''St. Louis Superman'' is a 2019 American short documentary film about activist, battle rapper, and former politician Bruce Franks Jr. It was directed by Sami Khan and

Smriti Mundhra Smriti Mundhra is an Indian-American filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Her production company, Meralta Films, specializes in documentary films and non-fiction content. Mundhra won the Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award at the 2017 Trib ...

. It was released by

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

Documentary Films. Franks became an activist in the

unrest Unrest, also called disaffection, is a sociological phenomenon, including: * Civil unrest * Civil disorder * Domestic terrorism * Industrial unrest * Labor unrest * Rebellion * Riot * Strike action * State of emergency Notable historical instance ...

in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri, following the shooting of Michael Brown in 2014. Franks was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 2016. The film covers his time in state government and his struggles with unresolved childhood trauma, including witnessing his nine-year-old brother's death in a shooting. Sheila Nevins of MTV Documentary Films purchased ''St. Louis Superman'' after it showed the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival. Nevins had the filmmakers add a coda that elaborated on Franks' mental health struggles. In the United States, it was broadcast on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

, and

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to sh ...

on May 18, 2020.

Awards

''St. Louis Superman'' premiered at the 2019

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Big Sky Documentary Film Festival is an annual non-fiction film festival held in Missoula, Montana each February. The event showcases documentary films from around the world. The festival first began in 2003 as a seven-day event. It is now a ten- ...

, where it won the jury Prize for Best Documentary Short. It also showed at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, where it won the special jury mention;

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...

, where it won the audience award for best short; AFI Docs, where it won the audience award; and the St. Louis International Film Festival, where it won best local short. ''St. Louis Superman'' was nominated for Best Documentary (Short Subject) for the 92nd Academy Awards.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=10009148, title=St. Louis Superman
''St. Louis Superman''
a
Oscars.go.com
2019 short documentary films 2019 films Missouri General Assembly Documentary films about African Americans Documentary films about American politicians Documentary films about Missouri African-American history in St. Louis 2010s English-language films 2010s American films