“Love, Brooklyn” goes beyond the Black or white experience – it’s a human experience

André Holland and DeWanda Wise appear in Love, Brooklyn by Rachael Abigail Holder, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Photo: Sundance Institute.

PARK CITY, Utah — In “Love, Brooklyn,” first-time feature director Rachael Abigail Holder explores the humor, complexity, and vulnerability of adult relationships. With an exceptional cast and Paul Zimmerman’s richly layered script, the film delivers an intimate, nuanced, later-in-life coming-of-age story.

André Holland stars as Roger, a writer struggling with losing the Brooklyn he once knew. His charm and wit are matched by those of Nicole (DeWanda Wise), a single mother balancing the challenges of dating a young daughter and a dead husband. Nicole Beharie brings warmth and depth to Casey, a gallery owner grappling with her evolving relationship with Roger while facing change within Brooklyn’s arts scene.

When asked what drew her to the project, Holder said, “I loved that I saw myself in it. I loved that it was just a piece about human relationships and that there were no villains, but there was still conflict. It was still an interesting story to tell. And so I knew that this was it. I’m a very human-first, actor-first director. And so I thought that just [this would] be the perfect project for that.”

The road to bringing “Love, Brooklyn” to the screen was a long and challenging one. Holder and producer Kate Sharp described a six-year process filled with obstacles, including struggles to secure financing, delays due to COVID, and even obtaining a SAG waiver during the double strike. Casting the film was an organic process, with Holland, who also served as a producer, playing an instrumental role in bringing the characters to life.

“André and I had a Zoom back in 2019 where I told him I’m really excited, and I think the world is excited to watch André Holland be in love and light on his feet and funny and in a warm setting, and we are so lucky that he agreed.”

Holder praised Wise and Beharie as perfect fits for their roles, noting how their chemistry with Holland elevated the story. “I’ve known DeWanda since 2006—she is a light. There were no auditions, we sort of knew who was going to fit, and DeWanda was an absolute fit. And Nicole is a whole dream.”

When asked about the arc of the characters both on screen and from script to end product, Holder said, “Not having a ton of money or time, we really had to stick to some North Star creative decisions, and one of those was not changing the script too much, because we really wanted to show that a human piece could be about any culture.”

Producer Kate Sharp added, “Casey’s character… was a little bit colder in the script. I think Nicole really brought out some beautiful just like the bedroom scene when she’s on the phone with him and gets so choked up. And how she was in the in the gallery at the end…[the actors] really breathed more life into those characters.”

The film is as much a love letter to Brooklyn and a character. Holder worked closely with cinematographer Martim Vian to highlight the city’s beauty.”I really love the way it feels to see the light hit green in Brooklyn,” she said. “I really wanted to capture that. I wanted to give that feeling of serotonin filling your body when seeing something like that across your screen.”

With a small budget, the producers acted as music supervisors, pulling together tracks from Brooklyn-based artists like Yaya Bey, Adi Oasis, and Leon Thomas. Producer Patrick Wengler said,
“We wanted to make sure that we include music from some local Brooklyn artists… one in particular that we’re really excited about is a young singer named Jordan Orionn, who we found on Spotify. Her song plays over the end credits.”

At its core, “Love, Brooklyn” surveys human vulnerability, particularly among Black characters, in ways that are rarely explored on screen. Holder said, “Black sensitivity is my wheelhouse. My love. When reading the script that Paul Zimmerman wrote, I saw myself and my community, my sisters and my brothers in this film, because it was about… the human experience. It didn’t feel like a white or Black movie. It felt like a human story. So I thought, yes, we deserve to be in a human story where nothing tragic is happening, and we’re vulnerable and soft and sensitive and cry—not because something traumatic is happening, but because love is complex and difficult too.”

“Love, Brooklyn” is a moving exploration of relationships, resilience, and identity, set against the vibrant and ever-changing backdrop of its namesake borough.