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Documentary by Alexa Oona Schulz Format: HD |
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Character-driven documentary that centers on two Los Angeles Latina mother’s intimate journey to overcome overpowering feelings of guilt and shame after learning that their teenage sons are murderers incarcerated for life. On a second level the film investigates how the once innocent and sweet kids could transform into gang-banging criminals. An unprecedented maternal perspective on the world of gang violence, this film explores the hidden face of incarceration. |
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| Supported by: Women Make Movies | |||||||||
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How does a mother deal with the loss of a child? LUCIA, a middle-class single parent living in Pico Rivera east of Los Angeles has lost a son, Pedro, to a life sentence for a gang related murder committed when he was 17. NORA, a single Latina on welfare in the ganglands of Los Angeles also has a son serving a life sentence, David. She additionally grieves the loss of her younger son, Nicholas, murdered aged 17 in a drive-by shooting. For Lucia and Nora every day is a struggle to cope with loss and complex feelings. Even the longed-for visit to prison becomes a source of dread, because of the many conflicting emotions it stirs up. This film explores, with compassionate intimacy, the hidden face of incarceration, focusing on Lucia and Nora’s emotional journeys. At a secondary, investigative level the film unravels the events leading up to the crimes committed by Pedro and David as teenagers. Along with legal challenges and emotional pain, both women must face the fact that their much-loved sons grew up to become gang-banging murderers. Both must negotiate the anger they feel about their sons’ acts, and reflect sorrowfully on their years of denial. Since most mothers of convicted murderers are too ashamed to share their stories with the world, and my film’s subject matter remains taboo in large parts of Latino society, my film sets out to explore the hidden face of incarceration in order to brake the shame, the taboo and in order to help raise awareness for prevention of gang violence that destroys families and in consequence whole communities. |
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