Orange Barrel Media has commissioned Rashaad Newsome to create an original artwork for their groundbreaking forced perspective screen at the NOW Building in West Hollywood.

Small “Streams of Care Become a Pool of Love” is now live on the forced perspective billboard at the NOW building — 8497 W Sunset Boulevard, where Sunset meets La Cienega.
In this new animation, chrome waves crash against jeweled cliffs as Being, the Digital Griot—a nonbinary cyborg shaped by the words of Black queer poets—rises from the ocean to perform an original poem on care, humanity, and interconnectedness. Told entirely through dance and ASL, the piece centers deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences and challenges what storytelling can look like beyond sound.
Inspired by the California coast and the ocean’s duality as both a site of ancestral loss and radical possibility, this work merges poetry, technology, and Black queer imagination into a powerful meditation on memory, access, and resistance.
Come witness it in the sky.
NOW Building, 8497 W Sunset Blvd

More info here.

 

Rashaad Newsome’s feature-length documentary Assembly will make its San Francisco premiere at the 2025 Frameline Film Festival on June 27th, 2025 at 5:45pm!

Excited to announce that Assembly will be making its Bay Area premiere at Frameline49 — the world’s longest-running and largest LGBTQ+ film festival!

Join us in San Francisco June 7th for 11 days of powerful queer cinema from around the globe. With nearly 150 films from 40 countries, Frameline49 continues to be a vital platform for storytelling, community, and celebration — and I’m honored Assembly is part of it.

Stay tuned for screening details. Let’s turn out and show up for Black Queer brilliance!

Click here for more info!

Rashaad Newsome’s feature-length documentary Assembly will make its New York premiere at the 2025 NewFest Pride Film Festival on June 1st, 2025 at 4pm!

Join Us for the NYC Premiere of Assembly
Sunday, June 1st | 4 PM | SVA Theater

Be part of the homecoming celebration for Assembly—a film born from and inspired by the spirit of New York City.

Following the screening, we’ll continue the celebration at the iconic Boom Boom Room with an unforgettable night honoring the cast, crew, and the communities that shaped this work.

Expect:
— Immersive visuals
— DJ sets
— Live performances from an iconic lineup of Black Queer artists
— A special appearance by Being the Digital Griot
— And more surprises throughout the night

This isn’t just a screening—it’s a celebration of Black brilliance, Queer joy, and radical imagination. Come dance, witness, and revel with us.

For more info, click here!

Rashaad Newsome’s feature-length documentary Assembly will make its Australian premiere at the Sydney Film Festival on June 12th and 15th, 2025!

Screenshot

The 72nd Sydney Film Festival has unveiled its full 2025 lineup, featuring 201 films from 70 countries—including the Australian premiere of Assembly, directed and produced by Rashaad Newsome and Johnny Symons.

At the heart of Assembly is Newsome’s most ambitious exhibition to date, originally staged at New York’s iconic Park Avenue Armory. The film offers a behind-the-scenes look at the monumental creative journey—from choreographing with international dancers who merge voguing with traditional movement, to a spiritual pilgrimage to Ghana to commune with ancestors. The result is an immersive Black queer utopia that brings together poets, musicians, dancers, and the exhibition’s striking centerpiece: a 30-foot-tall non-binary AI named Being.

Merging documentary, performance, art, and activism, Assembly defies easy categorization. It is a joyful, defiant tribute to Black trans women and to voguing as a global art form—an electrifying vision of liberation, collaboration, and radical imagination.

For more info, click here!