Two Distant Strangers is a 2020 American short film written by Travon Free and directed by Free and Martin Desmond Roe.^[2][3] The film examines the deaths of Black Americans during encounters with police through the eyes of a character trapped in a time loop that keeps ending in his death.^[4][5] Two Distant Strangers won the award for Best Live Action Short Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, marking distributor Netflix's first win in the category.^[6]

In New York City, graphic designer Carter James tries to get home to his dog, Jeter, the morning after a first date, only to find himself trapped in a time loop in which he is repeatedly confronted in the street by a NYPD officer, Merk. Merk wonders whether Carter is smoking a joint and wants to search his bag. Each encounter ends with Carter being killed by the police, then waking up in the bed of his date, Perri.^{[lower-alpha 1]} In one version of the loop, riot police burst into Perri's apartment, mistaking it for a different apartment because the door number is hanging upside down, and shoot him there.^{[lower-alpha 2]}

After 99 deaths, Carter decides to discuss the situation with Officer Merk. Carter tells him about the time loop, offering Merk evidence by correctly predicting what people around them will do next. Carter asks Merk to drive him home. The journey ends without mishap; Merk and Carter get out of the patrol car and shake hands. But as Carter turns to enter his apartment building, Merk starts applauding what he calls Carter's "noble performance", revealing that Merk remembers the previous loops too. Merk then shoots him in the back, while a pool of blood starts forming in the shape of Africa, and says "See you tomorrow, kid". Carter wakes up once more in Perri's bed.

Undeterred, Carter leaves Perri's apartment to make yet another effort to get home. As the song "The Way It Is" plays, names of Black Americans who have died in encounters with police are listed.

• Joey Badass as Carter James
• Andrew Howard as Merk, an NYPD officer
• Zaria Simone as Perri, Carter's date

In March 2021, Netflix acquired the distribution rights and made the film available from April 9.^[8]

• List of films featuring time loops
• Black Lives Matter
• See You Yesterday (2019), Netflix film with a similar concept
• Day Break (2006), television series about a black cop who is being framed for a murder and is caught in a time loop while trying to solve the case.
• Groundhog Day (1993)
• Woke, television series similar in content
• 12:01 PM (1990), Oscar-nominated short similar in content
• "Changes," 1992 song by Tupac Shakur that samples Bruce Hornsby & the Range's "The Way It Is" and lends this film its title ^{[lower-alpha 3]}