Kids in Jail

Grâce à un accès sans précédent acquis après des années de bénévolat au sein du centre, le réalisateur Larry Lynn dépeint un portrait à la fois complexe et intime de ces enfants en prison. Le film soulève des questions aussi difficiles que vitales au sujet des jeunes délinquants et des jeunes à risque : devrait-on faire mieux pour les aider?

Still Longshots follows four at-risk young people through a video-making workshop. Beat, 24, has been off and on the streets since age 13 and is finally trying to leave the dangerous world of dealing drugs for good. Meanwhile, his pal David, 19, finds the quick cash of dealing dope all too alluring. Despite showing talent behind the camera, he drops out of the video workshop to become a downtown "street boss." Dave Z., 23, is a fiercely independent former heroin addict who credits his love for his dog with helping him quit. Edith is 19, on her own, and dealing with her epilepsy. She is in her first apartment after a youth spent in foster homes. Learning to make videos about their lives becomes a creative healing process for these young people. Rounding out the experience is the chance to meet a group of former street kids who did a similar workshop more than a decade earlier. The younger group spends a weekend with Carrie, now 32, who lost custody of her children because of heroin addiction and an abusive partner. Victor, now 35, never left street life - or his alcohol and drug addictions - far behind. Then there are Scott, 36, and Jeanette, 32, who share a son and are both pursuing artistic careers. Over the weekend, surprising, sometimes disturbing parallels emerge between the old and new groups, along with glimmers of hope for the younger ones.

A story of teenage conflict--the predicament of a youth who rebels against his parents' middle-class goals and conventions but finds the world, away from home and high school, a cold place to go it alone. Ideals are no defense when the need for money leads to shady practices. This feature film is a study of the sources of delinquency in an affluent society, mirroring many of the problems and frustrations of young people.