Via Zoom: Director Stefan Forbes Wants You to ‘Hold Your Fire’

CHICAGO – Police reform and procedural alternatives in the U.S. continue to be in a hurricane of evolution. Despite the attention that the George Floyd incident brought to the perception, the law enforcement culture continues to resist. Stefan Forbes goes back to the past (1973), to inform them (and us) that change can work with his new documentary “Hold Your Fire.”

Rating: 4.5/5.0

“Hold Your Fire” is set in the borough of Brooklyn, New York City. It is 1973, and when Shu’aib Raheem and his friends attempt to steal guns from a sports store to be used for self-defense, it sparked the longest hostage siege in the New York Police history. NYPD psychologist Harvey Schlossberg lobbied to avert a bloodbath by using newly developed negotiation techniques, to save the lives of the hostages, police and the four young Muslim men at the heart of the conflict. “Hold Your Fire” is as thrilling as the best cop TV show, and as essential as a Martin Luther King Jr. speech, emphatic and empathetic, with peace begetting justice. The film opens in select theaters, including in Chicagoland (see below) on May 20th, 2022.

‘Hold Your Fire,’ Directed by Stefan Forbes
Photo credit: IFC Films

Director Stefan Forbes produced the film through his company InterPositive Media, and released his first documentary in 2008 … “Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story.” In musical art, he wrote and directed “Monk Recut” in 2018 – in collaboration with composter John Beasley – a visual montage of music icon Theonious Monk performed with a live orchestra at the Los Angeles Philharmonic. As a filmmaker activist, he has also produced “One More Dead Fish,” about environmental protesters, and has directed Emmy-nominated awareness campaigns about hunger in America. He is currently working on several TV and film projects.

In a Part One interview via Zoom with Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com, director Stefan Forbes of “Hold My Fire” provides incredible insight into “Hold Your Fire” …

In Part Two, a bit about Lee Atwater and more about policing in America …

[24]	By PATRICK McDONALD [25] Editor and Film Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com [24]