SYNOPSIS
A young boy commits an accidental murder which causes a stir in the community and forces him to choose between his loyalty to the gang -AND- saving what's left of his innocence by turning himself into the police. Inspired by the last days of Robert "Yummy" Sandifer’s short life, the story made headlines and appeared on the cover of Time Magazine — showing America a world where children become warriors, grown men give the orders and make the money, and the street gang is family, employer and executioner.
It's the filmmakers' hope to use this film as an opportunity to shed light on the tragic murder of Robert "Yummy" Sandifer, an event that brought national awareness to gang violence toward children.
For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sandifer
Our mission with CHAINING DAY is to humanize the crime statistics that we read and hear about happening everyday in Black communities across the country--young black males murdering each other at an alarming rate. After hearing these numbers, it's easy to grow numb and be complacent with the efforts to reduce this violence. Recognizing that this is still a major issue in today's society, our message is simply: "Let's break the cycle".
There’s an ongoing cycle happening in African American communities across the country. By the time students have reached 9th grade, 42 percent of black male students have been suspended or expelled during their school years, compared to 14 percent of white male students. While black youth account for 16 percent of the youth population, they represent 28 percent of juvenile arrests, and 37 percent of the detained population. While just over 6 percent of the overall population, black males of all ages accounted for 43 percent of murder victims in 2011.
This past year, President Obama announced a new initiative, My Brother's Keeper, with leading foundations and business that will take a collaborative, multi-disciplinary approach to build ladders of opportunity for boys and young men of color. This organization aims at partnering with communities and police to reduce violence and make classrooms and streets safer. They also push to help young men stay in school and find a good job--so they have the opportunity to reach their full potential, contribute to their communities and build decent lives for themselves and their families.
We believe that CHAINING DAY will help promote movements like My Brother's Keeper, and give a voice to all the young boys and men of color whose lives were taken too soon due to senseless violence in the streets.
For more info:
PROJECT DETAILS
OUR MISSION
CHAINING DAY is a short film being made within Film Independent's highly competitive diversity fellowship, Project Involve. Many successful, award-winning short films that feature people of color originate from Project Involve. Past alumni have made important, socially-relevant films, such as After Innocence (Sundance, Special Jury Prize, 2005), Pariah (Sundance Dramatic Competition, 2011) and Dear White People (Sundance Dramatic Competition, 2014).
For those unfamiliar, Film Independent is a non-profit organization whose mission is to champion the cause of independent film and support a community of artists who embody diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision. As part of Film Independent's dedication to helping independent filmmakers get their films made, they work hand-in-hand with a class of Project Involve filmmakers to produce short films each year. These filmmakers pitch their projects to Film Independent and 6 films are produced, CHAINING DAY being one of the 6 selected films. The shorts premiere at Film Independent's annual Los Angeles Film Festival and go on to appear at other festivals around the world, as well as on television and online.
For more info:
http://www.filmindependent.org/labs-and-programs/project-involve/#.Uzj02K1dUzw