Just hours after the world premiere of CYCLE, a documentary six years in the making about the police killing of Ty’rese West in Racine, Wisconsin, yet another person was shot and killed by Racine police—the second shooting involving Racine police in the last two weeks.
The timing is not simply chilling—it is emblematic of a greater unresolved problem. CYCLE was created to shine light on the unseen, to hold space for the stories that never went viral, and to expose the systems that allow these tragedies to repeat. The fact that the cycle repeated, in the same city, on the same night that the film finally reached an audience is a sobering reminder of why this work exists. What should have been a day of remembrance and reflection for Ty’Rese’s family was overtaken by fresh grief, plunging the community and the filmmakers back into the harsh reality the film seeks to expose.
More than recounting a single case, CYCLE tracks how power moves through narrative—how incidents are framed, how official language is shaped, and how public perception is managed. It gives viewers the tools to recognize patterns: the press release language, the media coverage that follows, the gaps that go unaddressed. It helps people name what they’re seeing and what they’re not.
CYCLE wasn’t created to be a conclusion and doesn’t offer answers. The film is an opening to insist on better questions. It’s meant to be used by communities, organizers, or anyone trying to push back against the silence that too often settles in after the news cameras leave.
“This isn’t just a film about the past,” said director Laura Dyan Kezman. “It’s about the patterns we’re still living through.”
On Monday, the ACLU of Wisconsin released a blog titled The Cycle Continues, drawing a direct connection between the film’s message and Sunday’s tragedy. In response, the CYCLE team and ACLU-WI are hosting encore screenings and community Q&As today at 3:45 p.m. and Wednesday at 3 p.m. at the Downer Theatre in Milwaukee.
