‘Look At Me: XXXTentacion’: DJ Semtex hosts exclusive Q&A at special film screening in London

Last week, NME and Fader Films hosted special screenings of new documentary Look At Me: XXXTentacion in London, Paris and Berlin ahead of its European release.

Directed by filmmaker Sabaah Folayan, the film details the turbulent life of late, controversial rapper Jahseh Onfroy AKA XXXTentacion. It tells the story from his troubled childhood spent in South Florida to his sudden rise in the music industry – extensively detailing the domestic violence allegations made against him by ex-girlfriend Geneva Ayala in 2016 – and his death in 2018 during an apparent robbery.

A companion film, In His Own Words: XXXTentacion, is being released alongside the documentary. It comprises a never-before-seen interview, conducted by The FADER in 2017.

At the screenings held in London and Paris were members of XXXTentacion’s team — including entertainment lawyer Bob Celestin, estate manager Solomon Sobande and founder of The FADER Rob Stone.

At the London screening held on November 15 at Curzon Bloomsbury, celebrities, content creators and music fans were also treated to an exclusive Q&A hosted by BBC 1Xtra DJ and presenter DJ Semtex. He interviewed Celestin, Sobande and Stone about Onfroy’s life – and debated whether it’s possible to separate an artist from his art.

Stone said: “I do think it’s a personal choice. At the end of the day, I don’t know if society should decide [if you should separate them, or not]… It isn’t for us to tell anyone what they should want – and that was my maturation through this [process of making the film]. It was a hard decision to do something like this, but if we were going to do it, we had to do it the right way.”

A day later (November 16), at Club 13 in Paris, more journalists, music fans, and influencers attended a screening. Afterwards, director Folayan answered questions from the audience. At one point, she explained her reasons for taking on the job, saying that her “point in making the film was to encourage people to just stay in the middle”.

Look At Me: XXXTentacion was made with the assistance of Onfroy’s mother, Cleopatra Bernard and was originally released in the US on streaming service Hulu in May 2022.

‘Look At Me: XXXTentacion’ and ‘In His Own Words: XXXTentacion’ are both available now to buy or rent digitally on Altavod.com

The post ‘Look At Me: XXXTentacion’: DJ Semtex hosts exclusive Q&A at special film screening in London appeared first on NME.