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Presented by Bread Garden Market, Little Village, and FilmScene
Vino Vérité event:
DIALOGUE: with special guests
Sunday, December 3, 7pm
The second selection of our third season is a deeply intimate portrait of Daje Shelton, a 17-year-old girl growing up too fast in North St Louis where she must overcome the challenges facing Black teens in America with grit and perseverance.
The Vino Vérité series features talented new voices and established filmmakers influenced by the vérité tradition in person to present their thought-provoking, chance-taking, and visually-arresting films. Each selection is paired with hand-selected wines from Bread Garden Market.
Tickets: $25 public / $20 for members. Includes wine tasting, film, hors d'oeuvres and filmmaker reception.
6:30 Hors d'oeuvres & wine tasting
7:00 Theater open for seating
7:15 Screening
9:00 Q&A + Reception with filmmaker, wine and dessert
FOR AHKEEM
"Powerful...the deeply personal tale of one young student as she experiences loss, love and dreams that never fade." — People
Beginning one year before the fatal police shooting of a Black teenager in nearby Ferguson, Missouri, "For Ahkeem" is the coming-of-age story of Daje Shelton, a Black 17-year-old girl in North St. Louis. She fights for her future as she is placed in an alternative high school and navigates the marginalized neighborhoods, biased criminal justice policies and economic devastation that have set up many Black youth like her to fail.
After she is expelled from her public high school, a juvenile court judge sends Daje to the court-supervised Innovative Concept Academy, which offers her one last chance to earn a diploma. Over two years we watch as Daje struggles to maintain focus in school, attends the funerals of friends killed around her, falls in love with a classmate named Antonio, and navigates a loving-but-tumultuous relationship with her mother.
As Antonio is drawn into the criminal justice system and events in Ferguson just four miles from her home seize the national spotlight, Daje learns she is pregnant and must contend with the reality of raising a young Black boy.
Through Daje’s intimate coming of age story, "For Ahkeem" illuminates challenges that many Black teenagers face in America today, and witnesses the strength, resilience, and determination it takes to survive.
"A bracing story of grit in a world of social injustice." —Los Angeles Times
"Masterful...shows us the undeniable power of cinema." —Huffington Post
ABOUT THE DIRECTORS
Jeremy S. Levine and Landon Van Soest are an Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaking team whose work explores social commentary through rich characters and cinematic stories. "Good Fortune," their feature documentary about how efforts to aid Africa may be undermining the very communities they aim to serve, was broadcast to millions of viewers in prime time on the PBS series POV. Good Fortune received a National Emmy Award. Their previous documentary "Walking the Line," about vigilantes on the U.S.-Mexico border, was broadcast nationally in five countries and recognized with awards for production, reporting, and preserving human rights. The team also co-founded the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, a tight-knit community of professional filmmakers in Brooklyn, NY who are dedicated to innovative approaches to filmmaking.
Winner, Cinema Eye Honors – Daje Shelton, Unforgettable award
People Pick Top 10 — People
Must List Top 10 – Entertainment Weekly
Berlin International Film Festival (2017) — World Premiere
Tribeca Film Festival (2017) — Official Selection
Hot Docs Film Festival (2017) — Official Selection
AFI Docs (2017) — Official Selection
“One of the most powerful documentaries ever crafted about the current nature of race relations in America.” —Toronto Film Scene
