Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

'Brave in Chiraq' Film Captures Efforts To End Chicago Violence

By Alex Nitkin | July 21, 2015 8:46am

AUBURN GRESHAM — Through Monday morning, the city has lost 216 lives to gun violence in 2015, on pace to top the past two years' death count. But Peter Holderness isn't just interested in statistics. He wanted to go deeper.

That's the goal of "Brave in Chiraq," a 17-minute documentary the filmmaker released Tuesday through video news and entertainment startup Touchvision.

The film follows members of the Ark of St. Sabina, a youth center that's grabbed citywide attention partly because of its outspoken leader, the Rev. Michael Pfleger. But instead of focusing on Pfleger, a Catholic priest, the film mostly centers around members of BRAVE (Bold Resistance Against Violence Everywhere), a youth-led counseling and advocacy group within the organization.

"In the aftermath of shootings, we often see so much focus on the grief of the families who have lost loved ones ... Instead, I wanted to focus on the vibrancy of a community on the South Side to see what they're doing about it," said Holderness, who shot, narrated and edited the film.

"I saw all these 14- and 15-year-olds getting involved, doing this peer-to-peer workshop, and I wondered: What motivates a young person to be so committed to this?" he said.

Filmed between April and June of this year, the documentary is structured as a countdown to summer, the time of year that sees the most shootings. At multiple points, the film pauses from interviews and action to show the number of days until the season starts, plus the number of murders the city has seen to that point.

"We usually see murders unfold as two here or three there, and there's a sense of urgency that can be lost that way," Holderness said. "There's violence all year long in Chicago, but in the summer it's especially dangerous. ... So the structure of the story is to let people know what's at stake right now, as we get close to summer, so we know it's an important time to take a look and see which programs are working to prevent it."

For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here: