Directed by Walter Thompson-Hernández, 2026, United States, Rated R, 95 minutes
In the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, 12-year-old Lil Ant (Bodhi Dell) sees his father Big Ant (J. Alphonse Nicholson) through the expansive lens of childhood imagination, transforming him into a mythic hero even as the realities of family life tell a more complicated story. Danielle Brooks co-stars as Lil Ant’s mother in this lyrical coming-of-age drama about fathers and sons, community, and the ways children make sense of an uncertain world. Expanding his award-winning 2022 short into his feature debut, Walter Thompson-Hernández premiered the film in the NEXT section at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival; it later won jury prizes at several festivals. RogerEbert.com called it a “gorgeously composed South Los Angeles coming-of-age film,” praising its “bracing sense of wonder” and humanism.
