Synopsis

Set in contemporary rural Louisiana, Strange Fruit explores the tribulations of William Boyals, a successful New York lawyer and gay African-American who comes home to the life from which he escaped to investigate the lynching of his also-gay childhood friend, Kelvin. Amidst the sultry beauty of the bayou, William is forced to wade through a bog of conspiracy involving an insidious network of local law and a dangerously entrenched subculture. At the same time, he finds himself having to confront the reasons he left in the first place. The harder he looks, the deeper he gets, until the veil is pulled back to reveal a quagmire of racism and homophobia that threatens his life.

Strange Fruit

Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black body swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh
And the sudden smell of burning flesh!
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

--Music and lyrics by Lewis Allan, copyright 1940