The winner of Best Narrative Feature at last year’s SXSW Festival, writer-director Adam Leon’s Gimme the Loot takes a premise seemingly made for dark twists and turns — over the course of two summer days a pair of Bronx graffiti artist teenagers, Malcolm and Sofia, try to scrape together and possibly steal $500 to pull off a big stunt that will humiliate their rivals — and turns it into a keenly observed, vibrant, livewire work coursing with adolescent energy. As a result, the young director has been rewarded with attention as one of the top up-and-coming filmmakers of the under-30 set. I recently had a chance to speak with Leon one-on-one, about race, class and taking his little movie around the world. The conversation is excerpted over at ShockYa, so click here for the read.