At the height of 2020’s Black Lives Matter protests, a young mother fights for her innocence after surviving a near death car accident while mistakenly injuring a police officer.
synopsis
After driving home from a devastating funeral, Deyanna Davis mistakenly drives through a protest in the streets of Buffalo, New York. Confused and injured by police fire, the mother of five soon realizes the accident has also impacted a police officer and is placed under arrest at the hospital.
At that same protest is Myles Carter, a single father and organizer who is assaulted by police, witnesses the events unfold, and begins advocating for Deyanna’s innocence. Tied together by the trauma of the same night and bonded through parenthood, Thank You for Thinking of Me follows Deyanna as she faces imprisonment, Myles as he navigates the risks of organizing as a Black Muslim man, and their fight within a criminal justice system that places greater value on the lives of police officers than the citizens they are sworn to protect.
TYFTOM trailer release 2025director’s statement
Dear Viewer,
Despite the charge of its subject matter, my wish for you is to see Thank You for Thinking of Me for more than its political urgency. This is a community portrait of my hometown Buffalo, intimately and patiently captured across five years. In the midst of social turmoil, it centers children as witnesses to injustice. It is raw and transparent, not just about the pain our community experiences, but about the very act of capturing that pain on camera.
Truthfully, I wish that the issues Thank You for Thinking of Me confronts were no longer relevant. That would mean that in the years since 2020, we as a nation would have found an answer to police brutality. There would be no extrajudicial killings, and the bodies of Black and Brown people would no longer be political props for displays of power and aggression. It would require us to collectively begin the process of healing generational cycles of oppression and mass incarceration. Thank You for Thinking of Me seeks to contribute to this conversation by demonstrating the impact of simply caring for your neighbors, an act entirely within all of our power.
What makes this story special is beyond partisanship. The bonds between Deyanna Davis and her family, supported by a community that refused to look away from her trauma, transcend argument and policy. At the film’s climax is a birthday party, carefully planned by Deyanna Davis to turn her sendoff into a celebration. Rather than assert a position, this project invites you to bear witness.
Our team is driven by compassion, and a true optimism for the future. While we may not be able to change what has come to pass, we can reflect upon the damage we endured and see a better way forward. As time forces us to move on, Thank You for Thinking of Me is an invitation to look back at a painful tear in our social fabric, and through the example of those who endured the worst outcome with love, imagine a better way forward.
Sincerely,
الشبلي Akram محمد
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