Director Boots Riley on race and class struggle in his debut film Sorry To Bother You

You get a call. You don't recognize the number. You answer it anyway — and it's a telemarketer. From there, you probably try to politely find a way out of the call or just immediately hang up, but if you've ever been on the other end of one of those calls then you know how brutal they can be.

It's something Boots Riley knows pretty well. He's the writer and director behind Sorry To Bother You​, a new film that's getting a ton of buzz. It takes you into the crazy experience of being a telemarketer and uses it to take a comedic look at race and class in America.

Boots Riley has explored a lot of these political themes throughout his career as a community activist and as the frontman for The Coup, the hip-hop group from California. He tells Tom Power why his art has always been an extension of his activism.

Sorry To Bother You is out now. 

— Produced by Tyrone Callender