On any given day in the U.S., over 100,000 children are locked-up in juvenile detention facilities. Most research shows that a majority of incarcerated youth will leave the facilities with little chance of avoiding a life of crime. Choices and Change was produced over a three year period when juvenile justice programs for communities across NC were being cut. The film advocates for increased funding and resources for community-based programs that offer promise and hope in a juvenile justice system seeking common sense solutions. The film is a catalyst for deep discussion and dialogue: How can communities best support juvenile offenders? Why do children of color receive unequal treatment in the juvenile justice system? And, how can a comprehensive web of educational, mental health and juvenile justice institutions work together to sustain children who get into trouble? Choices and Change explores these and other questions in a moving portrait of A New Day, a day reporting center in Durham, North Carolina. Created in the context of youth video workshops, filmmaker Kenny Dalsheimer invited students to shoot video, take photographs, and talk about their experiences. The film presents a montage of interviews, verité footage and student material that reveals complex layers of responsibility and struggle in our juvenile justice system. From the fiscal struggles faced by A New Day to the often painful realities revealed in juvenile court to the heartbreaking words of children trying to survive, Choices and Change shows the challenges that poverty, drugs, violence, gangs, and school suspensions pose to many of our children and families while at the same time humanizing children so often vilified in the mainstream media.
Choices and Change will encourage citizens and leaders in Durham and beyond to engage in a dialogue about the best ways to support and provide services to young people who commit crimes. The film and post-screening discussion will create a context through which to better understand the social, economic, historical and political dimensions of juvenile justice issues. The project provides an opportunity for citizens of Durham to see one way communities can keep kids out of prison and in school. The film emerged out of youth video workshops taught by media educator and award winning filmmaker Kenny Dalsheimer. Mr. Dalsheimer has worked with 11-15 year old youth at A New Day Juvenile Day Reporting Center (A New Day) in Durham, NC since 2000. It was during Mr. Dalsheimer's time at this program that he was moved to explore junvenile justice issues in a documentary and to invite his students to take photographs and document with camcorders. Choices and Change conveys a message of hope through its thoughtful use of student material. The power of the film lies in its' catalyzing potential to promote discussions and encourage community problem solving related to how we can best provide for troubled youth within our communities. As communities have changed over time, often our juvenile justice system of services has struggled to keep up with the change. Given this gap, Choices and Change focuses on the importance of strengthening collaborative approaches to help our most at risk youth. The film offers a chance to ask, "What does juvenile justice mean? How well are we supporting children who break the law? How do our responses to these questions reflectcore societal values about what kind of world we want and what is necessary to do for our children to live in that world?" The film touches on issues very much in the public eye: gangs, drugs and alcohol, truancy, criminal activity, poverty, school suspensions, and learning differences. Students and staff appearing in the film also hint at ways we can better address such problems. And most importantly, whereas youth are often demonized in the mainstream media, Choices and Change humanizes the children too often cast-off or forgotten. |