The Black Sea

Synopsis: Khalid, a charismatic big dreamer from Brooklyn with no follow-thru gets stuck in a small Bulgarian resort town on the Black Sea after chasing a fast cash opportunity that goes awry. As the only black guy around, he becomes the center of the town's curiosity. His New York City street bop is all he has to survive and figure out how to get home. But in his pursuit he finds connection in a way he never expected.

Review:

I was lucky enough to meet the folks that made this unique and special movie happen when I was at the Middleburg Film Festival waiting in line to see another film, Flow. Crystal Moselle and Derrick B. Harden were early awaiting the next film and we started chatting before the showing, their energy was great and we hit it off immediately, connecting about the festival, Brooklyn and eventually their film, The Black Sea. I wasn’t lucky enough to see their film at the festival but they were gratious enough to share a screener with me to review.

The Black Sea is a film that is from it’s opening seconds to the closing credits on the shoulders of the lead Khalid played by Derrick, and it feels like an extension of the man that I met in line. Once Khalid hops a plane to Bulgaria his adventure begins, Raya, played by Krasimira Demirova on Facebook who paid for him to come and “touch her” after the woman is told by a fortune teller that she needs the touch of a black man. Before Khalid meets up with Raya she passes away, and now he has no way of returning home and her son is a very connected local who doesn’t take kindly to hearing that his mother was going to have “adult time” with this random black man from America. The movie continues to kick Khalid while he’s down, his phone dies and he doesn’t have a charger, he sleeps at the docks and his bag with his passport is stolen, this leads him to trying to leave and he meets Ina, played by Irmena Chichikova. She is a travel agent and tells him she can not book him a trip without his passport, but she is nice to him and eventually this leads to their unlikely friendship and business partnership. There are more trials and tribulations that this duo go through and I will allow you to learn more about them when you watch this.

If you can please go see this film and follow what Crystal and Derrick work on next, this film was not scripted and was improved by Derrick and others in Bulgaria, it is unique, heartwarming and charming. This type of adult dramedy seems lost in today’s film landscape and I for one can’t wait to see more from them, also a hearty two thumbs up from my wife exclaiming that was a fun and happy movie and half way through the film she was like I want to be friends with him, proof that Khalid / Derrick is truly likable.