Down a Dark Stairwell

Returning home after getting his hair braided for Thanksgiving, Akai Gurley, an innocent and unarmed black man, was shot and killed walking down a dark stairwell in the NYCHA Pink Houses of East New York. Fourteen steps above, police officer Peter Liang and his partner, Shaun Landau, were patrolling the building’s staircases when they heard a “quick sound.” Peter’s "accidental discharge" put into motion an emotionally charged legal battle, as two communities of color find themselves navigating fraught perceptions of injustice, inequality, and discrimination in the eyes of the law. Though a reported 1,059 people in the United States were shot and killed by the police in 2014 alone, Peter was the first on-duty NYPD officer to be charged and convicted of manslaughter since 2005. Ursula Liang (no relation) swiftly cuts through the noise and media frenzy to find what’s missing from the story. Using WeChat and Facebook, thousands of Chinese American protestors mobilize, staging marches along the Brooklyn Bridge and waving American flags in hopes of garnering support for Peter from the police force. Meanwhile, a multiracial coalition of activists support the Gurley family and search for someone to be held accountable for Akai’s tragic death. (True/False Film Festival)