Ephraim Asili on Capturing Radical Collectivity in His First Feature Film

Production still from The Inheritance, 2020. Photo by Mick Bello. This Artforum interview with filmmaker Ephraim Asili explores the artist's first feature film, The Inheritance. Framing the film around his own experience as part of a radical collective in West Philadelphia, Asili aims to capture the process of political awakening, on film.

I wanted the story to revolve around individuals being politicized by materials that they were coming into contact with. The idea of the protagonist inheriting a house filled with books and records and then turning that space into a collective for radical thought seemed like the best way to explore the relationship between sociopolitical objects and ideas and sociopolitical actions.