Letitia Wright’s directorial debut, “Highway to the Moon”, is a coming-of-age fantasy drama that unravels the mysterious aftermath of young boys whose lives have been abruptly snatched away. Commissioned by WePresent and created by Wright as a “love letter to Black boys everywhere”, the film is a tender, moving and powerful portrait of the impact of knife crime, and the devastating effect it has on the lives of all that it touches. Watch the film below, exclusively on WePresent.
Letitia Wright is known to many as a superhero. A star of the Avengers universe, she took on the titular role in 2022’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” following the passing of Chadwick Boseman, and brought her own brand of strength and tenderness to a beloved character at a pivotal time in the series’ history. But over the past two years Wright has been quietly working behind the scenes to create her own take on heroes, these ones a little closer to home.
“Highway to the Moon” is a short film written and directed by Wright, and marks the beginning of a new era that sees the artist stepping behind the camera for the first time (initially encouraged to do so by Black Panther’s director Ryan Coogler). The film is a powerful meditation on knife crime amongst young Black men, and follows protagonist and victim Micah as he suddenly finds himself in the enigmatic realm known only as The Inbetween. He embarks on a gut-wrenching journey to rediscover the path back home, grappling with his new reality and meeting fellow “lost kings” along the way. The film is tender, moving and rousing, never treating its characters as stereotypes but instead confronting the complexities of what it means to be a Black boy in today’s society. Dealing with themes of knife crime, mental health and suicide, it’s not an easy watch, but a necessary one.
I went on a journey with this story that became my way of exploring Black boy joy, love and unity.
And for Wright too, the film felt like less of a choice to make, and more of a need. In 2018, the murder of model Harry Uzoka, a rising star of the fashion world, shocked the country. Wright remembers feeling “confused and numb” at the news, shocked that he had been stabbed to death by his own friend. The following year the brother of a close college friend was stabbed at a party near where she grew up in North London. “Hearing this news left me speechless”, she says. “I watched my friend mourn her little brother, hearing about the witnesses that were too afraid to say who committed the crime and leaving another Black mother to grieve the spirit of her child who has unexpectedly departed.”
“Highway to the Moon” became Wright’s response. Created as a “love letter to Black boys all over the world", the film allowed her to both unpack her own feelings while also acting as a rousing call to consciousness for those who watch it. “I went on a journey with this story that became my way of exploring Black boy joy, love, and unity”, she says. “I wanted to ask the question, what happens to the souls of our young Black boys when they leave Earth, especially at the hands of another boy.”
When Black boys watch this film, I hope that they see themselves as worthy, and as beautiful, and remember that their lives have meaning.
To do this, Wright created three distinct worlds that her protagonists exist within: Earth, The Inbetween and Space. Each world acts as a different portal into the lives of the boys, and as a viewer allows us to expand our understanding of the characters, their journeys and ultimately their fates. For Wright, each space also holds its own emotion. “Grief, loss, hate, mourning, and death are kept within the realm of Earth”, she says. “We then shift to the middle world—what we call The Inbetween in our film—which is a serene place for the boys to explore the ideas of brotherhood and unity. It becomes a place for them to unpack the difficult emotions and feelings that still hang over them from Earth. And then finally there’s Space, where the spirit of our characters is able to transcend to a higher level once they’ve accepted the new reality of where they will dwell after death.”
Commissioned by WePresent, the team has worked with Wright for almost two years on this film, and through each step of the project, as each new challenge presented itself, Wright remained steadfast, determined, resolute in her passion for the film and her commitment to its young cast–many of whom she met while volunteering at community centers specifically set up to tackle knife crime in cities. Following the film’s release today Wright will embark on a school tour across the UK and later the US, showing the film to assemblies of students and taking part in intimate group sessions discussing the emotions that arise after they watch it. For Wright this film isn’t just a way to expand her artistry but to raise awareness, start meaningful conversions and hopefully, affect positive change.
