LISTEN TO MY HEARTBEAT looks at the gentrification of Washington, DC, through the lens of the city's folkloric music - Go-Go. Amid a gentrification boom, DC natives are facing erasure. The film examines a changing city and the future of the music that gave them a voice.
SYNOPSIS
Washington, D.C. may be the political epicenter of the world, but residents beyond Capitol Hill have long battled socioeconomic disparity and fought to have their voice heard. As the city gentrifies, black residents have been pushed to the outskirts, along with their homegrown folkloric music: Go-Go.
We follow: TOB, a popular Go-Go band with a large youth following. TOB is fighting the erasure of Black people and culture through music. LIL CHRIS is the conductor of the twelve-piece band and, as the “lead mic,” he tells the crowd what is going on. FLIP, LIL CHRIS’s older brother, creates harmonizing melodies that blend with his little brother’s lyrics. People of all ages stand in line in anticipation of hearing TOB, dancing and to have their neighborhood stamped. Stamping is when a Go-Go band shouts out the name of a neighborhood, as if to say you were here and you mattered. In the face of housing gentrification and cultural erasure, this is one of a few places where Black Washingtonians are seen, recognized, and celebrated. This is one of a few places that reflects the old D.C. As the city gentrifies, many of those neighborhoods no longer exist.
While TOB fights to keep the essence of Go-Go alive many of their concerts are shut down. We follow TOB as they go from being musicians to activist fighting to save Go-Go music.Through the film we discover there have been different methods of shutting down Go-Go concerts and even tracking Go-Go bands. These methods have been pushed through local government, micro laws / bills and even noise violations.
The story of gentrification, Go-Go, and politics collide when we meet TRAYON WHITE, a community organizer and school board member. While TOB stamps D.C. residents on the Go-Go Stage, TRAYON is working to stamp the future of D.C.’s residents through legislation. After TRAYON’s mentor - Mayor Marion Berry - died while in office, the Black residents rallied behind TRAYON to run for office to protect them from looming erasure. TRAYON is running for city council in the poorest section of the city and the last to be gentrified. TRAYON grew up on Go-Go, is an ally to the culture, and often works with the Go-Go community to get the political word out and protest unlawful developments and actions happening in the city. TRAYON is on the front lines of Ward 8, running interference between politicians, police, black residents, youth and developers who have open wallets and eyes on his community.
After years of contention between the Go-Go community, local politicians and new residents in the Spring of 2019 the story of Go-Go and Gentrification goes viral. Central Communications is a cellphone store and Washington, D.C, Go-Go landmark. The store has been playing Go-Go music outside of its store since 1990’s. The store is one of the last places in the city where you can still hear Go-Go music being played. After new residents complained about the store playing Go-Go music, a campaign / rallying cry named #dontmutedc went viral, and a change.org petition started. We follow TOB as they take to the street to protest the shutting down of the store. As TOB performed on the street, more than 3,000 people gathered to protest with the band. The protest caused Go-Go lovers and Black residents to protest and get politically active. Here we see the inception of TOB as activist.
TOB and TRAYON work alongside each other, and through their shared story we show the intersection of music, activism and politics. Amid the film we see Trayon go from community activist to politician, and we see TOB go from musicians to Go-Go activists.
LISTEN TO MY HEARTBEAT highlights the culture of Go-Go and its significance to the foundation of Washington, D.C. The film investigates the politics, the over-policing and the gentrification that have led to the displacement of the poor and working-class residents of the city and their music. This is a story of resistance. We tell the story of a community fighting for their humanity, their community, their sound and their…heartbeat.
Director Statement
As a native Washingtonian, I grew up on Go-Go culture. I remember hearing the music blaring from car speakers and radios. When summer came around and block parties took over the streets, I was able to get a taste of the Go-Go experience from my front yard. There I saw generations of black residents, from babies and teens to grandparents, dancing to the Go-Go beat. I never wanted that experience to stop. Years later I experienced the inception of the gentrification of the city. The gentrification of the city started while I was in high school. After I left for college I returned to the city on occasion, and I saw the economic and racial shift of the city. I saw something bubbling and changing in the city. I saw people lose their homes and their culture. The concept of the film was actually spawned from numerous heartfelt and sometimes tear-filled conversations with friends about the old D.C., the changing D.C., and what the new D.C. would birth. Through these conversations, we felt compelled to give those living through this experience a space to share their story and to highlight what will happen to the culture of Go-Go within this changing city. Through this film, I am compelled to: pay homage to my hometown, unearth historical and cultural points in the city, and examine the causes and the trickle-down effects of gentrification.
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Director Nyjia July
Nyjia is a Washington D.C. native. Nyjia has worked with filmmaker Marc Levin and Black Public Media. She became a Corporation for Public Broadcast diversity fellow and a digital media producer with the Center for Asian American Media.
She’s worked in development with MTV and has been a field/senior producer on numerous docuseries. She has been a field and senior producer on series like: the Hulu / IPC produced music series, “RapCaviar Presents,” the CNN/ IPC produced political series “United States of Scandal with Jake Tapper,” and the Disney+ series “Choir.” On the World of Wonder, AMC Networks and Sundance TV series "Citizen Detective” Nyjia both senior produced and directed two episodes.
Nyjia’s first documentary JUST US examines the epidemic of generational imprisonment. She was in the SOURCE Magazine as one of 25 Women to Watch. Her second documentary LISTEN TO MY HEARTBEAT, looks at the gentrification of Washington, D.C. through the gaze of the city’s folkloric music. LISTEN TO MY HEARTBEAT, has been awarded development support through ITVS’s Diversity Development Fund, and production funding through ITVS’s Open Call. Nyjia was a BAVC MediaMaker Fellow and was a part of SUNDANCE and Women in Film’s Financing and Strategy Intensive for Independent Women Filmmakers. Nyjia completed the Joan Scheckel directing lab and was a BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA 360 Incubator fellow for 2019. Nyjia has been a FIRELIGHT MEDIA Documentary Lab Fellow, a SUNDANCE Uprise Grantee, The Center for Cultural Power Artist Disruptor Award winner and a PBS Wyncote Fellow.
Producer Trevite Willis
Trevite Willis is an independent producer and film festival founder committed to courageous storytelling and championing voices of color. Trevite Willis is a Co-Executive Producer on the Sundance 2023 film, TO LIVE AND DIE AND LIVE, and was an executive producer on the Sundance 2020 award-winning film, FORTY YEAR OLD VERSION, (dir.Radha Blank). She is currently in post-production on the 2020 political documentary, BLACK VOTERS MATTER (dir. Daresha Kyi), following civil rights activists LaTosha Brown and Cliff and April Albright as they rallied voters in the general and Georgia’s U.S. Senate run-off elections. She is producing the Inquisitor: The Barbara Jordan Documentary and on FRANK BEY: YOU’RE GONNA MISS ME (dir. Marie Hinson). She has produced 7 feature films, including CARGO (2017 Amnesty International Human Rights Prize), BLOOD BOUND, MAYA AND HER LOVER, and CHILDREN OF GOD which had theatrical releases in the US, UK and The Netherlands, won 17 awards, and sold in 24 territories. In 2018, Ms. Willis launched the Southern Fried Film Festival in Huntsville, Alabama with fellow founder, Kelley Reischauer. She was a 2020 Blackhouse Multicultural Producers Lab fellow. She is an alumni of Trans-Atlantic Partners (2017), a Sundance Catalyst fellow (2018), and a Women at Sundance Strategy Intensive fellow (2017, 2019). Ms Willis was a SXSW Tech Conference speaker (Mining Diversity: Developing a Community of Color, 2012). Ms. Willis is a member of New York Women In Film and Television and Women Independent Producers.
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