City Kicks Off Domestic Violence Month With ‘Nicole’

Tanya Brown will appear at a City of West Hollywood event on Oct. 1, the first day of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, that includes a screening of “I Remember Nicole,” a music video that honors her sister.

The song and music video is a “call to action” from West Hollywood filmmakers/songwriters Renee Sotile and Mary Jo Godges, honoring Nicole Brown Simpson, who was murdered in 1994.

‘I Remember Nicole’ music video.

As a news photographer, Sotile covered the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, Nicole’s former husband, who was accused but eventually acquitted for the murder of her and friend Ron Goldman.

“I’ve never forgotten the faces of the family, especially Denise Brown,” recalls Sotile. “Seeing the elevator door open and the family was in there, and the heartbreaking expression on their faces, I can still see it.”

Tanya Brown has embraced the music video project because she believes it “really captures Nicole,” she said.

“What you have created touched my mom’s heart, touched Denise’s heart, I’m sure it’s touching Nicole’s heart,” Tanya Brown said to the filmmakers, at an earlier screening of the 4-minute video.

The city will present a proclamation to Brown and the filmmakers following the 6 p.m. screening, at the West Hollywood City Council Chambers. It will also have its film festival premiere at the Valley Film Festival in North Hollywood, Oct. 31-Nov. 4.

Sotile said that she and Godges “want the world to remember Nicole, and all women who suffered and continue to suffer from domestic abuse.”

In addition to the screening, the video will make its streaming debut the same day at: “I Remember Nicole: A Global Anthem Reclaiming Power Over Domestic Violence” on YouTube