Slice
2023 · 16m · United States
Directed by Zaire Love
Genres: documentary, sports
Tones: contemplative, tender
In Memphis, the art of “slicing” — a flamboyant, homegrown style of diving — becomes a celebration of Black boyhood, community, and joy.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Slice plays it straight when it could've been subversive—a document of joy that doesn't interrogate or destabilize, just witnesses. It's competent celebration, which is fine, but it's not the kind of premise that makes you question what documentary even is.
Love positions slicing within a lineage of vernacular movement and Black aesthetic tradition with compositional restraint; the film knows its own formalism and trusts it, letting frame and sound design do the curatorial work of situating play as cultural practice.
The decision to let the divers' own language and rhythm dictate the edit—letting the movement *be* the narration rather than explaining it—is what transforms a local practice into something that feels both specific and universal.
Reviews
We had our festival run in 2023, and we got into over 20 festivals. We won seven festivals. And honestly, that's rare. It is rare that you get into that many festivals, and it is rare that you are winning or a finalist in it.