THE VIEW FROM HERE-About two years ago I was contacted by a husband-and-wife team, Bayou Bennett and Daniel Lir, (see photo) from Dolce Films, a production company based in Los Angeles and founded by them a few years back.
I was impressed with their enthusiasm and commitment to working across the media to demonstrate how people (particularly our youth) can develop a sense of personal freedom and empowerment.
They want their work to be viewed as uplifting and eye-opening as it employs the images, humor, and music to which the younger generation can more easily relate.
Bayou, herself, is particularly knowledgeable about educational issues because she was a professor for some years at the New York Institute of Technology, taught at other schools, and was further able to obtain first-hand information about what life is like in Amman (the capital of Jordan) when she had the opportunity to teach film-making there for a time.
Their productions are shown before student groups, electeds, at free community outdoor screenings—among other locations. Theatre viewers will enjoy their short and feature films—a very exciting prospect for audiences who will be wowed by what they see and hear.
Their topics range from female empowerment, public education, and art and music to environmental issues. I first met them when they asked me to participate in a documentary they were doing, called Finding Our Voice. Since the official first screening, the film was featured at the Hollywood Black Film Festival (the Black version of the Sundance Festival) where it received high acclaim (as it has at other showings).
It premiered at Pasadena City College and featured students from Marshall High School, including many very precocious, wise, and insightful students, such as Khadejah Ray and her close friends, Betty Ogba and Cheyenne Smith. Throughout the documentary about a dozen students were interviewed at various locations and spoke eloquently about the insights they have gained from the UCLA social justice program. This summer institute taught them how to ask questions, take responsibility for themselves and their futures, and overcome the hopelessness that every day causes so many students not only to drop out of school but also even out of society.
They have learned that education is a basic human right and that their leadership can make a difference. The interaction they shared among themselves is also enlightening for each of them in different ways. It was almost like group therapy—challenging stereotypes and contemporary thinking and encouraging each person to feel free to share his or her own voice. I was privileged to witness that interaction live.
All their respective efforts turned out to make quite an inspiring film! I cannot help but remark on one fact, in particular, that struck me as being so ironic: For every student, the State spends about nine thousand dollars per year but spends $46, 000 on each prisoner! Maybe it is time to reverse those statistics and place our concentration on educating and rehabilitating rather than incarcerating.
Another educational piece is based upon a lawsuit, essentially dealing with tenure, entitled Vergara vs the State of California. Its purported purpose is to change laws that will benefit students, especially those that are at-risk. But fixing the seniority system that has long been in place is a touchy one: In large part, seniority came into being because administrators could harass, threaten, coerce teachers to perform a certain way or risk being transferred to another school or disqualified altogether from obtaining the job security that tenure provides. If a principal did not like where you lived, who you married, to what religion you belonged, or from what ancestry you came—that principal could dismiss you so that, regardless of how outstanding an instructor you are, you could lose your job.
I believe we all agree that there needs to be some reform in the system to rid ourselves of unqualified teachers but retain the best and most motivated and committed. From what I have researched, it is far too unclear from the plaintiffs’ side exactly what would replace what we currently have—would we be jumping from the frying pan into the fire?!
The Vergara film will take us into the issues in a thoughtful way that can help us decide which side we want to take or at least to help us to come up with viable alternatives to affect the necessary seniority reforms.
Dolce is additionally involved with the environmental film, Carbon Nation. If Gasland and Gasland II introduce and discuss toxic issues with us, then Carbon Nation suggests a variety of climatic solutions, including those surrounding global warming.
There is even a short film, Texting Me, a comedy about how texting has affected our lives and relationships and about the dangers inherent in reduced face-to-face human interaction.
Another one of their outstanding documentaries is called LA Aboriginal—an exciting project revolving around the life of Dave Tourjé. Though born here in Los Angeles, he did spend a year in Mexico where he was introduced to the marvelous murals of such artists as Diego Rivera and José Orozco—works that can be seen on so many public buildings there and elsewhere. Many of Rivera’s works are displayed in Los Angeles exhibits and in some of our own public buildings (which include those at La Casa del Mexicano in Boyle Heights). They display the travails of the laborer, the uprisings against government and the wealthy. They reflect the Spanish and Mexican heritage—the art, the music, the religion. Rivera had a definite impact onTourjé’s artistic stylings.
Having had an artistic bent almost since birth, Tourjé was later inspired by the dramatic work of the aforementioned masters, but also created an innovative artistic style of his own. His work furthermore reflects the history and religion of the Highland Park area but also pursues the hot-rod, gang, and moto-cross cultures.
He says that graffiti art is far too misunderstood—much as rap has been “blackwashed” as thug music. When one gang paints its symbols on a wall and then another gang paints over it with its own designs—a story is being told (and police units should not be the only ones that “understand” the overall meaning and intent). He says that such art is a “tug-of-war” between and among various gangs and demands recognition, respect, and honor.
A comment by the renowned artist, Jon Van Hamersveld, states that Tourjé uses abstract expressionism with cultural symbols in order to articulate a slice of LA’s culture and heritage. Some of his art also depicts the rock-and-roll underground.
I think he challenges all of us to look beneath the surface, to seek out the meaning of the lives evoked by the so-called graffiti-makers, to understand and feel compassion, and to see art for what it is meant to do—to enlighten and bring a sense of comfort and joy and pride.
Dolce’s feature-length film (now in progress) has been given the thought-provoking title, Sk8boarding with Saddam. The producers describe it this way: “[It] is a coming-of-age story about courage against a backdrop of skateboarding, love, and missiles.” It is set between 1990 and 1991 and takes place in Israel as the Persian Gulf War is about to break out. It encompasses the lives of several young men who are great friends and simply want to lead their lives in simple ways—skateboarding down the streets of their neighborhoods and cities. It is a story about overcoming righteous fears as they engage enthusiastically in that daring sport while, at the same time, addressing the ramifications of love.
The protagonist is an Israeli-born American who travels back to Israel one summer to visit family and friends. He is faced with life-and-death decisions that challenge the kind of person he is and wants to be. He falls in love and must decide which direction his life will take. We witness missiles, explosions, fire, and gas masks as he and his friends try to maintain a “normal” life and stay alive. He has re-identified with his Israeli roots, so does he stay in Israel, developing his rediscovered identity, or does he return to Los Angeles where he might be safer, but only after abandoning “his people” in their time of need? I am eager for this one to hit the theatres.
Certainly we can see ourselves, here in Los Angeles, in this film as our children face a different mixture of the same kind of fears—encountering gangs, muggings, thefts, and rapes; fear of walking across gang territory to arrive unharmed at school of choice. They face the ravages of poverty. “You’re not you if you’re hungry” is a quote I took from one of the Dolce pieces. The absence or lack of food, of healthy food is also something that many Israeli, Iraqi, and American children have in common—children who are struggling desperately to find a new, better normal.
Yes, we have more in common than we ever thought—a motif that runs through many of the Dolce films. In fact, only this week, the Los Angeles Times presented an article about the School Board’s decision to close a very popular environmental satellite school, located in East Los Angeles in Boyle Heights, under the Roosevelt High umbrella, the Academy of Environmental and Social Policy.
The teacher-student ratio is where it should be, State scores are up, drop-out rates are down, college preparation has witnessed great strides. Nevertheless, “they” want to shut down this academy that has proven itself over and over to be an unquestionable success. As many bad decisions that the Board makes, one would think it would fight to keep such an effective school going. Nobody asked the students (who are demonstrating against and prevailing upon the Board to change its mind) what they or their parents or the community wants.
Many students have emphatically stated they would not return to RHS for fear of having to cross gang territory, an action which would mark them immediately as targets for violent attacks and ”retaliations.” What does that say about what these children encounter every day of their lives?
Los Angeles is the home of many artists representing many genres—many of whom are struggling. We need to make a point of helping them develop their talent—from the child in school to the adult later on. We need to patronize their movies and visit their exhibits and listen to their music. We need to be encouraging and promoting. After all, the more we know, the more we see and hear, the more we exchange ideas and philosophies, the richer our lives will be!
We are blessed with people like Bayou and Daniel and the creativity that emanates from their Dolce Films Company. They are genuinely dedicated to the cause of helping us make the world a better place. I have faith that their yet-unborn children and their children’s companions will one day reap the benefits of all their earnest and devoted service to humankind.
For more information, see the following:
(Rosemary Jenkins is a Democratic activist and chair of the Northeast Valley Green Coalition. Jenkins has written Leticia in Her Wedding Dress and Other Poems, A Quick-and-Easy Reference to Correct Grammar and Composition and Vignettes for Understanding Literary and Related Concepts. She also writes for CityWatch.)
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 20
Pub: Mar 7, 2014
