By Erin Fenner, Staff Writer
About four months
ago, approximately a dozen people who were homeless or transitioning out of
homelessness got together in a room to discuss what sort of film they wanted to
make.
The conversation
wasn’t easy.
Their mismatched
personalities were more pronounced when contrasted against each other. But it
also became evident that their variety of experiences were what would make
their film great.
“I think the
project will work because all of us have different voices,” said John Pinney,
one of the participants. “I don’t think any of us really thought we were going
to get along. Because I’m grumpy. And Rex is dark. David is too happy. Kayla is
constantly writing. Antwoine is really deep. But, I think in the end, it will
be a really provocative movie.”
They were working
together on Project Viewfinder —— a concept conceived by the Northwest Film
Center and inspired by the story of Hazel Malone, an animator whose early years
living on the streets in Portland played a strong role in her working in film.
When Malone was 19
she worked with New Avenues for Youth and the Northwest Film Center to help
make a film about two sisters: one dealing with homelessness and how that
affected their relationship. Since then she has found a career in animation,
working with Bent Image Lab and on the film Coraline.
For Project
Viewfinder, Malone, School of Film lead faculty member Bushra Azzouz, and
supporting filmmakers are guiding a new group of aspiring filmmakers to reflect
upon their own experiences with homelessness.
Each of the
participants who ended up in the film had a different motivation for coming
into it.
Participant David
Lee Boston didn’t know how to read until high school. But after he gained that
skill, he learned he loved literature and writing. With his experience working
in a theater, he knew what sort of writing he wanted to do. Boston is also a Street Roots vendor.
“I worked in a
movie theater for half my life so I always had that interest in films,” Boston
said, “I started writing scripts for movies. I submitted stuff that got turned
down but I still want to get into the film industry whether it be writing films
or directing films. Regardless of what it may be, I want to be involved in filmmaking.”
Kayla Stone, also a
participant, said she sees creativity and filmmaking as a vehicle for
empowerment.
“It kind of helped
me understand poverty and creativity a lot more on a level that could maybe
help me get out of it,” Stone said, ”Teachers and students can be involved in
revolutionizing their world and bringing people out of poverty.”
The film documents
each of their experiences with homelessness. The premise was something that
they were at first uncomfortable approaching.
Participant Rex
Brushwood said that the group initially wasn’t excited about the focus of the
film being their own homelessness.
“They got all … of
us in a room, and first of all, none of us really wanted to do the homeless
documentary. We all had our own ideas,” Brushwood said.
But with guidance
and encouragement from Azzouz they came around to the idea of presenting not
just homelessness, but their own take on it.
“We gave the
students a premise to work with: How would you represent homelessness to the
community?” Azzouz said. “As an insider; as someone who has experienced
homelessness. Not from the outside in, but the inside out.”
And the insiders,
according to the participants, are from all different sorts of backgrounds.
“Everyone is losing
their homes because banks get greedy,” Brushwood said, “A lot of people from
all different walks of life are homeless now because of the economic crisis.”
The group worked to
create something that would challenge existing stereotypes about what it meant
to live on the streets.
“Everyone’s
individual film shows how clearly wrong those stereotypes are,” Malone said,
“The way that each one of (the participants) ended up homeless is entirely
different from the other and it shows that there are so many reasons outside of
a person’s control that leads to homelessness while showing how much power and
agency (they) are each demonstrating in (their) own lives … and (they’re) each
doing something beautiful and creative outside of prescribed economic systems.”
“Hopefully we’re
not just another homeless youth cliché documentary. Hopefully we did something
different,” Brushwood said. “They weren’t just filming us. We were a big part
of creating the movie as well as being in it. We all co-created.”
Participant
Antwoine Thomas said he hopes people who come to see the film will reevaluate
their ideas about homelessness.
“We are kind of
capturing how we stay rich in our homelessness,” Thomas said.
Thomas spoke to the
idea of being “home free” instead of “homeless.”
“We’re free from
that label that a home brings value to somebody,” Thomas said. “What makes a
home for us has been those things that we created in those films.”
While homelessness
has undoubtedly challenged each of the participants in different ways, they
also said it provided them with invaluable insights.
“(Making the film)
was also like therapy because it helped me realize how much I’ve overcome and
how strong I am,” Boston said, “It helped me realize … I can keep going on and
do better. I haven’t given up and I’m not going to.”
Stone said she
hopes projects like this will continue to help people transition out of
homelessness.
“We’ve had this economic disaster and we’re trying to counteract that
by not continuing to stay involved with street stuff but just getting involved
with better education and opportunities that can help pull us out into
communities with people who have resources,” Stone said. “We don’t want more
people homeless. We want more people going to school.”
The Northwest Film Center
started Project Viewfinder in January with the support of New Avenues for
Youth, p:ear, Outside In, and BCC TV. There will be a free screening of the
film on May 1 in the Northwest Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium inside the
Portland Art Museum at 6 p.m.
This article appears in 2013-04-26.