Black people have always made a way out of no way. With "You So Black", I wanted to deliver a message that tapped into core beliefs about our future as a people. In a time marked by bad rhetoric, Proud Boys and pundits, I believe it’s our duty to tell stories that give real dimension to our ideals - stories that connect us to one another. With social distancing, community shutdown and the slow creep of loneliness, I wanted this film to stand against the tide and to use the megaphone of Facebook to empower people to connect, making history in small and big ways by just being black together.

J.M. Harper is a director and documentarian living in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn with quite a lot of expired Fuji 125T and a cat named Miles Davis. Raised in the cornfields of Rockford, Illinois, he learned how to wield a camera by making visually driven, human documentaries in Berlin, Senegal and across the Americas. A polyglot and composer, Jason embraces the multi-hyphenate path of cinematography, editing and directing. Jeenyuhs, a documentary on Kanye West, is his fourth feature documentary as editor. As a director, he was honored as part of the AdWeek Creative 100 and nominated for a Webby. In his spare time, he teaches 16mm/35mm cinematography at a cinema arts non-profit called Mono No Aware. His film work has been featured at Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, AdWeek, Vimeo Staff Picks, FADER and the Guggenheim Museum.