If you grew up on Kids, Fresh, or early Spike Lee joints, perk up—because writer-director Jessica Rae is bringing the fire with her semi-autobiographical debut Raise Your Hand, and the first trailer just landed. Freestyle Digital Media, the digital distribution arm of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, has scooped up this ’90s-set coming-of-age drama and will be releasing it on VOD and DVD across North America starting June 3, 2025.
Set in Minneapolis during the mid-1990s, Raise Your Hand centers on two best friends, Gia and Lila, as they navigate school, their turbulent families, first love, and a community weighed down by systemic corruption and police misconduct. It’s got all the hallmarks of a personal indie drama—authenticity, grit, and zero punches pulled.
Jearnest Corchado (Sneakerheads, The Blacklist) portrays Gia, a budding writer navigating a toxic home life while exploring young love and self-expression. Hanani Taylor (Criminal Minds) holds it down as her ride-or-die Lila. As their lives spiral in wildly different directions, the story zeroes in on survival, identity, and the redemptive power of storytelling.
“Jessica Rae is bringing the fire with her semi-autobiographical debut Raise Your Hand, and the first trailer just landed.”
Jessica Rae, pulling triple duty as writer, director, and soul-bearing survivor, based the script on her own life growing up multiracial in the Midwest. “As a survivor of sexual assault, Raise Your Hand is deeply personal to me,” Rae said in a statement. “The stories in this film are rooted in my lived experiences and those of the people I love.”
The cast also features Jess Nurse, Joel Steingold, Gracie Marie Bradley, and Gregory Scott Cummins, with a score by Academy Award-shortlisted composer Chanda Dancy (Devotion).
Freestyle Digital Media, which negotiated directly with Rae and the Department. H, has been stacking a solid roster of heartfelt indie gems lately—proving they’re one of the few remaining distributors that still believe in storytelling over IP recycling.
So if you’re tired of reboot culture and craving something raw, real, and unfiltered—mark June 3rd and get ready to raise your damn hand.
Check out the trailer below:
