What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire?

Young African-Americans are disproportionately often victims of deadly police violence. This is also the case in the southern US state of Louisiana, but here they have another enemy: the Ku Klux Klan is still active in the 21st century and terrorizes the black communities. When director Roberto Minervini traveled to Louisiana to shoot a documentary about the music of the 1930s, he abandoned his original plans in light of the omnipresent violence against blacks. So for WHAT YOU GONNA DO WHEN THE WORLD IS ON FIRE? he focused on a few protagonists, whom he shows in intimate black-and-white images. For example, he meets bar owner Judy Hill, who reflects on her role as a Black woman in US society through her life experiences. He shows the New Black Panther Party For Self-Defense in New Orleans, which tries to mobilize the neighborhood for protest action and offer practical social help. And he spends time with 14-year-old Ronaldo as he prepares his younger brother Titus for life - including boxing lessons and lessons on what it means to be black. Haunting portraits that coalesce into a picture of the people behind the #blacklivesmatter demand and what their everyday struggle against racism looks like.