Watermelon Pictures has released its first trailer for Shoot the People, Andy Mundy-Castle’s documentary on photographer and activist Misan Harriman, and unveiled details of its U.S. and U.K. release of the film.
In the trailer, provided exclusively to The Hollywood Reporter (watch below), we watch Harriman as he documents some of the defining protest movements of recent years, from the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that erupted after the killing of George Floyd to Free Palestine marches.
The trailer cuts between Harriman’s stark black-and-white photographs of protesters confronting police lines, crowds marching through city streets and scenes of political unrest, alongside footage of the photographer at work behind the camera. “My work is observing the human condition and making art that has purpose,” Harriman says in the clip.
Harriman, who became the first Black photographer to shoot a cover for British Vogue, first gained widespread international attention for his images from the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. His subjects have also included figures such as Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts and Cate Blanchett. His short film The After received an Oscar nomination in 2024.
Mundy-Castle described his documentary as “a film about perspective, power, and a collective sense of humanity,” adding that the project aims to confront injustice rather than simply observe it.
Shoot the People premiered at SXSW and screened at DOC NYC. Producer Wyn Baptiste received the breakthrough producer prize at the British Independent Film Awards for the project, which was snatched up by Watermelon Pictures for the U.S. and U.K.
Watermelon will release the film in U.S. theaters with an opening at New York’s Angelika Film Center, timed to coincide with Juneteenth. It is rolling the film out in the U.S. on June 26 in L.A. and several American cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Washington D.C., Minneapolis, Portland and Seattle, before going nationwide on July 3. Shoot the People will open in U.K. and Irish cinemas on July 10 ahead of Emancipation Day celebrations on Aug. 1.
Check out the trailer for Shoot the People below.