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Lay Down Old Man

World Premiere

USA | 82 MINUTES | English |

LAY DOWN OLD MAN

Documentary
The bewildering elements that sparked the powder keg of LA street gang violence are meticulously uncovered in the film, Lay Down Old Man. A two-film-in-one documentary about the history of the Bloods and the Crips, it provides a connecting history of the rival gangs as told by two of its respective founding members. Greg "Batman" Davis (East Side Crips), and T Rodgers (Black P Stone Bloods) grew up as leaders within their own sets, and like their gang colors each provides a varied outlook here; Batman shares his extensive photo archive charting his life as a gang-banger. While the point of view of Rodgers is chronicled by a day the life in "The Jungle", where he's seen struggling to keep the peace, director Nemo Librizzi, who's worked as a novelist, graphic artist, and filmmaker and a graffiti artist, creates an unforgettable portrait of two aging warriors. The film is a fascinating look into the lives of these gangs, both negative offshoots of the Black Panthers and formed in Los Angeles circa 1969, and how today the two groups are now represented in every major city across the country. And it explores how, Batman and T Rodgers, now respected OG's in their communities work diligently to put an end to the cycle of violence they helped to perpetuate. The film features music by The Last Poets, Pharoah Sanders, Bill Laswell and Parliament Funkadelic.


CAST & CREDITS

Directed by Nemo Librizzi

Nemo Librizzi has no formal film training. A love for cinema led to a knowledge thereof, and he entered into apprenticeship with established filmmakers, most notably Julian Schnabel and Jim Jarmusch. Despite a few forays into independence, resulting in some esoteric shorts relegated to survive hereafter in the annals of obscurity, Lay Down Old Man constitutes his graduation to the status of director. A native New Yorker, Nemo studied religion and philosophy at Columbia University, and was known to be a lay-about and town drunk before his decision to grow up.