As Covid-19 overwhelms New York City, Fire Through Dry Grass Co-Directors Alexis Neophytides and Andres “Jay” Molina take viewers inside the Roosevelt Island nursing home, where Jay lives with his fellow “Reality Poets.” Before the pandemic, the group of mostly gun violence survivors traveled around the city sharing their art and wisdom with youth. Now, using GoPros clamped to their wheelchairs, they document their harrowing year on “lock down” fighting for their lives and their freedom.

Their animated poetry and backstories flow throughout the film, underscoring a cycle of oppression and resistance. But instead of history repeating itself on this tiny island with a dark history of institutional neglect and abandonment, Fire shows these disabled Black and brown artists refusing to be abused, confined, erased.