IC News

This winter, Sami Khan ’02 achieved something he never thought possible. The film he co-directed — “St. Louis Superman,” which he directed with Smriti Mundhra — earned an Academy Award nomination. The short documentary depicts the daily life of battle rapper and activist Bruce Franks Jr. as he works to address gun violence in Missouri.   

Khan and Mundhra began discussions with Franks, the former St. Louis State Rep, about how to share his powerful story in 2017. It wasn’t the first time Franks had been approached by filmmakers. He was skeptical and reluctant to sell his story and simply be portrayed as a young African American male in politics through manufactured scenes.

This made the project perfect for Khan. His documentary filmmaking style is one that sees the informational portion as second to the emotion and exploration of the story. This is something he learned when developing his thesis film at Ithaca College, which was a documentary on a tainted water scandal. It was informational, but what really interested him were the stories of the survivors, the part that hooked people in and made them care about the characters.

Going beyond the top-level political story, Khan and Mundhra set out to peel back the layers of a man, who was an unconventional politician, a person dealing with trauma and a parent. It was their promise of a collaborative relationship that would build an authentic story about his daily struggles and go beyond the few months of filming that convinced Franks to give them a shot.

To capture Franks in his true element, the observational film style, known as verité was used. With limited people, no sets, a small camera, and simple mics, Franks essentially lived his life as if no one was watching.  

Khan — who was also the cinemaphotographer for the film — followed Franks for five months, capturing him as a parent, a politician and activist, and a battle rapper. He knew as soon as they started filming that Franks was an incredible character and person. The opening scene — which was captured mid-way through filming — shows Franks talking to his 4-year-old son, King, as he’s coming into his own and challenging the system. This fortuitous moment of parenting revealed the intimacy of Franks’ life and experiences that weren’t scripted and took the film to another level.

“Franks has a brilliant communication style, which gets you in every scene,” said Khan. “One moment he is walking through his old neighborhood with his children sharing the gut-wrenching story of his brother’s death and the next he is in the state capital explaining his political motivations. And you are rooting for him the entire time.”