You Are Supposed To Be Where You Are, short film

When life is going well for us, we may feel like we don’t deserve to be there. But you do. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Be proud of the beautiful life you created through struggle and hardship. It’s your mirror image in the world.

The Oscar nominated short film below called A Concerto Is a Conversation is about the young composer Kris Bowers. At 29, he scored the Oscar-winning film “Green Book” (2018), and this year he premiered a new violin concerto, “For a Younger Self,” at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

For all that success, though, he says that as a Black composer, “I’ve been wondering whether or not I’m supposed to be in the spaces that I’m in.” 

Bowers traces the process of breaking into new spaces through generations of sacrifice that came before him, focusing on the story of his grandfather Horace Bowers. As a young man, Horace left his home in the Jim Crow South, eventually ending up in Los Angeles. Encountering discrimination and struggle at every turn, he and his wife, Alice, nevertheless made a life as business owners. 

Today, their legacy lives on through their family and community in South Los Angeles, where a stretch of Central Avenue was recently designated Bowers Retail Square — in case any question remained about whether it’s a place they belong.

Kris and his grandfather Horace were always meant to be exactly in the beautiful lives they created.

Source: Short Of the Week