Independent Lens
Ratified
Ratified brings to life the push to add the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution through the legal battle in Virginia—the final state needed to ratify the amendment.
What's in a Name?
On and offstage, Khalil Abdul Malik Raheem Munir grapples with three generations of complex legacies—and names—in his South Philadelphia family.
- Funding Initiative
- Diversity Development Fund
Producer/Director
Malkia Lydia
Filmmaker Malkia K. Lydia’s work includes short documentaries for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, music videos, and TV specials. Her films have been recognized by the Maryland State Arts Council, The Leeway Foundation, and Humanities DC. What’s In A Name? Is her first long-form film.
Producer
Khalil A. M. R. Munir
Khalil A. M. R. Munir is a dancer, actor, writer, and teaching artist. Having served on the faculty at Philadelphia’s historic Freedom Theatre and Temple University, his art transmutes victimhood to victory. His stage production One Pound, Four Ounces combines dance, tap percussion, and monologue to convey vignettes from his childhood.
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The Film
Inspired by the birth of his son, an African American man traces three generations of men in his family—from Jim Crow South to South Philly small business empire, incarceration to Islam, and streets to spotlight. He examines his life on stage through an avant-garde mix of monologue and percussive tap dance known as “hoofing.” We learn that at his own precarious birth, he was named Khalil Abdul Malik Raheem Munir when his father handed down his Muslim name, plus the names of three friends who were locked away for life. We follow along when Khalil first accompanies his dad to visit one of these friends, at the very prison where Khalil Sr. spent many of his son’s formative years. The canvas for this story is an African American community in South Philadelphia with a tradition of self-reliance and entrepreneurship dating back to the 1920s. It became home to hardy Black migrants from the American South like Khalil’s grandparents. Yet by the early 1980s when he was born, the neighborhood’s social fabric was unraveling. Now Khalil’s newborn makes four generations since the family’s migration North. What will he pass on to his son? Khalil is compelled to clarify his identity, encountering ancestors and elders whose names and legacies he carries. Throughout, we are privy to revealing moments among fathers and sons, and among Black men who have become brothers on the rocky path to self-determination.
