''The Obituary of Tunde Johnson'' is an American drama film, directed by

Ali LeRoi Ali LeRoi (born February 12, 1962) is an Emmy-award-winning"Ali LeRoi"
''Emmys'' website, the Academy ...

and released in 2019.

Premise

Tunde Johnson is a gay

Nigerian-American Nigerian Americans ( ig, Ṇ́dị́ Naìjíríyà n'Emerịkà; ha, Yan Najeriyar asalin Amurka; yo, Àwọn ọmọ Nàìjíríà Amẹ́ríkà) are an ethnic group of Americans who are of Nigerian ancestry. The number of Nigerian immigran ...

teenager who is in a secret relationship with his school's white

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

champion Soren. Soren is

closeted ''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and other (LGBTQ+) people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and human ...

and officially dating popular girl Marley, Tunde's best friend since childhood. The day of Soren's birthday, when the two boys have planned to

come out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

to their families, Tunde is stopped and fatally shot by a police officer. Following his death, he wakes up the previous morning and becomes trapped in a time loop, forced to relive the day of his murder, which keeps happening in different ways no matter how hard he tries to change it.

Cast

* Steven Silver as Tunde Johnson, a gay African-American teenager who is trapped in a time loop that forces him to repeatedly relive the day of his fatal, racially motivated shooting by a police officer * Nicola Peltz as Marley Meyers, Tunde's longtime friend * Spencer Neville as Soren O'Connor, a

classmate who is secretly dating both Tunde and Marley in a

love triangle A love triangle or eternal triangle is a scenario or circumstance, usually depicted as a rivalry, in which two people are pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with one person, or in which one person in a romantic relationship with so ...

David James Elliott David James Elliott (born September 21, 1960) is a Canadian actor who was the star of the series ''JAG (TV series), JAG'', playing lead character Harmon Rabb, Harmon Rabb Jr. from 1995 to 2005. Early life Elliott was born David William Smith on S ...

as Soren's conservative father Alfred, who hosts a talk show about current affairs * Alessandra Rosaldo as Dr. Martínez, Tunde's therapist *

Sammi Rotibi Sammi Rotibi is a Nigerian-American film and television actor. His most notable roles are Rodney in ''Django Unchained'' and General Amajagh in '' Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice''. His acting idols are Sidney Poitier and Peter O'Toole. B ...

as Tunde's father Ade *

Tembi Locke Tembekile "Tembi" Locke is an American actress who has appeared in television shows and film. She is best known as Dr. Grace Monroe on Syfy's series ''Eureka'' and as Dr. Diana Davis in ''Sliders''. Locke is also the author of the bestselling mem ...

as Tunde's mother Yomi

Production

The screenplay was written by Stanley Kalu, a film student at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

. It was the first-ever winner of The Launch, a screenwriting competition to find and develop screenplays by promising new writers on which LeRoi was a judge; the competition's prize included the screenplay being produced as a feature film, and LeRoi signed on to direct it as his own feature film debut.

Release

The film premiered at the

2019 Toronto International Film Festival The 44th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 5 to 15 September 2019. The opening gala was the documentary film '' Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band'', directed by Daniel Roher, and the festival closed with a ...

Reception

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Obituary of Tunde Johnson, The 2019 films 2019 directorial debut films American LGBT-related films African-American drama films African-American LGBT-related films LGBT-related drama films 2019 LGBT-related films Time loop films Films about police brutality Gay-related films Bisexuality-related films Films about racism 2019 drama films Films directed by Ali LeRoi 2010s American films