Gangsta Island (2021)

The year is 1988 and the setting is the urban middle America town of Gary, Indiana located just southeast of the windy city of Chicago. Known to some of the residents as Gangsta Island because of the pending violence statistics of the 1990s, and a play off the initials "GI", just before that Gary was as simple and safe as any other town in the 1980s. Now enter the protagonist, Kenny. Kenny is a 15-year-old teenager living right in the middle of this environment with a loving, although extremely dysfunctional family. Kenny is an extremely gifted student, but a bit awkward and must consistently deal with the pressures of what urban living was back in a much simpler time. Kenny is often seen dodging bullies and taking advice from his best friend Leroy who seems to have all the answers to most of their problems. "Gangsta Island" is fully animated dark quirky comedy that brings back the nostalgia that we all loved prior to the social media era: kids playing outside, boomboxes, the Golden Era of Hip-Hop, handwritten letters to love interests, and the grade school bully. It is a shocking, clever, and innovative story that will surely make you laugh and cry...sometimes simultaneously.