Documentary Short Film, 18 minutes, RGV Premiere

Synopsis: Three friends embark on a 350 mile cycling route from Austin to the site in Galveston where Juneteenth began in 1865, exploring centuries of Black history in Texas through interviews with historians and community leaders.

Talib Abdullahi,

Riley Engemoen

Bio:

Talib Abdullahi founded the nonprofit Black History Bike Ride (BHBR) in 2020 to channel frustration in the wake of George Floyd's murder into an opportunity to educate the community about Austin's Black history. He has now led more than 40 community rides and is expanding BHBR outreach through film. Talib made his directorial debut with "The Route to Emancipation" (2023). Talib is a current MBA candidate at the University of Texas McCombs School of Business and a marketing professional who has worked in-house for brands such as Yeti and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. 

Riley Engemoen has worked on a wide range of branded and non-profit documentary productions for Texas Monthly, The Nature Conservancy, Texas Parks & Wildlife and has worked with brands like Yeti, Toyota, Airbnb, Porsche, Chacos, and Shiner. His work has been screened internationally and has received various awards, including most recently first place in the SXSW 2019 “Faces of Austin” showcase, and admittance into the 2019 “Wild Film Tour”. In 2019 he received an artist grant funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for “Grown Without Water”  which explores how the U.S./México border between El Paso/Cd. Juárez marks and defines perseverance in the 21st century. In 2016 he traveled more than 18,000 miles on bicycle from Alaska to Argentina to document the people and places of the Americas for feature documentary “Pedal South”.