Here They Come: In My Shoes, a review
In My Shoes
by Urban Arts Partnership
Youth Media Activists.
2009, 28 minutes.
Click here for screening times at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
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They are coming. The new hard-hitting filmmakers are bursting the bonds of the chrysalis, and they’re already flexing their wings. Soon they will begin to fly.
In My Shoes is a film written, directed, and produced by a handful of young men and women. The documentary depicts the frightening presence of youth homelessness in New York city and the courageous attempts of four kids to rise out of it. Over 3,800 children slept on the streets of New York last night.
The reasons the youth ended up homeless were different — inability to pay rent, kicked out of homes, abandonment by parents — but the outcome was the same, a hard life on the streets, riding subway cars from dusk until dawn. And the touching fact is that these youth had the resilience to focus on remaining in school. They may have been down and out, but they were strong enough to keep moving forward in a world that seemed hell bent to deny them.
The amazing achievement of In My Shoes is the fact that it transcends age. I quickly forgot that youth had created it, and some of the editing surpassed other full-feature films that will screen at the HRW film festival. Even the soundtrack was written and performed by the creators, making the work the total package.
Most people don’t know that youth homelessness is a serious issue in New York City. I feel like it is my responsibility, as someone who personally knows homeless teens, to make other people aware. Documentary film is an effective method for getting people to open their eyes and do something about issues.
The film was enabled by the non-profit Urban Arts Partnership, a groundbreaking organization that links some of New York city’s accomplished creative artists directly with the youth. Artists such as Rosie Perez and Pras lend their talents to the classes, and it shows. There is no middleman. Just skills nurturing skills.
Here is Tyrone, a young man who managed to graduate from high school with good grades while sleeping on subway trains:
Getting out of high school, that’s when your life begins. Not even, your life begins when you get out of college.
I don’t agree with Tyrone here. I’d say it has already begun.
This film will screen along with another series of films produced by youth around the world at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
–Deji Olukotun
