Lena Waithe's new film Queen & Slim is both a meditation on blackness and a universal love story

Emmy-winning writer and producer Lena Waithe returned to q to talk about her new film Queen & Slim, directed by Melina Matsoukas and starring Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith.

The drama tells the story of a clumsy first date that ends in a police shooting when Slim (played by Kaluuya) shoots and kills a white officer in self-defence. What ensues is a love story about a man and a woman now incidentally bonded forever.

Waithe joined host Tom Power live in studio to tell us more about the film, which she calls an "odyssey and a meditation on blackness," and why it was important for her to tell this story in her native tongue, ensuring that it was "not touched by the white gaze."

"Some things may feel a little foreign [to non-black audiences], but for the most part it's human," said Waithe. "It's really actually universal because it's so specific."

"[The film] just opened up so many doors for me to explore so many things that I had been ruminating on. In terms of legacy, immortality, the fact that black death is more appreciated than black life, and also what it means to matter."

Queen & Slim is out in theatres today.

Download our podcast or click the 'Listen' link near the top of this page to hear the full conversation with Lena Waithe.

— Produced by Matt Amha