Red, White, and Beard

Vishwajit Singh is a cartoonist based in New York who grew up in Washington, DC and creates comic characters with turbans and beards, filling a gap in American popular culture that he noticed early and decided to do something about. The film follows him at home, at work, and out on the streets of New York dressed as Captain America, turban in place, asking strangers direct questions about identity, belonging, and what they assume when they look at him. The reactions are unscripted and genuinely revealing.

The Captain America costume is not a gimmick. It's an argument: that the most quintessential American superhero can and should be able to look like anyone, that the narrow image of the country that mainstream culture projects is both inaccurate and harmful. Vishwajit makes that argument through art and through personal encounter, on street corners and in comic panels. Red White and Beard is a film about what it means to insist on being seen as American when America keeps requiring you to prove it.