By Carlos Aguilar
FROM: L.A. Times

Spoken word poetry transmits messages through a singular language: deft prose molded into a visceral performance by rhythm, intonation and physicality. The delivery turns words into daggers of truth, for soul-searching or external confrontation.

In the spring of 2019, this potent conduit for liberating one’s innermost struggles and yearnings worked itself in the psyche of Carlos López Estrada. The Mexican-born director behind the indie breakthrough “Blindspotting” and this year’s Disney release, “Raya and the Last Dragon,” attended a showcase of young poets from across Los Angeles at Get Lit — Words Ignite, a nonprofit in Koreatown founded by Diane Luby Lane to promote literacy through self-expression.

Get Lit operates in tandem with LAUSD high schools to introduce a curriculum into English classes that integrates classic and contemporary poetry, from Yeats to Kendrick Lamar, in order to encourage students to generate their own pieces. The artists he witnessed, some seasoned, others just coming into their own, embodied fearlessness in their openness and the kind of determined hope that can be life-altering. It was for him.

The encounter led López Estrada to his second feature, “Summertime,” an omnibus narrative film celebrating 27 spoken word storytellers and the corners of the city they most identify with. Read Rest of Review Here