When George Floyd was killed by a member of the Minneapolis police in 2020, his killing set off a global protest movement. Darnella Frazier, the teenager who took the video of Floyd’s infamous arrest and murder and published it in a brave act of citizen journalism, has not given any sit-down interviews—until now. Her story speaks to the enduring weight and trauma this experience has had on her life. Along with other Black witnesses who have recorded and shared videos of racialized violence, it highlights how deeply these moments affect them. Social media platforms, meanwhile, benefit to the tune of millions of dollars from negative content by using such viral videos as marketing moments. A searing reflection on how we watch and record the world today, #WhileBlack confronts the toll of viral videos on real lives, raising pressing questions about technology, responsibility and the realities of race in the digital age. Aisha Jamal
Content advisory: This film contains scenes of racial violence.