South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival -Ah, 2020. We can’t forget it, no matter how hard we try. It was a year of lockdowns, mass protests in the U.S. after the murder of George Floyd, and a tumultuous presidential election. White Devil is set during that summer in NYC, and even news clips from that horrible year are panic-inducing.

White Devil centers that summer’s events around the point of view of an unnamed Black woman, played by co-writer/co-director Mariama Diallo. We witness the news rapidly unfold through her eyes, as she Googles information about Floyd’s murder while friends call her to ensure she’s doing okay. Her unnamed boyfriend, played by co-writer/co-director Benjamin Dickinson, spends his days attending BLM rallies and showing her videos of himself kneeling on the ground, one fist raised. Yet, she finds the constant barrage of awful headlines and his insistence that she views his protest videos exhausting. Who can blame her? She needs her space, but he’s unrelenting.

The short does a good job depicting those quarantine days. It’s evident she’s sick of her boyfriend, including their repetitive conversations and the fact he makes dolls of everyone they know and poses them at the table. At one point, she asks, “Can you move your mother?” It’s unsettling, yet funny. However, it’s his faux activism that really irks her, and his character morphs into a sort of white monstrosity that’s both amusing and frightening.

White Devil is one of several films I’ve seen lately either filmed during the height of the pandemic or created in response to it. There are even a few playing at SXSW. I’m sure there will be more forthcoming. However, this short is the first I’ve seen that has shown the George Floyd protests and COVID through the eyes of a Black woman. White Devil re-centers the gaze. Whether or not this ever becomes a feature-length film doesn’t matter. This is one unnerving piece, a pandemic film that’s unique because of the voice it highlights. It calls out superficial virtue-signaling while underscoring just how mentally exhausting 2020 was.

7 out of 10