“Don’t tell Kim” is key to understanding Dayveon’s inner conflict. His older sister isn’t supposed to find out about the dodgy goings-on the thirteen-year-old has got himself caught up in; he only confides in her boyfriend, Bryan. Bryan has offered himself to Dayveon as a kind of substitute for his brother, whose death was linked to his gang membership. And now Dayveon and his best friend Brayden have themselves joined the Bloods.
Amman Abbasi has worked as a documentary filmmaker, as the coordinator of the Little Rock Film Festival and as an assistant to David Gordon Green; with his brother Yousuf, he’s also had success as a musician and composer. Dayveon is the feature debut of this multitalented 28-year-old; he wrote the screenplay, acted as editor and producer and also composed the music. Filmed in classic Academy format, the film combines sun-drenched images of the American South, eerie night scenes, suggestive nature shots (a swarm of bees is a recurring motif) and the family’s cramped home into a dense portrait of a life on the periphery, constantly teetering between tenderness and brutality, poetry and realism.
by
Amman Abbasi
USA 2017
English
75 min · Colour
WITH
Devin Blackmon (Dayveon)
Kordell "KD" Johnson (Brayden)
Dontrell Bright (Bryan)
Chasity Moore (Kim)
Lachion Buckingham (Mook)
Marquell Manning (Country)
CREW
Director
Amman Abbasi
Screenplay
Amman Abbasi, Steven Reneau
Director of Photography
Dustin Lane
Editor
Michael Carter, Dominic LaPerriere
Music
Amman Abbasi
Producers
Amman Abbasi, Alexander Uhlmann, Lachion Buckingham
BIOGRAPHY
Amman Abbasi
Born as the son of immigrants from Pakistan. He grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. He has worked as a director’s assistant for filmmakers such as David Gordon Green, and he now works as an editor and composer. In 2008, he and his brother released their debut album, Something Like Nostalgia.