Onstage Q&A with the team and the recyclers

After a 7 year journey from the West Oakland streets to the Mill Valley Film Festival screen in San Rafael, Dogtown Redemption, had its World Premiere.  It was an honor to follow the lives of these recyclers with my camera through the streets of Oakland over several years, bearing witness to their joy and to their suffering, their addiction and their resilience.  The film picked up the MVFF's Silver Audience Award for Active Cinema.  I'd like to dedicate it to all the recyclers who entrusted us with their story, but in particular Miss Kay, the tiny, feisty Korean lady who was beaten to death on the streets just two months before the screening.  Her spirit and story live on through the film.

Filming Miss Kay on a rainy day as she sat on the steps of Emeryville City Hall gazing and laughing at the Pixar seagull across the way.