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Inspired by Gordon Parks and Ralph Ellison’s unpublished 1948 photo essay of the same name, Harlem Is Nowhere is a short film that blends fictional, noir-styled surreal scenes––loosely influenced by Ellison’s “The Invisible Man”––with real people, places, and events in Harlem. The story follows an unnamed photographer in Harlem on Juneteenth––––breaking free from the COVID-19 lockdown from “The Abyssinian House” his church’s transitional housing project on 7th avenue. He goes on this day to investigate why his home of Harlem – his “Promised Land” – is dissapearing and if a God truly exists amidst an “Exodus” of plagues, BLM protests, and rapid gentrification through photography and community interviews – only to retreat back into isolation with a newfound sense of self, place, and freedom––underground.
Directed by Akil Gibbons (USA)