Fiz Olajide

Fiz Olajide is a New York based director whose portfolio is characterized by a careful curation of visuals that celebrates the vast beauty of people in outdoor spaces. Fusing together cinéma vérité and composed filming techniques, her work aims to engage the audience's imagination and curiosity.

ABOUT UNTITLED UNDERGROUND RAILROAD PROJECT

In the weeks leading up to the 2020 US elections and off the heels of the Black Lives Matter protests, John “Bobby” Shackleford, a 25-year-old Black New York City bicycle messenger, attempts to traverse 1,114 miles on his bike from a district of Mobile, Alabama, called Africatown, an early free Black settlement, and end in Washington D.C., a city built by enslaved people, also where Bobby grew up. Joining Bobby are four avid Black and Latino cyclists he has enlisted to inspire youth who look like them to explore freedom and agency through bicycles and expose the dearth of Black and Latinx people in the very exclusive cycling world. Each day the cyclists ride 70 to 90 miles, stopping only to eat, sleep and visit activists, historians, and places significant to the Black experience in America. Upon entering DC, they will be joined by other cyclists in a critical mass, uniting to ride towards the White House in solidarity with the fight against racial injustice and police brutality. Without fully comprehending the stakes involved, the guys approach the emotionally and physically challenging trek with exuberance and a great deal of naïveté. The film transcends into the hearts and minds of our protagonists as they each go on a personal journey through race, manhood, and self-discovery. Just days out from their arrival in DC at a stop at Jamestown Settlement, unexpected revelations threaten the completion of the ride. The cyclists must decide which way to go next.

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