Lives in Hazard

Director: Susan Todd, Andrew Young

Institute History

  • 1994 Sundance Film Festival

Description

Susan Todd and Andy Young (Children of Fate) return to Sundance this year with Lives in Hazard, a film which further establishes them as two of the world's most provocative and committed documentary filmmakers. Last year there were over thirty-five hundred gang-related murders in the United States, Gangs and youth violence have spread all over America, Why are kids getting involved with gangs? What makes them stay involved after they realize the danger?

Actor/director Edward James Olmos wanted to explore these issues, so he asked Todd and Young to make a film about the gang members who worked in the crew and cast of his debut directorial effort, American Me. Featuring streetwise Latino rap music, the film is narrated by Olmos and shows him working with the kids on set We follow them over the course of a year, both on set and on the street, from the barrios of East LA to the prisons of California as we explore the gang mentality that has become so much a pan of the way they see the world As sensationalist media overwhelms us with horrific images of gang violence, and fear drives a wedge between the rich and the poor, we become more and more distanced from the truth that children look to
gangs for community and to other members for companionship, Lives in Hazard introduces us to these kids on their own turf and by their own definitions.

With never a second of wasted footage and every moment as poignant as the last, we see this world as it is' raw and brutal, but also tragic life on the street leads to life in prison, and every day in prison is a struggle to survive, (The film's remarkable coverage of Folsom State Prison Inmates is unprecedented.) It takes filmmakers like Todd and Young to handle material like this and still emerge with a life-affirming story, They find hope in the rubble and humanity in the midst of desperation.


Saturday Jan 22 7:40 pm
Holiday Village Cinema III

Sunday Jan 23 10:00 pm
Egyptian Theatre

Wednesday Jan 26 10:00 pm
Holiday Village Cinema I

Thursday Jan 21 3:30 pm
Park City library Center

Friday Jan 28 4:30 pm
Sundance Screening Room

$7.00

— Catherine Schulman

Screening Details

Credits

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