Malcolm Kenyatta’s political and personal life form the focus of ‘Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn’

A new documentary goes behind the scenes of Pa. State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta’s 2022 run to become the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn, directed by Hatfield native Tim Harris and executive produced by Today’s Al Roker, examines the underdog story of a unique candidate — a Black gay man from working-class North Philly whose rousing speeches often went viral — up against then-Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and former U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb.

We know how it ends: Kenyatta came in third behind Fetterman and Lamb. After winning the primary, Fetterman successfully defeated Mehmet Oz. But Do Not Wait Your Turn isn’t simply a rehashing of last year’s headlines. Harris takes viewers behind the scenes of Kenyatta’s suspenseful campaign and also captures intimacies that most election documentaries eschew — including footage of Kenyatta’s wedding to Matthew Jordan-Miller Kenyatta at the Met Philadelphia.

“It very much felt like an X-ray for the soul,” Kenyatta said to The Inquirer. “I don’t know of another political documentary where you get to see something that personal … as scary as that was, I knew that it could lead to something really special.”

Kenyatta and Harris met at Temple University when they worked on a comedy sketch show. Years later, they reconnected at the Philadelphia Women’s March where Harris was struck by Kenyatta’s speech. Harris told Kenyatta that if he ever pursued public office, he’d like to cover his run. “He told me at the time he was not interested in politics, which is very hard to believe now,” said Harris, who leads the Philly-based production company Seven Knots Film & Media. His crew followed Kenyatta for about 18 months.

When Kenyatta was elected state representative in 2018 as the first openly LGBTQ+ person of color to serve in the General Assembly, Harris filmed Going Forward, a 15-minute documentary for the Atlantic magazine.

Kenyatta was resistant to inviting a filmmaker, even one he knew, to shadow him. “I’m not a huge consumer of reality TV, other than RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Great British Bake Off,” said Kenyatta, laughing. “I just do not operate well, like, faking the funk, so I knew that giving [Harris] this access, you’d be able to see me … the highs and the lows.”

Do Not Wait Your Turn examines a loss in Kenyatta’s political career, but he feels that failure is crucial to portray. The film also underscores the financial hurdles of campaigning, especially when the winning candidate out-fundraised him by some $14 million.

Roker hadn’t heard of Kenyatta before he joined as an executive producer on the documentary. “The powers that be have a different idea of what electability is, as opposed to everyday people [who] are hungry for authenticity,” he said.

Kenyatta often heard from voters and politicos alike that he couldn’t win Pennsylvania. The documentary interrogates this question of electability.

Roker was impressed with the politician’s charisma and believed that he represented a greater shift where more people of color and young people are eager to get politically involved. “There are so many Malcolms out there, I think more and more running for office, people who don’t fit what we used to see, as [elected officials] … This is not a person who is, you know, a lawyer, a millionaire. He’s very much like the constituents he represents.”

Do Not Wait Your Turn premiered at the London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival, BFI Flare, and then screened at L.A.’s Outfest QTBIPOC Fusion Film Festival. This week, a family and friends screening is being held in Philly. Harris hopes to find a distributor soon.

In retrospect, Kenyatta is grateful to have his remarkable year documented on screen. He said it made him realize how much he curses and how frequently he goes to Dunkin’ Donuts. But he also views it as a powerful memory keeper.

One somber scene shows what he called a “Thelma and Louise moment.” Kenyatta and his husband the night of the election, sat quietly at a bar processing their disappointment. “I don’t remember that happening at all,” he said . “Obviously, that was an emotional blur of a night, so that makes sense, but that was really special, to have some of these moments that have left my mind.”

That loss, though, hasn’t slowed him down. Kenyatta recently announced his bid to be Pennsylvania’s auditor general.

Disclosure: Inquirer political reporters Julia Terruso and Jonathan Tamari appear as commentators in “Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn.” Neither of them was involved in this story.