Produced by Taggart Siegel and Dwight Conquergood
Few
filmmakers have dared or been able to get behind the headlines to confront the
human reality and complexity of street gangs in urban America. Challenging stereotypes,
this documentary gives voice to the street youths and reveals their underground
culture. Here is an intricate web of symbols and passions, territory and brotherhood,
honor and, all too often, death.
Images of street bravado are counterpointed with scenes inside laundromats where gang members are folding clothes and playing with babies. A former leader of a female gang talks about her dreams for her two young daughters. The violent death and funeral of a Guatemalan street youth stir up the deepest feelings and most haunting questions about both the vulnerability and the heroic ethic of gang life. The film is based on Dwight Conquergood's field research, the ethnographer who also co-produced and co-directed the film.
American Psychiatric Association, 1993
Certificate of Merit, Chicago International Film Festival, 1990
Award, North Carolina International Film & Video Festival, 1991
Council on Foundations, 1991
57 min. Video or DVD. Sale $350. Video rental $75.
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