A RECKONING IN BOSTON - LOST NATION PICTURES, LTD PRESENTS www.areckoninginboston.com Documentary, 83 minutes Directed by James Rutenbeck - Urban ...
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www.areckoninginboston.com
LOST NATION PICTURES, LTD PRESENTS
Documentary, 83 minutes
Directed by James Rutenbeck
A RECKONING IN BOSTON
A WHITE FILMMAKER COMES INTO A BLACK COMMUNITY LOOKING FOR TRANSFORMATION IN
THE LIVES OF LOW-INCOME ADULTS ENROLLED IN A NIGHT COURSE IN THE HUMANITIES.
AS HE SPENDS MORE TIME WITH THE STUDENTS, HE’S AWAKENED TO THE VIOLENCE, RACISM
AND GENTRIFICATION THAT THREATEN THEIR VERY PLACE IN THE CITY.
“Don’t miss this powerful film that lays bare the transformative
force of the humanities in our lives in these turbulent and
troubling times!”
Cornel West
Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy
Harvard University
2 A RECKONING IN BOSTON - A FILM BY JAMES RUTENBECK
“It is only through the life experiences of Carl and I that James has become aware of his blind spots.”
- Kafi Dixon, Producer
Wait list for affordable
housing in Boston:
40,000 applicants.
Median household
wealth in
IT’S A TREE
greater Boston:
Nationwide, 2.7 million
grandparents are raising
Black grandchildren, and about
people: one-fifth of those have
White people: incomes that fall below
$8.
$247,000. the poverty line.
A RECKONING IN BOSTON - A FILM BY JAMES RUTENBECK 3
I can remember as a young person reading about the Civil War, and it said that Indians didn’t do much. And Black people were basically relegated to digging ditches. Why would I want to contribute to something that really wasn’t respectful of me or my family? - Carl Chandler Sometimes I feel afraid for myself. Like this could be a space for a million, million, million dollar housing development, and I’m squatting on it and occupying on it and planting food. And I’m in somebody’s way. - Kafi Dixon 4 A RECKONING IN BOSTON - A FILM BY JAMES RUTENBECK
A RECKONING
IN BOSTON SYNOPSIS
In fall 2014, Kafi Dixon and Carl Chandler White suburban filmmaker James Rutenbeck But over time James is forced to come to terms
enrolled in a rigorous night course in the came to Dorchester to document the students’ with a flawed film premise and his own complicity
humanities at a community center in their engagement with the Clemente Course in the in racist structures. As he spends time with Carl
Boston neighborhood of Dorchester. Humanities. The Clemente Course is taught in and Kafi, he’s awakened to the violence, racism
34 sites across the U.S.--to those who have and gentrification that threaten their very place
Kafi, 44, sharp, witty and restless, dropped out experienced homelessness, transitioned out in the city.
of school at 15. She had her first baby a year later of incarceration or faced barriers to a college
and two more soon after. Carl, 65, who lives on education. The Clemente mission is to foster Troubled by his failure to bring the film together,
a small pension and disability payment in one of critical thinking through deep engagement with he spends more time listening than filming and
Boston’s most dangerous neighborhoods, began history, literature, philosophy and art history. eventually enlists Kafi and Carl as collaborators/
the class with a keen interest in learning but Clemente students, its proponents assert, producers with a share in the film revenues. Five
little faith in educational institutions. become fuller and freer citizens. years on, despite many obstacles, Kafi and Carl
arrive at surprising new places in their lives, and
following their lead, James does too.
A RECKONING IN BOSTON - A FILM BY JAMES RUTENBECK 5
A RECKONING
IN BOSTON BIOS
James Rutenbeck – Carl Chandler – Kafi Dixon –
Producer/Director/ Producer Producer
Writer/Editor Carl is a baby boomer, a Kafi has
James Rutenbeck’s product of the Sixties. worked as a
nonfiction films He was born in Boston, gravedigger,
have screened at as was his grandmother, fishmonger,
father, two daughters,
various forums retail merchant,
and a grandson. His
including Cinema Boston bus
ancestry is Black,
du Reel, Museum of driver, commu-
Indigenous American
Modern Art, National nity organizer
and western European.
Gallery and the Flaherty Film Seminar. James and mother of three. She is certified as
Because he felt that his people were not respected or
is a two-time recipient of the Alfred I. du Pont embraced by America, Carl made the calculation early an urban farmer by the City of Boston. A
Columbia Journalism Award for his work as in life to opt out of chasing the material excesses of former Clemente Course student, Kafi
producer of the PBS series Unnatural Causes, the so-called “American Dream.” Throughout his life worked closely with the film’s director
about health disparities in the U.S. and Class of he has given lectures and presentations on indigienous James Rutenbeck for the last three years.
’27, which he executive produced, directed and culture in southern New England as his small She is currently lead organizer for the
edited. Class of ’27, about the lives of young contribution to the education of young people. Poor, Common Good Cooperative, an urban
children in rural America, is streaming as an but not impoverished, he feels his own education has farm and cooperative for poor and
Editor’s Pick at The Atlantic. His film Scenes from been incomplete. working-class women of color in
a Parish aired on the PBS series Independent Dorchester, Massachusetts. This is
When his youngest daughter went away to college, he
Lens in 2009. James has been awarded grants her first film.
struggled with what to do next. A year later he found
from Sundance Documentary Fund, LEF Moving
the Clemente Course in the Humanities. There, he
Image Fund, Southern Humanities Media Fund
received a first-rate education and a new direction in
and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
his life. He was elected class graduation speaker, and
His broadcast editing credits include Zoot Suit this honor confirmed to him that he should speak to
Riots, Jimmy Carter and Roberto Clemente for the the positive impact Clemente has on a person’s life.
PBS series American Experience. James studied He has spoken in videos, public forums, and small
filmmaking with Richard Leacock at the classes. This is his first film.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
6 A RECKONING IN BOSTON - A FILM BY JAMES RUTENBECK
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