Project Detail

The Big Blow

Synopsis

Set against the backdrop of a giant hurricane that flattened Galveston, Texas in 1900. Local black champion Little Arthur must go head-to-head not only against prejudiced social and relational divides, but with a ringer from Chicago – Jim McBride – a dirty-fighting racist hired by the local Sporting Club to do one thing: Kill Little Arthur and restore the championship to a white fighter. As with the real Jack Johnson, Little Arthur further defies social constructs by being in a forbidden relationship with a white woman. Based on a Joe Landsdale novella that is inspired by the real life story of Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight boxing champion.
Johnson was recently granted a posthumous pardon by President Donald Trump from his conviction for violating the Mann Act in 1910 at the height of the Jim Crow era in the USA.

Details

Year
2018
Type of project
Features
Director
Reinaldo Marcus Green
Producer
Giannina Scott, Ridley Scott
Screenwriter
Oren Moverman (adaptation), Joe Landsdale (novella)

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

Scott Free Films

42-44 Beak Street
London
W1F 9RH

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

Untitled Beatrice Gibson First Feature (La Nuit) Untitled Beatrice Gibson First Feature (La Nuit)

Director: Beatrice Gibson

Year: 2026

After an abortion, a woman wanders the streets of Paris, engaging in a series of silent encounters under the neon lights of Chinatown. Taking place over the course of a single night and drawing inspiration from the writings of cult literary figures Kathy Acker, Bernadette Mayer, and Alice Notley, the film intertwines dream and reality. Shot in the reddish glow of karaoke bars, cinemas, and clubs - a collective, feminist autofiction with a cast of artists, poets, and actors.

Ancestors Ancestors

Director: David Turpin

Year:

A love story, a noir mystery and a metaphysical fable, Ancestors follows Beau as he searches 1980s London for his missing friend, Tiny. Dream, reality, memory and history entwine, forcing Beau to come face-to-face with truths beyond life and death.

A man in sunglasses praying at a wedding. Speechless

Director: Adrian Gardner, Ryan Walker-Edwards

Year:

A sharp chaotic comedy set at a British-Jamaican wedding in England, where an anxious gay man’s carefully prepared speech is stolen. As dilated eyes, demonic aunties and uncles close in, he discovers that finding his voice sometimes begins with losing the script.