless man named Frenchie spins like a dervish. He is Allah’s recurring hero: his life on the New York streets was the subject of the director’s early short films. Here, in Allah’s most ambitious work to date, Frenchie no longer appears as a character, but as one of the author’s guides on his journey to find himself, along with Khalik’s mother and girlfriend.
Shot from IWOW: I Walk on Water, 2020
An ambitious, bewildering stream of consciousness; visual, aural, even ethereal.
— Matthew Anderson, Cinevue
Throughout the ecstatically shot and edited 200 minutes, Allah outlines his philosophy, circles around the places where he has worked, and tries to see himself through the eyes of his loved ones. It is a mesmerising session of authorial self-disclosure in search of new horizons—and an intoxicating example of directorial freedom.
