Khalil Louigene

Culture Shock seeks to reflect what it means to be one of the “firsts” in a space — the first Black girl, the first out queer student, the first one from a low-income background — and illustrate how that pressure can often make the pursuit of art more complex than freeing.

In a time before cultural arts education was being policed, a small community of student creatives was taking their hometown by storm. Comprised of archival footage from Anya Dillard's time as a student at West Orange High School, Lock Step is a film that commemorates the diversity, talent, and cultural impact of cultural arts organizations -- particularly the Ab-Salute Step Team, Nu Theta Omega Girls Step Team, and Jubilee Choir of West Orange High School.