“Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn” trailer for HBO’s new Film Officially Released
The trailer for HBO’s new documentary film, Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn, produced by Victorious De Costa, represented by ESQ Agency, has officially been released: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-BCcFZ4i2g.
The film documents the outrage that ensued following the murder of Yusuf Hawkins, a 16-year old African-American, by a group of white males in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. The use of archival footage, as well as numerous interviews with political and community leaders, and the family and friends of Yusuf Hawkins, expose the tensions felt throughout not only the community, but the city of New York at large. Director Muta’Ali believes “[t]his film ties together the past and the present showing how racism can rear its head anywhere, even in a liberal city.”
Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn is set to debut August 12, 2020 at 9pm ET on HBO and will also be available to stream on HBO Max. Victorious De Costa is also the Director and Producer of the award-winning documentary film “Digging for Weldon Irvine” and in production “We Have No Leaders” which focuses on the Harlem riots of 1964, the first ‘long hot summer’. De Costa is also at the helm of an untitled documentary about the legendary Motown group the 4 Tops, currently in development.
The film was an official Spotlight Documentary selection for the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary, originally pitched to De Costa via social media by Charles Darby, one of Yusuf’s friends, was selected from more than 300 submissions as the inaugural Feature Documentary Initiative created by the American Black Film Festival (ABFF). Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn, was thereafter chosen by Academy Award-winning production company, Lightbox, to be included in their initiative to promote diversity in their feature documentaries. De Costa’s robust contribution to the project cannot be understated.
For inquiries, contact Omar Bradford at ESQ Agency. obradford@esqagency.com (347)224-7144.