‘Sprinter’ is an award-winning indie drama and enduring coming of age story that centers a Jamaican youth as he fights not only to win a track championship but also fights for the future of his family.
Akeem Sharp (Dale Elliott) is a young Jamaican youth whose family becomes fractured at the age of seven when his mother (Lorraine Toussaint) decides to move to America to find a better life so she can send money back to her husband (Dennis Titus) and two sons still living in Jamaica. Akeem’s mother was only supposed to be living in America for two years but 10 years later and Akeem has not reunited with his mother since. They have communicated through phone calls and Skype his entire childhood. Akeem is left feeling abandoned by his mother and often fights with his father, who loves Akeem dearly but whose alcoholism often causes a schism between him and his son. Akeem also feels distant from his older brother Germaine (Kadeem Wilson) whose criminal lifestyle and scheming business has created a barrier between the two and leaves no time for them to spend quality time together. Akeem’s home life is completely unstable and his family grows ever more distant as Akeem finds he has no one to depend on.
However, there is one thing in Akeem can depend on—track and field. Akeem becomes a record-breaking sprinter at his high school’s track team as his fast flying speed leads him to become nationally known in Jamaica as the “‘Rasta Rocket.” Soon Akeem has the opportunity to compete at the Youth Games championship in Los Angeles. After weeks of training, setbacks, and self-doubts—Akeem wins the championship in LA and finally reunites with his mother after 10 long years.
Sprinter is more than a story about a young boy’s athletic aspirations. Sprinter is a story about self-determination, resiliency, and family. Akeem is propelled into his adulthood as he no longer passively accept the things that happen to him and no longer follows other people’s expectations of him. Instead, Akeem finally takes his life into his own hands and carries the future of his entire family on his back as he reunites with his mother and mends broken ties with his father and brother. What the film also importantly illustrates is the struggle so many immigrants families feel when mothers or fathers are forced to separate from their children in order to find a better life in another country so they can send money back home. What the director also does so well is display the beauty, lusciousness, and vibrancy of Jamaica that sets an enduring backdrop for Akeem’s triumph.
Sprinter is a beautiful and triumphant film. Directed by Storm Saulter and executive produced by Jada Pinkett-Smith and Will Smith, Sprinter won Best Feature Film, Best Director, and Audience Award at 2018’s American Black Film Festival, and Jury Winner for Best Narrative Feature at the 2019 Pan African Film Festival. The film is set to be released nationwide in theaters on April 24th.