Musician and activist Samora Pinderhughes just shared his powerful short film for his latest single “Process.” The song was written in collaboration with and produced by Jack DeBoe, and is part of their VENUS project featuring songs about the realities of depression, anxiety, labor, miscommunication and identity. Filmed in December in collaboration with director Christian Padron, “Process” revolves around a black family mourning the death of one of the sons, and the grieving processes they go through both apart and together. “As we see the external public outcry around the world in recognition of the premature death caused by systems of white supremacy, policing and capitalism around the world, we also know that there is so much internal anguish and heaviness that so many of us have to carry around,” notes Samora. “So much grief.” 
Samora adds, “The ‘Process’ film got Christian and me through this year so far. It got us through the deaths of Kobe & Gianna Bryant; it got us through the quarantine period; and, as we edited it, it became a tribute to this moment of international Black power… This film is for all those in mourning, all those just putting one foot in front of the other to get through each day, and all those supporting each other.” The film can be viewed at the just-launched Process World website: http://itsaprocess.world.  

In addition to the song and short film, Process World is a space to explore all of the ways we process our lives and will feature a community space for people to share their own experiences of grief, sorrow and how they process them. Initial contributors sharing their personal reflections on the idea of “process” include Esperanza Spalding, Leslie Odom Jr., Mahogany Browne, Sara Bareilles, Vijay Iyer, Rafael Casal and Lazarus Lynch. 
“I wrote this song in the midst of a low time. About loss, about shame, about grief,” notes Samora. “I wrote it to try and be kinder to myself. It asks questions about what honesty sounds like, what care feels like. I wrote it to counteract the ways that we are all taught to bury so much about us, so much that we feel. I wrote it to honor what pain really feels like, and what grace hopefully looks like.”