At the conclusion of Black History Month, Apple this weekend debuted a new Shot on iPhone video filmed by 21-year-old director Philip Youmans, the first African-American filmmaker to win the Founders Prize at Tribeca Film Festival.
The five-minute video “follows a number of our image-makers as they each celebrate the Black experience, Black excellence, love, and imagination.” It features the work of photographers Lawrence Agyei, Gabriella Angotti-Jones, Lauren Woods, and Julien James. Check it out below:
The video is accompanied by the songs “Hit Em Where It Hurts” by PawPaw Road, and others. It plays out as a series of vignettes, with each photographer talking about their own experiences of Blackness. It alternates shots of their own photographs, with footage filmed by Youmans.
This ad is the latest in a series of projects Apple put on for Black History Month. It also launched a webpage showcasing images from the campaign, along with photographers’ thought on what it means to be Black. There is also a connected Instagram page featuring additional information.
Apple’s crowdsourced Shot on iPhone campaign has been running for several years now. Back in 2015, the campaign picked up the top prize at the Outdoor Lions competition at Cannes. At the time, jury president Juan Carlos Ortiz described it as “not just a great idea, [but] a game-changer.”
What do you think of the latest Shot on iPhone video? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
