FREESTYLE DIGITAL MEDIA RELEASES URBAN COMING-OF-AGE DRAMA 'RAISE YOUR HAND'

Sets Digital Debut for North American VOD Platforms and DVD on June 3, 2025

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, June 3, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Freestyle Digital Media, the digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, has just released the urban coming-of-age drama RAISE YOUR HAND, which is now available to rent/own on all North American digital HD internet, cable, and satellite platforms, as well as on DVD, starting June 3, 2025.

RAISE YOUR HAND is writer/director Jessica Rae’s 1990s coming-of-age drama about high schoolers in the Midwest. Her directorial debut film, it was inspired by her real-life experiences growing up as a multiracial woman of color in Minneapolis. RAISE YOUR HAND follows best friends Gia (Jearnest Corchado -- Can You Feel the Beat: the Lisa Lisa Story, Sneakerheads, Little America, The Fosters, The Blacklist) and Lila (Hanani Taylor -- Criminal Minds, Punky Brewster) as they balance school and personal connections with their family, friends, boys and neighborhood, including the corrupt local police. Gia struggles to maintain her grades and sort through a tumultuous relationship with her mother and stepfather. She attempts to find solace in a relationship with a new boyfriend, Wish, while investing in her writing. Very quickly, however, all of Gia’s relationships go through dramatic, sometimes traumatic, changes, and Gia and Lila find themselves in their own separate fights for both meaning and survival, in a film that is a testament to their perseverance and the power of story.

Written and directed by Jessica Rae, RAISE YOUR HAND was produced by Evan Allen-Gessesse, Chanda Dancy, and Eileen Kennedy. Adam Dick and Margarita Reyes served as executive producers. The original score was composed by Academy Award short-listed composer Chanda Dancy (Blink Twice, Devotion). The featured cast includes Jearnest Corchado (‘Gia’), Hanani Taylor (‘Lila’), Jess Nurse (‘Ms. Ramsey’), Joel Steingold (‘Amaris’), Gracie Marie Bradley (‘Lyric’), Janet Craig (‘Principal Reynolds’), Gregory Scott Cummins (‘Officer McCance’), Isabella Day (‘Young Gia’), Donat (‘Wish/Shawn Turner’), and Fenix Lazzaroni (‘Leticia/Gia's Mom’).

“As a survivor of sexual assault, RAISE YOUR HAND is deeply personal to me, and the collection of stories represented are those based on my own memories growing up and those of my close friends and family,” said filmmaker Jessica Rae. “It’s because of my real-life champions, some who are represented in this film, that I am now able to share this story, and all the stories represented in this movie.”

Freestyle Digital Media negotiated the deal to acquire RAISE YOUR HAND directly with the filmmakers and Dept. H.

RAISE YOUR HAND website: www.imdb.com/title/tt5957700

About Freestyle Digital Media
The digital distribution unit of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, Freestyle Digital Media, is a premiere multi-platform distributor with direct partnerships across all major cable, satellite, digital, and streaming platforms. Capitalizing on a robust infrastructure, proven track record, and a veteran sales team, Freestyle Digital Media is a true home for independent films. Recent releases include ALLSWELL IN NEW YORK starring Emmy award-winning actress Liza Colón-Zayas from the hit FX series THE BEAR, ALL HAPPY FAMILIES starring Josh Radnor and Rob Huebel, the drama based on a novel THE GHOST TRAP starring Zak Steiner from EUPHORIA and Greer Grammer of AWKWARD, and the Weekly World News horror-comedy THE ZOMBIE WEDDING. Other Freestyle Digital Media titles include THE ROAD DOG starring comedian Doug Stanhope, SURVIVE starring HBO’s GAME OF THRONES star Sophie Turner and Corey Hawkins, the music documentary profiling blues guitar legends Jimmie Vaughan and Stevie Ray Vaughan, BROTHERS IN BLUES, DEAR ZOE starring Sadie Sink from the hit Netflix series STRANGER THINGS, Jessica Capshaw and Theo Rossi, the teen musical BEST SUMMER EVER featuring a fully integrated cast and crew of people with and without disabilities, produced by Jamie Lee Curtis, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mary Steenburgen, and Ted Danson, and THE WEDDING YEAR starring Sarah Hyland and Anna Camp.

For more information, visit:
www.allenmedia.tv
www.freestyledigitalmedia.tv

Eric Peterkofsky
Allen Media Group / Freestyle Digital Media
eric@es.tv

Official FDM Trailer - RAISE YOUR HAND (2025)