After the death of his mother, Sequan Green, a sensitive, gay teen from New York, is sent to live with distant family in Alabama. Slight of frame and sticking out like a sore thumb in his hipster jeans, Sequan has a hard time adjusting to the ways of the South. The other students mercilessly tease him for being intelligent and well-read. He is ignored by authority figures, like his willingly oblivious, all-talk-with-no-follow-through uncle, who is the sheriff of the town. Sequan’s popular, jock cousin is a violently repressed homosexual who rapes and assaults him almost every night. The only person who takes any interest in him is Lori—the privileged, listless girlfriend of one of the school’s star athletes—who is on a constant quest for a bump. Lori, along with her gay brother that goes to another school, befriends Sequan. As they ponder ways to escape the hell that is their town, a murder changes their plans and their lives.
To say that Rivers Wash Over Me is gripping would be an understatement. The characters are multi-dimensional and Derrick L. Middleton plays Sequan with reticent grace and the ability to convey innumerable emotions without saying a word.

—Angelique Smith

Rivers Wash Over Me After-Party
After the screening of Rivers Wash Over Me, join director John G. Young and producer Dexter Davis at the spectacular restaurant Opera (1301 S. Wabash), located just a few blocks from Film Row Cinema. Enjoy complimentary hors d’oeuvres prepared by Chicago’s finest Chinese restaurant in a delightful atmosphere of colorful whimsy.