Movie of the Week: Accelerating America

Once a week, we’ll pick out one of Fancast’s many full-length free feature films to spotlight. Sure, you’ll check out the big stuff like A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, but the smaller movies need shout-outs, too.

The movie of the week is Accelerating America, a documentary following a year in the lives of three troubled teenagers - America, Yazmine and Jason - trying to turn their lives around at a special Rhode Island school for at-risk children, run by Rob DeBlois, the quadriplegic principal who helps them overcome adversity with tough love. Watch the film below, and check out my Q&A with director Tim Hotchner.

Q&A with Director Tim Hotchner

Q. What would you say to someone sitting down to watch this film for the first time, knowing nothing about it?
Tim Hotchner: I’d say to go into it with an open mind. It’s a documentary film set at an inner-city school but it’s much more a film about the intersecting lives of the four main characters. One of the things that attracted me to the subjects in the film is that, despite being damaged, they still had so much potential – and nearly everyone in the film breaks with stereotype.

Q. What inspired you to get involved with these people and make this film? How did you discover them?
Tim Hotchner: I’d met Rob DeBlois, the founder and principal of the school, while at college and knew back then I’d wanted to make a film about him and his remarkable school. This is a man who, despite the physical challenges of being a quadriplegic, has devoted his life to turning failing kids’ lives around. He was the initial inspiration. Then I met the kids.

I’d spent time with many of the students over the summer leading up to the school year and after spending a couple of minutes with America and Yazmine, I knew they had to be in the film. Jason, I discovered once the school year started and a few weeks in I knew he had to be in the film as well.

Q. How did the project come together? Was it difficult to get this film off the ground and into production?
Tim Hotchner: Once Rob and the school gave me the go-ahead, everything seemed to fall into place. Of course it’s always a struggle to find the financing to keep a yearlong filming project like this going, but everyone involved was completely dedicated to seeing it through. I got really lucky.

Q. How did the kids respond to being followed around by cameras?
Tim Hotchner: I think overall they really took to it. These are kids who had been ignored most of their lives and now people were interested enough to make a movie about their lives. Of course it’s always a difficult balance being as unobtrusive as possible but still involve them and not have anyone act for the camera, but it all seemed to fall into place pretty much right off the bat. At the end of the year, a few of the kids even learned how to use the camera and work the sound – that was especially gratifying.

Q. Have there been any new developments since you finished the film in the lives of these kids? Have you kept in contact with them?
Tim Hotchner: I keep in contact with them as much as possible — they’re teenagers, which is always a tough age, and they all still live in pretty challenging and chaotic environments so there have been some downs since I filmed with them but there are a lot of good reports, too.

Q. Are there any particular scenes you like the best, or that you think audiences should really take note of?
Tim Hotchner: Well, that’s hard to answer. It’s not like making a narrative film where you can point to certain scenes. It’s a cumulative series of story points, settings and emotions and a lot of the most powerful scenes are the hardest to watch. Even the graduation is bittersweet – but there’s a great deal of joy as well.

Q. How about any scenes that were particularly challenging to shoot?
Tim Hotchner: Yeah, there were some challenging scenes. It’s always tough to have a camera around people who are going through difficult times. There’s one scene in particular in Yazmine’s house when everything seemed to be falling apart around her and it was very tense inside the house. I actually wound up leaving the camera rolling on the countertop for some of that morning – just so I wouldn’t be in the way or alter their behavior.

There were also some days where I wasn’t welcome (I did much of the filming outside the school: in houses, on streets and churches) – but the students I was with rallied around me. It was pretty amazing to be part of that and never feel like you were unwelcome within the group you’re following. The kids and the staff were amazing.

Q. What would you say is the overall message you’d like people to take away from the film?
Tim Hotchner: Well, I always think it’s best that someone come away with his or her own message but, for me, the message is that we can all find a certain element of hope despite all the challenges that get placed in front of us; the determination to move forward when it’s easiest to lay down — and also the tragedy that comes from giving up. That and tell a bad joke once in while. Rob definitely taught me the importance of humor.

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