The Obituary of Tunde Johnson

The Obituary of Tunde Johnson is a 2019 American drama film, directed by Ali LeRoi.

Premise

Tunde Johnson is a gay Nigerian-American teenager who is in a secret relationship with his school's white lacrosse champion Soren. Soren is closeted and officially dating popular girl Marley, Tunde's best friend since childhood. The day of Soren's birthday, when the two boys have planned to come out to their families, Tunde is stopped and fatally shot by a police officer. Following his death, he wakes up the previous morning and becomes trapped in a time loop, forced to relive the day of his murder, which keeps happening in different ways no matter how hard he tries to change it.

Cast

Steven Silver as Tunde Johnson, a gay African-American teenager who is trapped in a time loop that forces him to repeatedly relive the day of his fatal, racially motivated shooting by a police officer
Nicola Peltz as Marley Meyers, Tunde's longtime friend
Spencer Neville as Soren O'Connor, a closeted classmate who is secretly dating both Tunde and Marley in a love triangle
David James Elliott as Soren's conservative father Alfred, who hosts a talk show about current affairs
Alessandra Rosaldo as Dr. Martínez, Tunde's therapist
Sammi Rotibi as Tunde's father Ade
Tembi Locke as Tunde's mother Yomi

Production

The screenplay was written by Stanley Kalu, a film student at the University of Southern California. It was the first-ever winner of The Launch, a screenwriting competition to find and develop screenplays by promising new writers on which LeRoi was a judge; the competition's prize included the screenplay being produced as a feature film, and LeRoi signed on to direct it as his own feature film debut.

Release

The film premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.