Onlookers: A Short Film by Christian Vasquez

Onlookers is a short film photographed during a series of protests sparked by the death of George Floyd. Every day in June, crowds marched through each quadrant of the city. There seems to be a large number of people who have been activated for the first time and a growing coalition of those devoted to making change. As much as I can, I go out to document the movement. There is an energy flowing through the streets of Dallas that’s unlike anything I’ve felt before. As I move through the city, I see moments reoccur over and over through my viewfinder. This film is a collection of a particular character that I keep coming across, The Onlooker: those disrupted by the protestors and put in a position where they have no choice but to watch, gaze fixed on masses of individuals demanding change—all happening in the public square. In this moment each one of us is an Onlooker: we no longer have the option of turning away.

Christian Vasquez is a filmmaker and photographer with a body of work that shifts between documentaries revolving around social justice as well as narrative and commercial image-making. He graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a BFA in art and art history. His films have screened at Slamdance, South By Southwest, the Dallas International Film Festival, and the Austin Film Festival, and have been featured in D Magazine and The Dallas Morning News.

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