
Watch: Downtown Browns
This new interactive web series depicts women of color navigating daily life in L.A.
How do we move forward right now, when the world is becoming so hostile to the things we care about? Downtown Browns is a three-episode interactive web series that won’t answer this question, but it provides a creative tool for conversations around racism, islamophobia, immigration, discrimination, and self-determination in the months to come.
Watch the trailer below, and the rest of the series on their website.
Each episode of Downtown Browns follows a woman of color navigating daily life in Los Angeles. In the first episode, Miranda, a high school student, confronts the threat of ICE deporting her parents. In episode two, we follow Fati, a Middle Eastern nursing student, on her way to pick up soup for her food-poisoned sister, as well as the various character’s judgemental interpretations of her headscarf. In the third episode, we see Yetunde, a digital tech lead, be peppered with racist comments from co-workers as she gets ready to present a new app to her company’s executives.
Throughout the series, the viewer is invited to engage with the narrative – by making decisions for the characters, or switching between physical and narrative view points – forcing you as the viewer to confront how your own biases might impact what you see and hear.
Photo by Chinwe Okona
Downtown Browns was written, directed, and produced by a rad crew of women of color: Tonia Beglari (co-founder of Browntourage), Jazmin Garcia, Emilia Yang, Allison Comrie, and Luciana Chamorro. The production of the series was funded by a grant the crew earned as winners of the “Challenge of Diversity” competition.