Cast

Pulitzer prize-winning photojournalist Don Bartletti shares heart wrenching stories from his forty year career documenting history as it unfolds. Internationally recognized for his commitment to photographing the migration of Central Americans to the United States, Bartletti’s images reveal the never ending saga of illegal immigration by individuals desperate to improve their lives.

In this heartfelt short film by Jesse Collier Sutterley, Roosevelt Farrow, born in 1929 at the start of the Great Depression, shares his lifelong dream of becoming a U.S. Marine, despite the racial barriers of his time. Raised by his grandmother in humble conditions, he was inspired by the sight of Marines visiting his community. Farrow’s determination led him to join the Marine Corps, where he faced the challenges of Montford Point boot camp, eventually becoming an expert marksman and retiring as a Gunnery Sergeant. Although he never saw combat, a fact he attributed to his wife’s prayers, he realized the significance of his journey when he witnessed black officers rising in the ranks. Farrow's story is a testament to perseverance and the pursuit of one's dreams, encouraging others not to give up on their aspirations despite austere beginnings and social injustice.

A portal, a sorceress, a fictional device to portray existence as a moment encapsulated inside an instantaneous photograph to present fragmented biographical elements —family disintegration, rootlessness, scars, two loyal companions, the promises of a new land—subverting the notion of a home-movie and transform it into a pilgrimage tool of self-discovery, mirroring the fragile nature of memories.

This film takes a candid, inside look at the world of juvenile delinquency. We are shown the tough existence on the streets of Montreal, but it could be any city in North America. Some boys as young as ten years of age talk about their lives of crime, the things that are important to them, and the hopes they hold for the future.