Nathan Nzanga now and then

The star of enough. is Nathan Nzanga, a child of Congolese immigrants, born and raised in the center of an American culture war. 

Between clever inserts of Nzanga’s interviews with himself as a child, and later as a young man, he comes of age in the middle of a racial reckoning that embraces Black American culture, while surrounded by oppression and hatred. As he sings and raps and performs, the world tries to break in, tries to find the cracks in the dreamworld that Nzanga has set up within his consciousness. The tagline is apt. “A dream, a nightmare, a musical.”

The film relies on contrasts to ground it. Shot in black and white, the piece is about a silent suffering, and then morphs into a very vocal revolution happening in the younger generation. With the footage of Nzanga as a child, there is an immediate investment, an immediate wariness. What will happen to this child, who grows up before our eyes? 

enough. is not just an inspiring piece, but part of an inspiring community. Director Caleb Slain of Curate Films had been mentoring at Prodigy Camp, where Nzanga had studied, and after listening to the powerful music Nzanga had created after the death of George Floyd, decided to help create a film to go along with it. With the Seattle protests happening during filming, the city itself became an integral part of the film, rising up to support Prodigy Camp as they worked on its production. The cast and crew were 100% volunteer and there was nearly $300K+ worth of film equipment donated to support Nzanga and Slain’s work.