A Romantic Black Film
Love, Brooklyn, starring André Holland, Nicole Beharie, and DeWanda Wise, brings Black love to the screen. This romantic movie shows the different layers of love from the good, the grief, its complexities, and everything in between.
Holland plays the lead character, Roger, a journalist who’s having trouble finishing an assignment. At the same time, his character is stuck between pursuing single mother Nicole, played by Wise, while still talking to his ex, Casey, played by Beharie. Cassandra Freeman, who plays the character Lorna, said to the Carvd N Stone Team that this is Holland’s Love Jones moment.
“We all as a society, here in America, need to see love in all of its expansiveness and how hard it is, but how it’s worth it. And how love is not meant to be easy. Love is meant to be fought for, worked on,” said Freeman. “Love is a practice. It’s not an end place, honey. So any movie around love is necessary.”
Love, Brooklyn, premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
When Director Rachael Abigail Holder received this script a few years ago, she knew it would be a good story to bring to the screen.
“Black love on screen literally lifts me up and makes me feel seen because my parents are Black, my grandparents are Black, my sisters are Black, my cousins are Black, a lot of my friends are Black. But also, I just feel like love in general on screen should be seen. And Black love like sensitive, vulnerable Black love where we cry not because something tragic or horrific is happening or like there’s a huge conflict because someone cheated or someone did something horrible,” said Holder. “No one’s a villain in our movie. Everyone’s just a human being, so that kind of love, I think, is really important regardless of race.”
As the title insinuates, this feature film is set in Brooklyn and shows the city and how it’s constantly changing.
Wise said to the Carvd N Stone Team that she’s always been fighting to bring these types of movies and roles to the screen.
“It’s just been too long. As I’ve worked on these stories like “She’s Gotta Have It“, I’m in three of them with Blair Underwood. I keep trying to make it happen for all of us,” said Wise. “We deserve that like we deserve to not only feel love in our lives but to see it reflected in all of its complexity and all its generosity and compassion.”
Love, Brooklyn is centered around love, but it’s also a story about an artist trying to make it.
Check out our video interviews from the 2025 Sundance Film Festival here.
This coverage is presented by Visit Milwaukee.
