Tubi is pretty much a go-to place for anyone looking for some delightful surprises in niche driven home entertainment. Ryan Watson’s independent shortform action drama, Paper Line, is a testament to this fact after two years of collecting awards and nominations from various festivals prior to its current streaming and digital availability.
Chronicling the travails of young HBCU pledges in their efforts to join Alpha Omega Sigma, the inaugural short takes a dark turn revealing the more brooding, pugilistic, clandestine nature of the fraternity. Martial arts training and discipline are revealed as the barometers of survival in a story that ultimately conveys deeper introspection in its messaging, on matters of self-worth and acceptance.
It’s a short story imbued with potent action direction and choreography from multiple hands on set, allowing for the nascent talent crop in its cast to shine in some of the film’s most striking and collectively thrilling action moments and sequences. Even the camerawork gets a little too close for comfort at times, and leaves you wondering if that’s either accidental or part of Watson’s intended framework.
At any rate, the packaging here was enough for the film’s reception, spefically at last year’s Urban Action Showcase International Action Film Festival where it won Best Urban Action Film. With any luck, Watson’s upcoming sequel, Paper Line: Bragging Rights, might garner a twofer when it hits festival screens later this year.
“After much success at film festivals across the country, I’m excited for the second instalment of Paper Line to hit the festival circuit,” said Watson. “The Paper Line film series is a martial arts cinematic experience featuring a never before seen take on the black fraternity initiation. Often in cinema we see black martial artists performing with martial artists of a different ethnicity but it’s rare that they get to work in scenes with each other. Martial arts have been a positive part of the black experience in America for generations and this film series brings this it to the forefront. “
Paper Line: Bragging Rights will premiere in Los Angeles this October as an official selection to the 2024 Micheaux Film Festival, followed by its return to the Urban Action Showcase in November. Check out the poster below, and screen Paper Line right now on Amazon Prime, Mansa, Freevee, and Tubi.
