Canadian artist, writer, and designer Ian Kamau who toured South Africa in 2012, recently celebrated one year since his short film We Went Out was released. We Went Out is an expressive documentary that celebrates the in-between spaces in the lives of four friends who met as teenagers in Toronto. Directed by Ian the short film is a narrative mapping project, made with people who were teens in the downtown Toronto hip hop community in the 90’s. The film explores the meaning and significance of a venue, as arts venues closed during the Covid19 global pandemic.

We Went Out has been screened in twenty film festivals around the world including Halifax Black Film Festival, Ottawa Black Film Festival, Durham Region International Film Festival (DRIFF), the Community Film & Arts Fest (Commffest), The Toronto Short Film Festival and others.

On the inception of the project, Ian had this to say: “Rosina Kazi called to ask if I would contribute to a project she was curating as part of the 2021 Luminato Festival. The project would become a five-part docu-music series called Guided by Starlight—Exploring Toronto’s Musical Galaxy. The concept focused on neighbourhoods then pivoted to venues because of the music venue closures happening in the city due to Covid restrictions and lockdowns. I told Rose, a long-time friend, that many of those venues did not treat hip hop or young Black and Brown people well in the times when we performed in them regularly. The venues my close friends and I spent the most time in where in-between and informal spaces: sidewalks, stairwells, benches. We had few formal places to be on our own. I made We Went Out, a short film featuring my close friends and members of the downtown hip hop community in the 90’s and 00’s, to pay homage to the people who became adults in those in-between spaces. We have wonderful and significant memories in places that are not often valued, that didn’t value us, but are an important part of Toronto’s cultural landscape”.

Ian Kamau is an artist, writer, and designer from Toronto. He has released seven music projects including the self-produced album One Day Soon (2011) and has published articles, short stories, and poems in publications by Vice, Coach House Press, and Book Thug. The son of pioneering filmmakers he was the founding creative director of Nia Centre for the Arts, has a Bachelor in Design and a Masters in Environmental Studies from York University, and a Masters in Strategic Foresight and Innovation from OCAD University. His interests include the arts, storytelling, and critical city building. Ian is an associate artist with The Theatre Centre and Why Not Theatre and works as a designer in the Innovation Lab at Canadian Heritage.

Watch We Went Out below.

Written By Lex LaFoy